KIA Stinger

Step into the cabin, and the Kia Stinger feels properly sporty and posh, justifying its premium positioning. While the cabin resorts to minimalism, the overall layout and level of equipment makes it feel impressive.

To ingest a sporty feeling in the nerves of the driver as soon as he sits on the driver’s seat, Kia has made the driver’s cockpit incredibly sporty with a flat bottom multifunctional steering and a large MID screen with sporty dials in the instrument console.

The protruding dashboard is divided into two layers, with the upper one having a free mounted touchscreen infotainment system with piano black surrounds and three round AC vents with a silver streak of controls placed just below them. The centre tunnel starts from the controls for automatic climate control and flows all the way to back. This central tunnel, which accommodates trans lever, drive mode selector and closed storage box, is available in three trim options – carbon fibre, brushed aluminium and piano black.

Equipped with state of the art features like paddle shifters, ventilated and electrically adjustable front seats with memory function for driver’s seat, electronic parking brake, three-zone automatic climate control, and remote engine start, the Kia Stinger feels top-notch. 

The Kia Stinger has got a conventional silhouette of a traditional sedan but has got various design cues to make it look incredibly sporty.

The front look of the Kia Stinger looks premium with faux aluminium surrounds for the extended ‘Tiger Nose’ grille, which has got star-studded jewel inserts inside it. The same stud theme has been carried out inside the curvy tooth LED headlamps which do get dual LED projector units inside it. The front bumper has sporty and aggressive fog lamp inserts which do get vertical LED fog lamps. The lower grille also has a sleek and horizontal design that does end up with wide and triangular faux aluminium finish.

The side profile of the Kia Stinger has a hunkered stance, with aspects like a sloping coupe-like roofline, large machined alloy wheels with sporty-looking spokes, red coloured callipers, vertical chrome air vents placed at front fender, door-mounted rearview mirrors and shark fin antenna.

At the rear, the curvy design for the boot lid, as well as LED tail lamps on the upper edges of the boot, make it looks wide and sporty. What acts as additional aggression is the presence of dual exhaust ports on either side, housed within the lower blackened lip.

Blessed with electronically controlled suspension and transfer case as well as an all-wheel-drive setup, the Kia Stinger feels eagerly responsive and accurate when driven hard. There is a certain level of stiffness, which along with the 19-inch wheels, do make the Stinger supremely planted on all driving conditions. However, due to this stiff setup, the ride quality is on a firmer side.

The Kia Stinger is being offered with two engine options, both of which are petrol powered and turbocharged. The smaller 2.0-litre four-cylinder mill generates 255 PS of power and 353 Nm of torque, while the bigger 3.3-litre six-cylinder unit pumps out 370 PS of power and 510 Nm of torque. The 8-speed automatic transmission is common in both the engines.

The Kia Stinger is armed with premium and noteworthy safety features, which does include seven airbags, rear cross-traffic alert, electronic stability control, ABS with EBD and brake assist, electronic parking brake, blind-spot collision warning, forward parking distance warning, around view monitor and hill start assist.

The Kia Stinger is one proper sports sedan that has a lot of character in its styling and performance. The subtle performance, especially from the 3.3-litre engine, is equivalent to that of a proper sports car, while the ride and handling balance do ensure that it is one driver’s delight.