Photo: Stefan Baldauf / Guido ten Brink
A very humble crossover when it launched in 1993, the Sportage has been continuously improved over the years to become one of the best value-oriented utility vehicles in the compact segment. For the fifth gen, Kia used every trick in the book to make their best-selling nameplate better.
Displayed in Euro-market specification at the Munich Motor Show, the Sportage has been completely overhauled on the outside with tense and crisp lines. The EV6-inspired dashboard is a well-deserved improvement over the fourth gen, and the same can be said about the front and rear ends.
Not as dramatic as the Hyundai Tucson’s face, the Sportage makes a tremendous visual statement with its frontal design traits. The elongated front grille that adopts Kia’s modern tiger-nose motif is flanked by thin daytime running lights that create a solid boundary for the cool headlamps.
Opting for the GT-Line trim level cranks up the aesthetic knob to eleven thanks to bi-tone alloy wheels, gloss-black wheel arches, contrasting mirror caps, the contrasting roof, and gloss-black panels integrated into the liftgate and rear bumper. To be offered in the United States of America as a 2023 model, the all-new Sportage further impresses with DriveWise by Kia, electronically-controlled suspension, Terrain Mode, and a curved screen that marries two displays for the instrument cluster and multimedia system.
Over in the European Union, the Sportage is available with a 1.6-liter turbo diesel with 113 and 134 horsepower. The latter features mild-hybrid technology, which extends to the 1.6-liter turbo gasoline mill. This lump is also available in full-hybrid flavor (233 horsepower) and in the guise of a plug-in hybrid (261 horsepower), and customers are further offered a 2.0-liter turbo diesel with a hearty 308 pound-feet (417 Nm) of torque on deck.
The redesigned Sportage for Europe is made by Kia Slovakia in Zilina whereas the Korean spec is manufactured at the Gwangju assembly plant.
Not as dramatic as the Hyundai Tucson’s face, the Sportage makes a tremendous visual statement with its frontal design traits. The elongated front grille that adopts Kia’s modern tiger-nose motif is flanked by thin daytime running lights that create a solid boundary for the cool headlamps.
Opting for the GT-Line trim level cranks up the aesthetic knob to eleven thanks to bi-tone alloy wheels, gloss-black wheel arches, contrasting mirror caps, the contrasting roof, and gloss-black panels integrated into the liftgate and rear bumper. To be offered in the United States of America as a 2023 model, the all-new Sportage further impresses with DriveWise by Kia, electronically-controlled suspension, Terrain Mode, and a curved screen that marries two displays for the instrument cluster and multimedia system.
Over in the European Union, the Sportage is available with a 1.6-liter turbo diesel with 113 and 134 horsepower. The latter features mild-hybrid technology, which extends to the 1.6-liter turbo gasoline mill. This lump is also available in full-hybrid flavor (233 horsepower) and in the guise of a plug-in hybrid (261 horsepower), and customers are further offered a 2.0-liter turbo diesel with a hearty 308 pound-feet (417 Nm) of torque on deck.
The redesigned Sportage for Europe is made by Kia Slovakia in Zilina whereas the Korean spec is manufactured at the Gwangju assembly plant.
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