When it comes to hauling cargo, the Sportage holds its own, offering 25.8 cubic feet of space with the rear seat up and more than twice as much (54.4 cubic feet) with the seat folded. The spare tire carrier locks out of the way when fully opened, which is a blessing when loading groceries or baggage through the rear door.
Beyond the room, there are other nice touches inside the Sportage. The top of the center console slides forward to provide a comfortable armrest. Both front bucket seats recline, and the driver's seat has an adjustable lumbar support. The optional leather upholstery package ($900 on EX, $800 on Limited) has full leather seat coverings, not just leather inserts. As mentioned, power windows, locks and mirrors are standard on even the least-expensive model.
Sportage also offers a safety first. In addition to dual front airbags, it comes equipped with a smaller airbag intended to protect the driver's left leg and knee.
The well-proportioned greenhouse allows good visibility in all directions. Controls are well placed and easy to operate, and instruments are easy to read. Air conditioning in our test vehicle cooled the cabin is short order on warm Southern California afternoons. The test truck also featured Kia's straightforward, easy-to-tune AM/FM/CD stereo.
All Sportage models are powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that puts out 130 horsepower at 5500 rpm and 127 pound-feet of torque at 4000 rpm. This engine was developed by Mazda and adapted by Kia. There's enough power to push the Sportage down a straight and level freeway with relative ease, but there's a lack of gusto on moderate grades. Sportage offers considerably more power than the 1.6-liter engine used in two-door versions of the Suzuki Vitara and Chevy Tracker, and similar output to the 2.0-liter engine found in four-door Vitara and Tracker models.
For all the equipment that comes standard on Sportage, antilock brakes remain a $490 option. Fortunately, ABS is available as a stand-alone option on all models, so buyers don't have to take an expensive options package that includes features they might not necessarily want.
We drove our Sportage on the highways and byways of Southern California, where sport-utilities are as popular as fast-food outlets, and had occasion to shift into four-wheel drive one thoroughly wet afternoon. That day, in two-wheel drive, the Sportage easily lost traction at its drive wheels, even during normal acceleration from a stop sign. A flick of a lever put us in 4WD-high and solved the problem. The Sportage was suddenly more sure-footed.
On drier days on crowded California freeways, we found the compact size of the Sportage a blessing. It slips in and out of traffic with an ease larger SUVs can't match. With its four-cylinder engine, however, you need to plan your maneuvers ahead of time and start working the accelerator a little sooner than you would with a bigger engine. It's useful to build some speed before you start climbing a steep grade. When it comes to getting the most from the Sportage, the manual transmission is much better than the automatic. If your commute makes the manual an acceptable alternative, we highly recommend it.
One thing we noticed quickly is that, for all its accouterments and design features, the Sportage has a slightly raw feel in its ride and handling. Indeed, this back-to-basics quality can be part of its charm. Just don't expect the chassis sophistication, the handling response or the vibration dampening you might get in larger SUVs, or in those based on cars, such as the Honda CR-V.
The payoff for this trucklike ride is greater off-road capability: Sportage 4x4 models use a traditional part-time four-wheel-drive system that is better suited for muddy terrain than an all-wheel-drive system, such as that found in the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute. Sportage 4x4 models are also equipped with a low-range transfer case for when the going really gets tough. This enables the Sportage to go places unreachable in a CR-V, Escape or Tribute. The rougher the terrain, the more of an advantage the Sportage offers.
The Kia Sportage offers the space and utility of an SUV for the price of a compact car. Those whose hobbies actually take them off the road may appreciate the superior off-road capability of the Sportage when compared with the more expensive, more carlike mini-SUVs from Honda, Ford and Mazda.
A four-door Sportage goes for about the same price as a two-door Vitara or Tracker, both of which offer a smaller engine, less passenger space, and a lower level of standard equipment than the Sportage. Starting at less than $17,000, the four-door, four-wheel-drive Sportage offers a good value.
