2018 Kia Stinger 2.0 T-GDI GT-Line User Reviews

The car’s design is just beautiful. Smooth sumptuous curves with minimal line creases, and a nice muscular rear haunch, accentuating the “coke bottle” inspiration it took. In the flesh, it definitely gets attention. Some may mistake it for a Maserati (well, it maybe is a Maserati from the east!). From the rear, it’s pretty muscular with functional quad-tip exhaust. The red light/reflector strip on the sides is a polarizing design feature, which some likes it and some doesn’t. I personally don’t love it, but it does add a quirky character to the design. There are functional air vents on the car, two frontal vents channelling air to create smooth air “curtain” around the front wheels for aerodynamics and two side vents venting hot air from the front brakes to cool them. Sadly, there are also fake vents particularly on the bonnet and rear bumpers, which are just for show. I choose the black colour to disguise those fake vents and it certainly helps.

When I sat in the car and closes the door (with a nice weighted “thud”), the seat and steering electrically adjust to the last settings, which makes it feel upmarket. The seating position is low with your legs stretching forward. Cosy and cocooned but not claustrophobic. This low seating position makes you feel “special”, unlike other normal sport sedans. If the day is hot, or if you are sweating, just turn on the ventilated seats and you are in good hands. Rear passengers enjoy proper thigh support from the bench, comfortably reclined backrest and ample knee room. You can’t slip your feet under the front seats as they are mounted pretty low, but it wouldn’t be an issue for us Asians. Headroom is enough but maybe a bit tight for tall people. The materials felt premium but not too luxurious. It’s a step up from normal cars (even better than some rival German sedans), but not to the level of higher-end luxury cars. There are a fair amount of leather, soft-touch plastics, hard plastics, aluminium trims and piano black trims all around, but put together nicely and tastefully. The suede headliner especially feels nice to the touch. The layout is ergonomic and familiar like most Korean/Japanese cars. I especially like the balanced use of analogue and digital appointments. The instrument cluster, for example, has analogue gauges for speedo, tacho, fuel and coolant temperature but with a digital central screen showing other important details. To me, cars nowadays try to feel high-tech by showing too much information in the central display and this makes the display looks cluttered, but this is not the case with the Stinger. The physical buttons and knobs are quite tactile, but not to the level of Audi’s. Audio system is superb! Crisp and punchy. The steering has a good girth that fits my hands perfectly (not as thick as newer BMWs) and has nicely tactile switches. The fitment feels solid, although I have a slight gripe with occasional creaks in the door panels which occurs when I start driving from cold to hot weather (e.g. getting out from a shaded garage to a hot sunny day). This disappears after a few minutes, and will not be heard if you switch on the audio system, but for a car costing this much, it should not be there in the first place.

This car is fun to drive! Its rear wheel driven with approximately 52:48 weight distribution as the engine is mounted just behind the front axle, and the battery placed under the boot at the rear end. Feels a lot like continental European cars. You will feel isolated from the outside once you are in and closed the door. I’m normally annoyed by the auto-start stop as it is not really smooth when the car restarts, so I normally switch this off. There are 5-drive modes, Smart, Eco, Comfort, Sport, and Sport+. I usually leave it in Eco for normal city drives, and put on Smart for long-distance, which adjusts the mode automatically according on how aggressive we are on the pedal. Occasionally on Sport mode when I’m carving nice corners. You do feel the difference in the throttle response and gear change mapping between these modes. If you floor the pedal, there’s a very slight turbo lag, but when the boost comes in, the car really pulls! Feels like all the 353 Nm torque on tap! The 8-speed transmission shifts pretty good too. It may be not as fast as a DSG/DCT but who cares as it gets the job done well. The steering is nicely weighted and not overly assisted. The Stinger really is a true grand turismo. Long distance journeys are very pleasant and comfortable, and there’s power when you need it. It’s quite a heavy car at 1.6 tones, and although it’s very stable at high speeds and sweeping long corners, it is not as nimble as the BMW G20 330i. I took road trips from Bintulu to Sabah through Brunei and it performed superbly going uphill in Keningau/Kimanis road at the Crocker Range. Occasionally had a go >200km/h when road is straight and clear. Solid and stable. Puts a smile on my face everytime. There is room for improvements to better cushion the ride when going over sharp bumps, which can feel a bit jarring at times. The car rear end also unsettles a bit if you hit sharp undulations in mid-corner, but then this may mean its drift-happy (although I will not try that!). All in all, the car is tuned on the “sportier” side, but still has pleasant ride for daily commutes.