2011 Kia Sportage Review

If you thought the 2010 Kia Sportage was a boring design, be ready to be amazed with the sporty Kia Sportage 2011. With masculinity style look it offers many modifications over previous-generation crossover, and now it is at par with others in its class

With a wide range of SUV’s cropping up the Kia Sportage comes as an alternative with a bargain price and a warranty.

For engine performance, this year’s Sportagestill lags at average output-wise, since the standard 2.4-liter engine produces 176 hp. But when  driving, the Sportage is more engaging and athletic  as compared to other crossovers in this class thanks to sport-oriented suspension tuning. A manual six-speed  is offered on the base model only while the rest of the line uses an automatic six-speed  transmission.

AWD Sportage versions are suited for light off-road work only. The EPA ratings for fuel economy are 22 miles per gallon in the city and 31miles per gallon in the highway and an average of 25 miles per gallon combined for a 2.4-liter automatic with front-wheel drive. This for an SUV like the Sportage is good.upon choosing AWD leads to a drop in a few mpgs. In some performance tests, the  front-drive Kia Sportage hustled from a stop to 60 mph in 9.5 seconds, which is average for this class.

Standard features available for base model are cast-aluminum 16-inch wheels, full power accessories, air-conditioning, a tilt steering, cloth upholstery, with phone and audio controls,  6-speaker audio system, Bluetooth and satellite radio with USB jacks. The electric steering has not been that good as some reviewers would argue that it does give sufficient feedback.

The  2011 Sportage LX has additions of turn signals on the outside mirrors, keyless entry, tinted rear windows and  Seventeen-inch wheelswhich are options on the LX.

Its interior comes with a pleasant blend of colors. There is some hard plastic all over the interior, but mostly, it’s adequately padded and well-textured where passengers usually make contact. Gauges are clear and easy to read and the controls are intuitive. Seats are comfortable enough. Driver and occupants enjoy the well-contoured seats, satisfactory  leg and head room. Rear seats allow  two average-sized adults. undoubtedly less comfortable.

Standard safety features present in Kia Sportage models for 2011 include front side air bags, side curtain airbags that are full length and active front headrests. For braking purposes, antilock disc brakes equipped with brake relieve, stability control and traction control, hill descent as well as the  hill start control are available.

For cargo space the Sportage does not offer much,  with space behind the rear seatsholding a maximum of about 26.1 cubic feet and about 54.6 cubic feet with seats with the 60/40-split-folding  laid down. In comparison, the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V both hold about 70 cubic feet.

With an average price of $18,295, the Sportage won’t make you dig deeper in your pockets. Kia gives the Sportage 2011 a basic warranty for three years and a ten year powertrain warranty.