No surprise that latest Kia is a winner

engines. The cheapest comes exclusively with front-wheel drive and a manual gearbox, but it doesn’t get turbocharging

The turbocharged 1.6 T-GDi petrol is stronger, especially at low revs, but it still needs pushing harder than the diesels. You can have this engine with the standard six-speed manual or an optional seven-speed automatic gearbox. If you go for this engine, though, you’ll get four-wheel drive as standard.

Family SUVs don’t need to handle like a hatchback but the Sportage keeps body lean controlled through bends and stays more upright than many rivals and grips well, too.

Although there is such a wide range of choice all versions get a rear-view camera as standard, with rear parking sensors added on 2 trim. If you want front parking sensors, you’ll need to upgrade to a 4 model which also adds features like blind spot monitoring.

Even the most basic Sportage in 1 trim gets a 7.0in infotainment touchscreen with Bluetooth, a DAB radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. If you must have built-in sat-nav, you’ll need to upgrade to 2 trim. Moving up to 4 or GT-Line S brings an eight inch touchscreen and a USB port for those in the back to charge their phones.

The Sportage has a big boot, with a floor that’s flush with the boot opening and the rear seats when they’re folded down.

The 1.6 diesel in 2 trim is keenly priced, undercutting the equivalent Nissan Qashqai and has a spacious interior, but isn’t quite as good a drive as some of its main rivals.

Prices are from £20,305 for the base ‘1’ trim model with 1.6 diesel power (114bhp) up to £35,140 for the GT-Line S 2.0-litre CRDi 182bhp AWD auto.

More info at www.kia. co.uk