Kia Sportage (05-10) - Review

The Sportage is as roomy for passengers as a Nissan X-Trail or Honda CR-V. Three adults can fit in the back in reasonable comfort with plenty of head and legroom - helped further by the flat floor which means even the middle seat passenger gets good foot space. Wind noise is kept down and most of the engines (with the exception of the rather noisy early CRDi) are quiet at speed. All cars come with air conditioning plus electric windows front and back. Facelifted cars from 2007 are even quieter thanks to revised door mirrors and a new seal in the sunroof, plus the front seat cushions are longer, wider and provide better comfort. XS models have leather seats as standard.

The rear sears in the Sportage use a system called 'Fold-and-Dive' which consists of 60/40 split seats where the cushion sections are supported on hinged legs. When you need to boost boot space, the cushion moves forward and down into the rear footwell at the touch of a button, allowing the backrests to go flat, flush with the boot floor. This creates a load space almost 1.5 metres long and the front passenger seat also folds in half to allow even longer objects to be carried. The tailgate glass can be opened independently (very useful in multi-storey car parks) and there's a wide range stowage in the cabin, including a large centre console with storage boxes, big door pockets and two cupholders in both the front and rear of the centre console.

The Sportage has a more upmarket looking interior than its sister car, the Hyundai Tucson. It's still not very modern or stylish, but the layout is neater and the metallic trim (on XS models and above) both looks and feels good. Build quality is good and the materials used feel robust but early models had the indicator stalk on the right - which is the opposite to nearly every car on sale. However later cars from the 2007 facelift had this reversed to the 'right' way plus came with an integrated stereo system which is vastly superior to the aftermarket units that were fitted previously. One gripe is the steering column which only adjusts for height and not reach.