Kia Sportage (05-10) - Review

Review by David Ross on
The Kia Sportage is a stylish small off-roader that majors on value for money. It comes extremely well equipped and there's a lengthy warranty as standard on new cars - something which used buyers can also take advantage of. Although it's unlikely the Sportage will often be taken off road, it's actually quiet capable on tricky terrain. But it's on road where it will spend most of its time and here the Kia is comfortable. However it's not very composed through corners and the handling is especially poor on early models. The Sportage was facelifted in late 2007 with retuned suspension and less bodyroll - and newer cars are a vast improvement.
3 out of 5

Other Kia reviews

3.5 out of 5

Running costs

Introducing a two-wheel drive only version of the Sportage has allowed Kia to offer an even cheaper off-roader and starting prices are similar to a Ford Focus. Both the 2.0-litre petrol and diesel models offer good economy while facelifted cars come with an unrivalled seven-year warranty which means that any unexpected costs are taken care of for a large part of the cars life. Kia servicing is generally good value and insurance is reasonable too - between groups 9 and 12.

* based on most recent data

Estimated fuel cost for 10,000 miles per year

Unleaded

£1,753 - £2,192 *

Diesel

£1,602 - £1,831 *

The estimated fuel cost figure is a guide to how much this model will cost to fuel each year, so you can compare between cars. It's calculated by using the model's average mpg (calculated from both town centre and motorway driving) and the average fuel price. It's based on the following cost-per-litre: petrol 135p and diesel 141p. Prices are updated daily.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

10,000 miles.

Warranty

Three years/unlimited miles. Facelifted models: Seven years/100,000 miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£215.00 - £460.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

2.5 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
    184
  • J
  • K
  • L
    237
  • M

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

The Sportage isn't particularly environmentally friendly with average emissions of 198g/km CO2 across the model line-up. The 2.0-litre CRDi engine is the greenest engine - on cars with four-wheel drive it emits 187g/km of CO2 and returns 40mpg.

Find the exact engine and CO2