Long-Term Road Test Update
arrow2012 Kia Sportage SX AWD
Memo from Montana: "I wanna keep it. Just send some fuel."
Date: November 2012
Months in Fleet: 7 months
Current Mileage: 18,215 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 23 mpg
Average Range: 352 miles
Service: $142
Normal Wear: $0
Repair: $196
Damage and Destruction: $457
Kia agonistes? Sportage redux? Go ahead and use all the five-dollar words you want. Truth is, this is our second round of adventures in a sharply creased and visually fetching Sportage SX, our first example having suffered fatal wounds amid an Upper Peninsula blizzard. That happened right after one of the less talented among us said, “Watch this.” You should know that he was fired. Gone. History. Outta here.
And, so, our red replacement is again an SX, with an as-tested sticker of $32,515 and the same $2000 Premium and $1000 Nav packs. Rear-seat passengers—at least one Montana couple—said of the panoramic dual-pane skylights, “Big sky? We got your Big Sky right here, pal.”
The Sportage’s force-fed 2.0-liter four provides a generous 260 hp at 6000 rpm and easily commands this SUV’s 3666-pound bulk. There exists sufficient power to pass in virtually all two-lane situations—including Highway 93’s 7000-foot metamorphosis from Montana into Idaho—and flat-land accelerative thrust is also credible: 60 mph arrives in 7.5 seconds. (Strangely, our previous 2011 SX performed that task in a stellar 6.4 seconds. We can’t explain the difference.) Unfortunately, the thrust is a kind of two-step fandango. From step-off, the engine is a Labrador puppy up to 3000 rpm. Then it turns into Cujo. “There’s no real intermediate acceleration,” noted Erik Johnson, executive online editor. “You’re either out of the boost and adding mph slowly, or you’re spooled up and rocketing away. It can make smooth driving and passing maneuvers difficult.”
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Those who’ve sampled our Sportage have had plenty to say about the ride, too. Shod with 235/55 18-inch Hankook Optimos and riding on springs and dampers apparently tuned for California’s pimple-free byways, the SX’s ride is flat and confident but also, uh, firm. The descriptor “jittery” has been in heavy rotation. If both front wheels simultaneously catch, say, a Michigan frost heave, expect to say goodbye to about a third of your Starbucks latte. Former online editor David Gluckman described the ride as “crossover incongruent.”
The upside, of course, is minimal body roll. On virgin pavement, the Sportage SX resists being upset. It offers a superb sense of straight-ahead—its confident tracking was a boon during the 4000-mile freeway slogs to and from Montana. Right after turn-in, the Sportage takes a predictable set that requires few corrections all the way to exit. For an SUV, the steering is quick, light, and accurate, telegraphing sufficient information, notably in the rain. Combine that with all-day-comfortable seats—the aft chairs, too—and it was twice possible to log 1000-mile days, at least when we were west of the Mighty Miss.
Speaking of geography, this Sportage—since its update at 6474 miles—has been busy. It knocked off a three-day trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to tour 12 of the breweries that consume so much of the Yoopers’ waking hours. The vehicle’s “Active Eco” was engaged for the entirety of that 1500-mile trek, returning an average of 25 to 27 mpg. “But it also served to dull the throttle input and slow the shifts for the comfort of my passengers,” noted Gluckman. “It worked, and I think I’ll drive the thing that way from now on.” A brave man.
Directly from our mid-September 10Best competition, your humble Montana desk editor piloted the Sportage to his home at the J&J Cat Ranch in the Bitterroot Mountains. From that locus, numerous mud-enhanced fly-fishing and logging-road expeditions were launched, although no path proved more daunting than his own rocky 1.7-mile driveway, with its steep slopes and off-camber switchbacks all lined with 50-gallon barrels filled with emergency gravel, salt, digging tools, and (we imagine) cheap bourbon. “Basically, everything’s in 4WD lock every time I fetch the mail,” he noted. “Our first snowfall—five inches—slowed the Sportage barely, but that was because I once had to back up for a bull elk we’ve named Thunder Thighs.”
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Ergonomic complaints have so far focused on minor issues. First, the 4WD lock switch is on the far side of the shifter, perpetually hidden from the driver’s line of sight. Second, the driver’s seat cushion is cooled but the passenger’s isn’t. Third, like the original Cadillac SRX, the rocker panel juts so far out—or maybe it’s the driver’s seat that is positioned so far inboard—that the Sportage’s lower bodywork rubs against your calf on exit, wiping a festival of filth on those cowboy-cut Levi's. Fourth, the Sportage’s beltline is as high as a doddering senator’s, and its rear hatch has been extended vertically to add visual bulk. The unhappy result is too little glass and too little visibility, especially astern. The rearview camera helps, but only when snow or mud hasn’t blinded it into hallucinogenic mode. And, fifth, the fuel tank holds but 15.3 gallons. Anyone who has so far dared burn 14 of those gallons was sweating bullets in the long minutes before a gas station loomed.
In its first 18,215 miles, the Sportage has delivered an observed 23 mpg, Active Eco be damned. That’s pretty dismal for a four-cylinder engine, and it’s not far from the SX’s 21-mpg EPA city rating. Right now, we’re blaming the turbo and our dithering driving.
During its life with us, the Sportage has enjoyed four oil changes ($141). It twice suffered tire damage—once for a ball of tar permanently wedged in the right-front tread ($196), once for a nail puncture (fixed for free). And in late October we installed a set of Michelin Latitude X-ice Xi2 snows, size 235/55-18 ($162 apiece and $112 for installation). “Ooh, that’s some righteous rubber,” gushed our tire man in Hamilton, Montana, swearing he’d never before seen a set.
Equally expensive was a seemingly superficial parking-lot wound that an anonymous nitwit inflicted on the right-rear quarter-panel. Repairs amounted to $457.
To date, the Sportage is rattle- and malady-free, with a platform that feels up to the rigors of brisk mountain motoring and cautious lowland off-roading. This is a macho-looking SUV with a suspension to match. It is a crossover that encourages being hustled, thus mostly overcoming the complaints about its ride, its segmented power delivery, and its drinking problem. On top of that, it’s a comfortable long-distance cruiser.
Memo from Montana: “If you guys wanna leave this thing with me and Thunder Thighs for another two months—maybe four—we’d be fine with that.”
Continued...