GARAGE
AUDI A4
BMW 530i
UPDATE
BMW M2
UPDATE
CHEVROLET BOLT EV
UPDATE
FORD F-250 SUPER DUTY
HONDA CR-V
HYUNDAI TUCSON
JAGUAR F-PACE
JEEP RENEGADE
KIA NIRO
UPDATE
KIA STINGER
ARRIVAL
MAZDA CX-5
MAZDA CX-9
MERCEDES-BENZ GLC300
UPDATE
MINI CLUBMAN
SUBARU LEGACY
Just about everyone on staff agrees the Stinger looks good. If the reports of pedestrian neck strain are any indication, the public does, too.
ARRIVAL 2018 Kia Stinger GT Alex Nishimoto
“Are the extra bells and whistles worth the money? We hope to have an answer within the next 12 months.”
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 19/25/21 MPG BASE PRICE $39,250 PRICE AS TESTED $50,100
It’s one thing to take aim at a target from the shooting line. It’s quite another to take aim from clear across the field—and still land on the paper. That’s what Kia appeared to do with the Stinger at our 2018 Car of the Year program, where we named it a finalist in one of the most competitive COTY fields to date. Seemingly out of nowhere, there’s now another option to the swoopy liftback four-doors from BMW and Audi. But does it pose a real threat to the Audi A5 Sportback, BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe, and others? To find out, we’ve taken delivery of a rear-drive Stinger GT for a year, and I have the great fortune of being its chaperone.
Take one look at our 2018 Car of the Year notebook, and it’s easy to see how impressed we were with the newcomer from Kia. “[Interior] materials all look remarkably high quality,” technical director Frank Markus said. International bureau chief Angus MacKenzie said the Stinger “drives more European than anything from Korea so far—and most things from Japan; there’s a measured, almost Germanic weighting to all the controls and to the body motions.”
Although not all judges agreed on the Stinger’s road manners and interior, there was no argument about its sexy exterior design. MacKenzie described the Stinger as “beautifully surfaced and visually arresting,” going on to say, “It looks like an elegant four-door fastback, with a hint of the old Maserati 3200 GT.”
The Stinger has just begun to hit the streets at the time of this writing, so our tester has attracted plenty of attention. Whether it was curious passersby at the gas station wanting to know what it was or Dodge Charger drivers on the freeway wanting to see what it could do, our bright HiChroma Red Stinger GT simply could not be left alone. I blame Kia design boss Peter Schreyer for penning such a seductive shape. We’ll see if the looks, comments, and stoplight engine revs continue after the Stinger has been out longer.
Being a GT model, our tester packs a 3.3-liter twin-turbo V-6 that pumps out a healthy 365 hp and 376 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission. We opted for a rear-drive V-6 variant for many reasons, but mostly because we like drifting. The GT2 trim adds $10,850—that’s spendy for a Kia but reasonable for a premium sport sedan. You do get advanced driver-assist features such as forward
