Kia Stinger GT

Positive taste of Kia’s sporty Commodore alternative

WE PRIDE ourselves on being able to assess a car after the briefest of drives, but this is ridiculous. After being bundled out of a bus in the pitlane of the old Nurburgring Nordschleife, I’m hurried into a Kia Stinger GT, a car I’ve never sat in, let alone driven, and waved out on to the track in hot pursuit of Dirk Schoysman.

He’s the bloke who broke the eight minute production car record here in a Nissan R33 Skyline 20 years ago. And judging by his pace on what is supposed to be the sighting lap, someone forgot to tell him he got it in the bag. Two laps, and less than 20 minutes later (even Dirk couldn’t manage an eight in the Stinger), we’re back in the pits and summarily ejected from the car. Wait, what just happened?

What just happened is Kia took a swipe at the rear-drive establishment, and managed at the very least a glancing blow. Having caused a world of pain to mainstream European and Japanese brands, the Koreans have set their sights higher.

Likely to be priced in the mid$ 40K bracket when it arrives here in September, the Stinger is bigger, roomier, better equipped and more distinctive than some of its established premium targets, though some of the Usa-aimed detailing is a bit fussy.

Under that long bonnet you get a choice of two engines, both installed north-south, and both mated to Kia’s own eightspeed automatic transmission: a 182kw/353nm 2.0 turbo petrol that’ll do 100km/ h in 6.0sec, and the top-of-the-range V6 GT. ( There’s also a 2.2-litre diesel good for 147kw and 7.7sec to 100km/ h, but not headed here.)

The V6 GT is the car we’re driving today, and likely to be the bigger seller in Oz. A $ 55,000 twin-turbo missile that seems set to fill the rear-drive void left by Commodore later this year, the GT’S 272kw V6 pushes it to 100km/ h in a claimed 4.9sec and on to a 270km/ h top speed. This makes it the fastest production Kia yet, and gives it a marketing boost over German rivals pegged to 250km/ h by their limiters.

You can’t argue with those numbers, or with the push in the back you feel, but it’s not the most charismatic engine. The note is fairly muted and flat, however Kia Australia is promising a fix with the option of a bimodal exhaust ( see sidebar, right.)

The chassis is the real star, and justifies this whole slightly nuts Nordschleife caper. Former BMW engineering guru Albert Biermann ( see profile, Wheels, July) has done a fine job with this car. Some markets get the choice of rear- or four-wheel drive, but only the

rear-driver is coming to the Australia, and that’s fine with us. We drove both and the all-paw is noticeably stodgier, feeling duller both on turn-in and exit, despite the supposed rear torque bias.

Considering its circa-1750kg kerb weight, the rear-drive car has great body control, accurate, natural-feeling steering and the balance to let you hook up the mechanical limited-slip diff and drift the tail out of the circuit’s slower corners. An electronic diff will come later, but this is already a fun steer, provided you accept it’s not meant to be a full-blown sports sedan.

We’ll have to wait until later this year, when we’ll get more than 20 minutes behind the wheel, and in versions tuned for Australia to know just how good the Stinger is. But there’s real promise here, and the Germans have cause to be concerned, if not by this car then the cars that will follow.