Kia Sportage
Mild-hybrid powertrain brings efficiency gains to top-spec SUV
Top-spec SUV gets mild-hybrid tech
Kia sold a Sportage every 69 seconds last year, making this mid-size SUV its most popular model in Europe. To maintain that momentum, this mid-life refresh brings with it aesthetic refinements, updates to the infotainment system and a gamut of safety technologies.
All of these things are, perhaps, trivial developments relative to the debut of a new electrified powertrain. It takes the form of a range-topping mild hybrid, with the efforts of a 2.0-litre diesel engine assisted by those of a compact starter-generator unit that’s belt-connected to the crankshaft. Power for the 48V ‘Ecodynamics+’ system comes from a lithium ion battery mounted beneath the f loor of the boot, and the 13bhp electrical boost it facilitates takes the Sportage’s total output to 195bhp.
Lift off the throttle to coast, or use the brakes, and starter becomes generator, recharging the battery with energy that would otherwise dissipate in the form of heat.
Kia has yet to confirm the car’s fuel economy on the new WLTP test cycle, although it claims the technology helps effect an improvement of up to 4%. That’s an incremental gain, admittedly, although the compact hardware itself requires almost no repackaging of the engine bay and will propagate through Kia’s model line-up in the near future. During a short stint of motorway driving, our test car returned roughly 52mpg.
Were it not for the car’s ability to shut off its engine entirely on the move (not that our test car at any point did so), in practice you’d be hard-pushed to detect the presence of hybrid hardware. Throttle response isn’t notably sharp, and neither is the car conspicuously slowed off-throttle by the regenerative element. In short, it feels normal, although this is a memorably smooth powertrain that remains well isolated until you exercise it in a way few owners will.
The Sportage rides a touch firmly and with a slight jostle, perhaps as a result of increased spring rates, and steers predictably, although it never feels anything other than a vehicle with a lofty centre of gravity.
The technology appears to be well integrated, but only long-term tests will accurately assess the benefits. We suspect it might be more effective on less-powerful Sportage variants. Given that the system is compatible with both a manual transmission and front-wheel drive, we doubt Kia will wait long to let us find out.