2024 Kia Sportage HEV Earth review - NZ Autocar (2024)

We’ve driven petrol and diesel versions of Kia’s Sportage and now it’s time to check out the hybrid variant, the HEV.

With its modern design, smart tech and decent power and economy, the Kia Sportage has been a Kiwi family staple for yonks. In fact, the Kia Sportage first launched here 30 years ago.

To celebrate the milestone, the 2024 model gets new features like acoustic laminated glass in the front and second rows, and eight airbags.

Over seven million examples spanning five generations have been sold since it first launched in 1993.

The most successful generation arrived in 2015 and it went on to become Kia’s best seller for eight years straight. The fifth generation has an up-to-the-minute appearance and continues to sell well.

The latest generation adds 175mm in overall length and is now 4660mm long. It fits snugly in our garage. The extra 86mm of wheelbase means more stretch space, and a larger (by 77L) 543L cargo bay.

That expands to 1829L with the rear seats folded away.

Last time we drove the Sportage a couple of years ago, it was in diesel guise with eight-speed auto and we really liked how that went, more so than its close relative, the Hyundai Tucson, though that was mainly because of pricing.

Sportage had the better ride quality though. At that time you could buy into Sportage diesel for $46k.

Even better, if you wanted it in petrol it could be had for $35k as a base vehicle. “Get in quick” was what Kyle said and with hindsight he was right.

The least expensive Sportage now costs $40,290 for much the same LX Urban spec but then everything in pretty much every sector is more expensive nowadays, what with wars and high fuel prices. Still, it remains a lot of car for the money.

Back then the company was talking about adding a hybrid and that’s exactly what you see here. It comes in two varieties, differentiated by specification.

There’s the Earth hybrid, as in the images for $55,390, and there’s also a Light hybrid at $53,990, both before ORCs.

Our tester varies from the Light Hybrid by adding an electric tailgate that opens by gesture control, a Qi phone charger and it also features an around-view monitor that activates at slow speeds to help with parking duties.

Therefore, you have no excuse for garking the alloys when parking as close to the kerb as possible.

Earth spec also comes with LED front fog lights, matte chrome coating for the door garnish, powered and heated front seats with adjustable lumbar support for the driver, two USB chargers and auto up/down windows for both front seat occupants.

But wait, that’s not all. Figure also on synthetic leather seating versus cloth upholstery, a wheel warmer, and a smart proximity key with pushbutton start. So for an extremely modest $1400 outlay the Earth is convincingly the better buy here.

Both are otherwise well specified, each with adaptive cruise plus stop and go, and with all the safety bags of tricks.

While the original Sportage models (petrol and diesel) come with a five-star safety rating achieved in 2022, the hybrids are untested as yet. But we’d expect them to perform just as well.

What type of hybrid then?

Well, it’s a parallel hybrid which is better than a mild hybrid on a account of it being able to act like an EV at times. This is also the most potent of all the Sportage variants (169kW/350Nm), well, for power at least.

The diesel(s; three of them) are still available and have slightly more torque (416Nm). Get one of these if you want to tow (braked capacity 1900kg instead of 1650kg for the rest of the range).

The petrol engine in the Earth model is the 1.6T that outputs 133kW and 265Nm, and it is ably assisted by a 44kW/264Nm electric motor sited within the transmission that is supplied by a 1.49kWh lithium-ion battery.

Setting off you’re under EV power briefly, which also circumvents the issue of turbo lag, and on downhill sections the petrol mill switches itself off. So under low loads it can run on electric power alone for a while, right up to open road speeds.

Full acceleration with both power sources blazing away, the Sportage HEV can hit 100 in a little over seven seconds, so it’s handily quicker than the diesel.

But it has the same easy-going nature as the oiler, and we found fuel use of around 7.5L/100km on the open road.

The long term average was sitting on 6.8L/100km and we saw as low as 5.0 just tootling along on the motorway under active cruise semi-autonomy.

Kia claims a combined figure of 5.4L/100km (WLTP), better by a reasonable amount than both the petrol (7.5-8.0L/100km) and diesel alternatives (7.3L/100km).

This runs a six-speed automatic transmission and because of the generous torque we never really felt like there weren’t enough gears.

Paddles are supplied but with the three optional drive modes, Eco, Sport and Smart, we weren’t tempted to use them much.

Moreover, we left it in Eco mode most of the time because it shifted as and when we’d have expected it to. And unlike some Eco modes, it doesn’t feel strangled for power or torque.

Only when giving it the beans is the engine audible; for the most part you can’t hear it, even when it restarts to recharge the battery after some quiet EVing.

And this really is hushed with its acoustic glazing, the cabin SPL average being 69.2dB over our reference section of chip seal.

Flair on road

While the powertrain is more than satisfactory, it’s perhaps the ride and handling mix that is standout here. Which is impressive, given this is front-wheel drive. AWD variants are available, only not in HEV spec.

This goes well though, with little in the way of torque steer or loss of traction on take-off, at least not in the dry. You need a little more care in the wet, but then who pushes the boat out on slick roads?

Kia has been localising its wares on the suspension front for quite some time now and it really does show. This has sufficient underlying firmness to limit body roll, but not so much that it jiggers the accommodating ride.

It borders on plush, with just the occasional thump over bigger potholes. In the dry you can push this around and it doesn’t get the collywobbles.

There’s a decent dose of steering feel too, though on occasions it can degenerate into kickback at the wheel.

However, it’s never marked. And the steering is reasonably quick and well weighted too. Furthermore, at just over 1700kg, it doesn’t feel lardy on the go; this is only 30-odd kg more than the 1.6T.

So where does it fit?

Probably the best choice overall in the Sportage line-up if it’s the all-rounder you’re after. For it performs well, yet can be relatively miserly on gas if you just tootle about in the family way.

And it is really well specified, spacious, hushed, and nicely built with quality bits. Moreover, it has a well judged handling and ride package.

And while our photographer wasn’t entirely grabbed by the styling, the viva la difference appearance works for me.

This story first appeared in theMay 2024 issue of NZ Autocar magazine.