NATURAL PERFORMER
Colin Smith says Kia’s Neon Orange Stinger GT is a quick, effortless drive
Neon orange signals a second chance for one of 2018’s most talked-about cars to grab a second share of the spotlight. And to warrant a second stint for me behind the wheel.
Kia has launched this special edition Neon Orange Stinger GT, limited to 10 units for the Kiwi market.
The vivid orange is contrasted with gloss black highlights — the roof plus the bonnet and side vents — to deliver the visual impact of a Mega Mitre 10 store and some added audio accompaniment with a bi-modal exhaust system.
Those changes excepted, this is a standard Kia Stinger GT delivering the increasingly rare rear-wheel drive large car format and endowed with 3.3-litre V6 twin turbo urgency and
an eight-speed automatic transmission.
It’s a rich exhaust note — not intrusively loud but sending a clear message that there is real horsepower under the bonnet.
The areas where the Stinger has most appeal are its distinctively low and wide saloon styling — although it’s a five-door liftback — and powertrain excellence with impressive turbocharged performance.
It’s also smartly finished inside and with pricing unchanged at $69,990 it stacks up as a lot of car and a lot of performance for the money.
Question marks wavered over the Stinger GT in regard to offering little better than 2+2 accommodation for a relatively large car and having not entirely convincing chassis responses once you ventured away from smooth road surfaces.
On my first acquaintance in early 2018, the Stinger was accomplished on smooth surfaces with the excellent Continental tyres providing impressive cornering grip. But the Stinger was over-reactive to the midcorner bumps and corrugations on real-world Kiwi roads.
Not long after the Stinger hit the market it was confirmed that Kia was working on changes to settle the rear suspension.
This limited edition car was the first time I had sampled these changes and I made a point of driving on some of the same roads that I felt had tested the composure of the suspension about 18 months earlier.
My initial verdict had been the Stinger was too soft in the Comfort suspension mode to feel much like a sports sedan but switching to the Sport mode made the rear too sensitive. It didn’t like high frequency corrugations and even moderate throttle application out of bumpy slow corners prompted thumps from the rear wheels and the traction control was eager to intervene.
It’s not that the tweaked Stinger is obviously stiffer or more sporting, and the new set-up means you’re more likely to stay in the Comfort suspension setting on a uneven Kiwi back road and not reach for the Sport button at the first encounter with some twisty stuff.
Seek out the V6 turbo performance with the revised set-up and Stinger behaves more like a sports sedan. The rear will squat a little, the transmission smoothly picks up a lower gear and the Stinger accelerates hard. I’d be inclined to leave the car in the Smart drive mode most of the time and move to Sport on favourite stretches of road.
The GT runs on 19in alloy wheels and Continental ContiSportContact 5 tyres in mixed sizing — 225/40 R19 front tyres and 255/35 R19 at the rear. It also has powerful braking with 350mm front discs and four piston Brembo callipers and 340mm discs at the rear with two piston callipers.
Performance is the big appeal of the Stinger GT. The 3342cc V6 twin turbo develops an impressive 272kW at 6000rpm and the close ratios of the eight-speed transmission — with paddle shifters — is an ideal match to the 510Nm of torque that is available from only 1300rpm and flat lines till 4500rpm.
The V6 has a snarly urgency when asked to work harder — or settles at a relaxed 1600rpm to achieve top gear 100km/h cruising.
Power and weight conspire to make the Stinger GT a relatively thirsty beast and I averaged 9.6L/100km on a highway run and 10.7L/100km overall.
The Stinger GT’s looks and performance are matched with a comprehensive sports-luxury equipment level.
Standard features include a powered tailgate and tilt/slide sunroof, leather trim, dual-zone climate control, a 15-speaker Harmon Kardon audio system, colour head-up display, wireless smartphone charging, rain sensor wipers and proximity key entry with push button start.
There’s a clear 7in TFT instrument cluster while the 8in central touchscreen has satellite navigation including SUNA traffic updates.
You sit low in the Stinger and supportive front seats have adjustable side bolster shape. The driver’s seat has eight-way power adjustment plus cushion length adjustment, four-way lumbar adjuster and a two-position memory. Front seats are heated and ventilated.
The issue of marginal rear seat space remains with tight headroom under the sloping roof along with moderate kneeroom and a large centre tunnel that intrudes into the footwell space. There’s a wide but shallow 406 litres of boot space.
The Stinger GT safety package includes adaptive cruise control, Forward Collision Warning, Lane Keep Assist, Driver Attention Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Blind Spot Detection.
Excellent LED headlights are standard with High Beam Assist and the Stinger GT has tyre pressure monitoring.
The Kia Stinger GT is quick and effortless and driving the Neon Orange edition confirmed it has become a more cohesive package when it’s taken beyond the smoothest hot-mix and on to roads with twists and camber changes.
Looks and performance are matched with a comprehensive sportsluxury equipment level