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A BMW, a Jag and… a Kia? That’s the kind of company the Korean brand is aiming to keep with its new £40k performance saloon. Richard Lane discovers if the Stinger GT-S is up to the task
Even from the cabin of the BMW, handsome in Estoril Blue, the attention slathered on the leader of our small convoy isn’t difficult to see. It could be that car’s own rich hue, which is suspiciously similar to Alfa’s Competizione Red, or the strangely discreet quad exhausts, or the fact that its prominent haunches flow rearwards to meet a tapering fastback and form an eye-pleasing Kamm-tail of sorts. All warrant a closer look. Or those enjoying the delights of the M4 westbound on this overcast weekday morn could simply be leaning over to make sure they’ve read the badge on the boot-lid correctly. So we’re all on the same page, it says ‘Kia’.
By now you’ll be aware of the Stinger, seen here in top-spec, establishment-bating, eyebrowraising GT-S trim. You may have also heard that it’s better than expected, with plenty of go and a chassis that’s, not to beat around the bush, rather lively. But good enough to be regarded as a proper driver’s car, one that might be considered an alternative to the likes of BMW’S 440i M Sport and the Jaguar XE S? Surely not.
It pays to be open-minded, though, and a short while later the Stinger’s respectably heavy key fob is in hand. Climb aboard and it isn’t the elegant expanse of its interior that surprises most. Neither is it the high, wide transmission tunnel, with its Audistyle gearlever, nor the porthole-style air vents (Mercedes) or the dash-top infotainment system (BMW). It’s actually the driving position, which sinks deep enough for your eye-line to skim the top of the wraparound dash. Plenty of adjustability in the steering column then allows you to set the firmly padded steering wheel, with its satisfying narrow girth, close to your chest, in turn extending an invitation for your legs to stretch out and greet the pedals. All this comes as revelation because the relationship between a car’s principal controls is an ergonomic maze in which experienced marques still get lost from time to time. That Kia has more or less nailed it straight off the bat bodes very well indeed.
As does the Stinger’s spec-sheet, underscored as it is by one very attractive number: £40,495. Okay, there will be those for whom that seems a disturbingly substantial wedge to hand to a brand best known for its seven-year warranty, but just consider what it gets you. Nestled within the Stinger’s vaguely piggish snout is a 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 whose 365bhp is delivered to the rear wheels through a paddleshift-operated eight-speed torqueconverter built in-house and – how about this for intent – a mechanical limited-slip differential. That it will sprint to 62mph in a shade over five seconds and nudge 170mph flat-out makes it suitably brisk. Suspension is by Macpherson struts at the front with double wishbones at the rear and, in a first for Kia, there’s adaptive damping. Braking comes courtesy of Brembo, while the variable-ratio steering rack gets the same powerassistance set-up as Hyundai’s terrifically precise i30 N hot hatch.
Mind stubbornly closed? The fact that neither of the other cars here gets a mechanical LSD and that the disparity in on-paper performance between the three is so small as to be irrelevant should set you straight. It’s advantage Kia, particularly when you consider that its new flagship undercuts the BMW by £4000 and the striking Jag by double that. But how does it all translate to the road?
Pretty damn well, in short. As we put chunks of West Berkshire between our convoy and the averagespeed-camera hell behind us, this Kia quickly strikes a charming old-school balance between action and traction. Its 255-section rear rubber might appear a touch weedy underneath coachwork of locomotive proportions but Kia’s restraint is to our benefit, the car’s rear-driven characteristics permitted to come to the fore. To nobody’s surprise, the morning’s drizzle means burying the throttle at every opportunity is a fruitless approach – as if greasy
Of the three cars, the Stinger makes the fewest mistakes
tarmac wasn’t enough, this engine develops peak torque at just 1300rpm – but it’s not that kind of car anyway. Better to let your gaze wander up the road and manipulate the slightly soft suspension – even Sport mode takes a relaxed approach – to work the tyres through corners, carefully guiding the car’s substantial bow and conserving as much momentum as possible. It’s satisfying rather than thrilling, enjoyable if a little supervisory, but you don’t buy a car like the GT-S for a white-knuckle ride.
The mechanical set-up – based on a modified Hyundai Genesis chassis – reflects this. The steering is well geared but not the most direct, and body control over this kind of tarmac is such that the Stinger will only tolerate being hustled. It will reward you for doing so, even, communicating its intentions honestly just so long as your inputs remain deliberate and considered.
This comes as a relief given the 1780kg kerb weight, which does, alas, eventually tell. The car’s body movements fall behind the road when things really ramp up, and the mass feels concentrated at both ends of the long chassis. That can be a nice problem to work around if you’re greedy with the throttle, as the LSD ensures proceedings remain neat during moments of predictable, easygoing yaw, but the front axle often needs babying into corners with a firm application of those tremendous Brembo brakes. Limitations aside, though, this is some UK debut.
Whatever the quoted figures specify, the Jaguar XE S feels similarly portly to the Kia. That said, it seems to hold a distinct traction advantage on these roads, even with the notably sharper response of its whining 375bhp supercharged V6. This could be down to the 265-section Pirelli P Zeros but is more likely because the suspension does a better job of checking body movements before they become problematic. Our test car is wearing what could just be the most kerb-able wheels in existence, with tyres that consequently resemble rubber bands, and yet it rides along these B-roads with a poise and surety that the Kia, for all its barrel-chested composure, never really feels like matching. Straights obliterated, the Jag’s allaluminium platform then carves into bends beautifully, with a front end that feels appreciably more alert than that of its rival and which claws into the road surface with greater enthusiasm, even if there isn’t a great deal of feedback through the weighty, slightly elastic steering. It’s a car that urges you to chase the throttle and yet never feels unduly ragged.
It’s a brutal initial examination for the Stinger GT-S, which doesn’t flow like the XE-S (very little does) and can’t match its agility. Here’s the thing, though: enough similarities exist between the pair that an XE S owner, forced to borrow a Stinger for weekend, may feel a tinge of remorse come Monday morning. Both do the GT thing well and both are deceptively quick, the Jag’s 3.0-litre engine hitting harder, higher up
in the rev range, but there are times when the simpler Korean car, developed at the Nürburgring (sigh), elicits the more palpable sense of fun.
And so to the BMW. We attempted to get hold of the four-door Gran Coupé version for this test but had to settle for the 60kg-lighter coupé. Remarkably, it’s the Stinger that makes shorter work these tricky roads than our stiffly sprung M Sport-spec 440i, which finds good pliancy but also demands a strong hand for the steering wheel, whose fat rim is prone to writhing through your palms over corrugations in the road. Occupying the last rung on the BMW ladder before you’re in M4 territory, it sits at the opposite end of the sports saloon spectrum to the Kia, trading isolation from the road for closer acquaintance with it, warts and all.
The payback is involvement. For 2017, BMW has tweaked the car’s suspension geometry, damper rates and anti-roll bars, as well as the steering, all in the name of keener dynamics and increased feedback.
The 440i simply has a different set of priorities to the other cars here, particularly the Stinger, which comes across as flat-footed by comparison. The steering is low on road-feel but weights up beautifully through bends and, front-end duly nailed, it gives you a confidence only the Jag can compete with. Both cars hit their stride at a higher level than the newbie. The BMW’S 322bhp twin-turbo straightsix is also the pick of the engines here and pulls ferociously hard, it’s creamy delivery punctuated only by the crisp shifts of the eight-speed auto ’box and a slither of turbo-lag. Anyone predisposed to the raw charms of the light-blue car will probably find it hard to love the Kia. Equally, potential Stinger customers won’t clamour to shell out for a less supple rival with a poorer overall ride. It’s the XE S that emerges on top by best meeting the needs of both cohorts.
Ultimately, though, Kia’s trump card really is that modest asking price. It’s an admission the brand doesn’t currently expect the GT-S to be taken seriously by buyers and yet the truth is that, of the three cars here, this is the one that makes the fewest mistakes. The BMW blots its copybook with its long-range refinement, or lack thereof, while the Jaguar’s price tag gives serious pause for thought. Value, pace, comfort and the ability to entertain are all part of the Stinger package, even if its interior quality does let it down.
As we’ve established, the GT-S also trails its rivals in pure dynamic terms, something largely down to the knock-on effects of its excessive kerb weight. But it’s not night and day. If Kia can find a way to trim the fat, give the V6 a voice to match the well-balanced, extrovert chassis, and also calibrate the gearbox to go about its business in a fractionally less ponderous manner, it would undoubtedly win more hearts. In fact, failure to do so would be a dereliction of duty, because in this bold new model, Kia has delivered not only a real proposition for drivers but one that could challenge for class honours in the future. It’s that good.