Five-door rear- or all-wheel drive liftback of the Gran Turismo class with an expressive appearance and high-performance engines under the hood - and this is not a German or Italian, but a Korean sports car with a sonorous name - KIA Stinger ...
Its main target audience is, first of all, dynamic people with a good income level, leading an active lifestyle, who want to enjoy driving, but still cannot afford a premium car ...
Perhaps this is the most pro-European car of the KIA brand (in spirit, concept and character), but with a defiant American name - "Stinger". And the world premiere of the production car, which embodied the design and technical solutions borrowed from the KIA GT Concept presented in 2011, took place on January 9, 2017 on the catwalks of the International North American Auto Show in Detroit.
In the summer of 2020, Koreans demonstrated a restyled liftback in the online space: in early August, official photos of the exterior and interior appeared on the Web, and at the end of the same month, full information about the technical component was published. As a result of the update, the five-door was slightly "refreshed" on the outside, slightly improved on the inside and "armed" with a new 2.5-liter turbo engine with 304 hp. (however, the same motor range has been preserved in Russia).
Appearance is clearly the strong point of "Stinger", although it contains the features of many famous models. But, despite its eclecticism, the car is recognizable and incredibly beautiful.
The front of the five-door looks brutal and aggressive, and this is facilitated by the predatory outlines of lighting technology, the proprietary "Tiger nose" radiator grille and a sculpted bumper with a "mouth" of the air intake. And at the back, the "Korean" fully and completely confirms its sporty essence - elegant lights and a powerful bumper with a diffuser and four oval tailpipes.
The lateral proportions of the liftback are typical of sports cars - it exudes swiftness and unshakable confidence thanks to the long hood, the cabin shifted back, the sloping roofline that turns into a barely noticeable "tail" of the trunk, and the raised wheel arches.
In terms of its dimensions, the KIA Stinger is an "overgrowth" of the D-segment: it has grown in length by 4831 mm, and its height and width are 1400 mm and 1869 mm, respectively. The wheelbase of the car is quite impressive - 2906 mm. By default, the five-door "rests" on the road with 18-inch "rollers", and in the "top-end GT-version" it is equipped with 19-inch wheels with different-sized tires front and rear.
Interior
The interior space of "Stinger" pleasantly impresses not only with its modern and noble design, but also with luxurious finishing materials and impeccable build quality.
A sporty, taut multifunction steering wheel, hiding behind itself a spectacular instrument cluster with analogue dials and a large color screen, a "thoroughbred" center console with a 7-inch display, three "turbine deflectors" and exemplary reference blocks of the audio system and "microclimate" into a massive tunnel ... At least visually, the decoration of the "Korean" is not much inferior to even premium European and Japanese models.
The KIA Stinger salon is organized according to a five-seater scheme - a solid wheelbase provides the required amount of free space on each of the rows of seats. The front seats "flaunt" a sporty profile with pronounced sidewalls and a large set of adjustments, and the rear sofa, thanks to a well-thought-out structure, is able to accommodate three adult riders.
The "Stinger" has a very spacious trunk - 406 liters in "standard condition". The South Korean company proudly notes that the car "outperforms" many of its competitors in this parameter.
The second row of seats, divided into two sections in the ratio "60:40", when folded, increases the capacity of the "hold" to 1114 liters, but in this case a completely flat platform is not obtained.
Specifications
The liftback is "armed" with one of two gasoline engines:
- The basic versions of the five-door are content with a 2.0-liter inline-four of the Theta II family with a turbocharger, variable valve timing, 16 valves and direct feed, available in two boost levels:
- 197 horsepower at 6200 rpm and 353 Nm of torque at 3900 rpm;
- or 247 hp at 6200 rpm and 353 Nm of peak potential at 1400-4000 rpm.
- The more powerful version of the Stinger GT boasts a 3.3-liter V6 Lambda II series with twin turbochargers, direct fuel injection, 32-valve timing and variable valve timing with a 370 horsepower arsenal. at 6000 rpm and 510 Nm of torque at 1300-4500 rpm.
By default, both power units interact with an electronically controlled 8-speed "automatic", which has five modes of operation and the ability to change gears by means of paddle shifters, but a rear-wheel drive transmission with a mechanical limited slip differential relies exclusively on the 197-horsepower version.
At the same time, all motors can work in conjunction with a four-wheel drive, which has a multi-plate clutch that starts the front wheels if necessary, and a thrust vector control system that plays along with the brakes in motion.
Speed, dynamics, consumption
Acceleration from zero to the first "hundred" takes KIA Stinger 5.3-8.5 seconds, and its maximum speed reaches 224-270 km / h. In the combined mode, the five-door is content with 8.8-11 liters of fuel for every 100 km of track, depending on the modification.
Design features
The Stinger is built on the same longitudinally-engineered rear-wheel drive platform as the Genesis G80, and has 55 percent bodywork from high-strength and ultra-high-strength steel grades.
The front suspension on the car is a McPherson type design, and a multi-link system is used at the rear. Among other things, an adaptive chassis with electronically controlled shock absorbers and five operating algorithms is available for it.
The electric power steering at the five-door is fixed directly to the steering rack and is endowed with progressive characteristics. By default, the liftback is equipped with ventilated front and conventional rear brake discs with a diameter of 320 mm and 314 mm, respectively, supplemented by ABS, EBD, BA and a bunch of other electronics. But the "top" versions with a 3.3-liter engine are equipped with Brembo brakes with ventilated devices on both axles: front - with four-piston calipers and 350-mm "pancakes", and at the back - with two-piston and 340-mm.
Options and prices
In the Russian market, the restyled KIA Stinger 2021 model year can be purchased in five trim levels to choose from - Luxe, Prestige, Style, GT Line and GT.
The car in the basic version is offered exclusively with a 197-horsepower engine: for a rear-wheel drive modification, dealers ask at least 2,409,900 rubles, while an all-wheel drive version will cost from 2,549,900 rubles.
By default, the liftback is equipped with: seven airbags, three-zone "climate", ABS, ESP, light and rain sensors, leatherette seat upholstery, 18-inch alloy wheels, keyless entry and engine start, heated front seats and steering wheel, LED headlights and lamps, parking sensors, a media center with an 8-inch screen, a rear-view camera, an audio system with six speakers and other equipment.
The five-door in the Prestige, Style and GT Line trim levels is sold exclusively with a 247-horsepower "turbo four", and they cost, respectively, from 2,744,900 rubles, 2,959,900 rubles and 3,129,900 rubles, while for the "top" GT-version with a V6 engine, you will have to pay at least 3,799,900 rubles.
The most sophisticated car has in its arsenal: adaptive suspension, ventilation in the front and heated rear seats, wireless phone charger, leather trim, blind spot monitoring, electric fifth door, media system with a 10.25-inch screen, Harman / Kardon audio system with 15 speakers, panoramic roof, head-up display, all-round cameras, adaptive cruise control and much more.
