After brochures surfaced on the Internet earlier today, Naza Kia has finally announced the availability of the Kia Sportage 2WD. This cheaper base variant of the once-popular C-segment crossover comes in presumably in an attempt to nip the success of the burgeoning B-segment – which includes the popular Honda HR-V – right in the bud.
Its arsenal starts with a very attractive price – RM118,888 on-the-road inclusive of insurance, GST and a five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty. This undercuts the current AWD Sportage (facelift launched early last year) by nearly RM19,000, and is within RM1,000 of the best-selling, range-topping HR-V 1.8 V. Coincidence? I think not.
Anyway, what do you lose by putting close to RM20k back into your pocket? Doesn’t seem like much, actually, at least on the outside. The projector headlights still feature LEDs, but they’re positioning lights rather than the brighter daytime running lights on the AWD (although this writer feels they’re actually better looking, as they form a seamless light guide rather than the DRLs’ individual diodes).
Elsewhere, the alloy wheels (in a Y-spoke design) are an inch smaller – measuring 17 inches – while the tail lights are now of a bulb type rather than LEDs. There’s less kit inside, too; the driver’s seat loses electric adjustment, dual-zone automatic climate control has been swapped for simple manual air-conditioning, and leather upholstery has given way to good ol’ fabric.
We’re not finished yet – there’s no Bluetooth, sunroof, keyless entry, push-button start or the rather gimmicky Flex Steer variable steering weighting system, either, and the Supervision 4.2-inch colour TFT LCD multi-info display has been ditched for a monochrome dot matrix screen.
However, you still get automatic headlights, power-folding side mirrors, a 4.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system with reverse camera, an Infinity seven-speaker sound system, a cooled glovebox and an auto-dimming rear-view mirror. Most importantly – and unlike the similarly basic Cerato KX – you still get six airbags, stability control, hill start assist and Downhill Brake Control (DBC).
Whether you choose two-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, power comes from a 2.0 litre Nu MPI four-cylinder petrol engine developing 154 PS at 6,200 rpm and 191 Nm at 4,700 rpm, sent through a six-speed automatic transmission. Although putting out the same amount of power, the 2WD’s lower weight should enable it to edge out the AWD model in terms of performance and fuel economy.
As for colours, the Sportage 2WD is only available in Clear White, Bright Silver and Mineral Silver. What do you think, guys – this or the HR-V?
Kia Sportage AWD facelift
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What to do with the keyless ? Using keyless entry to enter still have to take the key to start
Still have problem with immobiliser?
Habis lah Toyota Salesman. All crying like baby now. Who would buy a car for Rm150k and still get no VSC and 2 airbags (Camry)???
Now all the Toyota salesman are hiding. this Kia, so reasonable in price and yet it is packed with safety features.
And go and check in mudah, oto and carlies, Korean cars have the SAME RV as Toyota and Honda.
All the rumours in the past about Korean not having good RV is done by disgruntled Toyota salesman having ZERO sales in their office. They come online and try to bad mouth Korean cars.
the truth is, Toyota has got the worst RV ever. 1 year old 2014 Camry 2.5 now selling for RM98k, down from RM180k. Accident free and low mileage.
2013 Altis 1.8 selling for RM65k. Dealer so desperate, he told me even RM60k also he take. Brand new Atis is RM139k. In 1 year 10 months, the Altis can drop to RM60k. More than half price.
I hope we all here can help the Toyota salesman crying like a baby. Let us all buy pampers for them and also some formula milk and donate to all UMW showrooms
We have one still in his zaman kebodohan down a few comments.
suppose to be 191 NM and not ps.
It is not bad to make consideration before rushing a purchase.
http://paultan.org/2015/08/27/2016-kia-sportage-suv-officially-revealed-first-pics/
new facelift is coming..
still better looking than HR-V.
Kia Sportage 4WD, drinks fuel like water.
I wonder how 2WD perform.
anway, it makes HR-V a very cheap and ugly looking car.
suppose to be HRV 1.8V, not 1.5V
i’ll take sorento over hrv any day. better looking & better equipped compared to hrv. for me, giving full size alloy rim as spare tyre is very generous
Why compare SORENTO against HRV, different segment la
-BigBalls-
Over priced.
Shortage really drink fuel like water.
Car is very heavy at 1650kg.
Cx5 and hrv are better deal.
The ckd hyundai Tucson too only at 106k
wow quite heavy..performance wise HRV should be better with their 300kg+ lighter weight
No thanks. So sacked another 300 personnels at Gurun.
Is this CKD or CBU..?
Buy all you want. Don’t cry and beg me to accept this junk with 25k next year. After few years can’t even be traded in.
As I always said, buy Toyota better, good RV.
You understand or not? We want VSC and more airbags, not those useless bodykit!
Are you sure Toyota has good rv nowadays?
Kia K5 has better rv than camry with better kits, specs and safety features.
Nobody wants to buy Toyota now, UMW shares drop from RM10 to below RM8 today , very bad RV
zzz get the HR-V better. At least HR-V got some premium features like keyless entry push start and automatic climate control electronic parking brake that this Sportage 2.0 2WD lacks.
The all new Sportage was unveiled just a while ago and hopefully they will bring in the 2WD version to make things cheaper
me too miskin to take risk by buying KIA..i rather play safe and buy HRV..no regrets
Stock clearance?
Kia better RV than CAMRY….joke of the century….which MUDAH is this….the one in MARS