Stinger’s on pace

Kia has facelifted its Stinger for 2021, although you’d be forgiven for not being familiar with Kia’s high performance four-door saloon because it’s a rare sight on British roads. Which is a shame because it has a lot going for it.

An attractive car when it was launched several years ago, Kia has resisted the temptation to meddle with the Stinger’s looks. The front end is virtually unchanged but the back gets new LED tail lamps that include a band of illumination running the width of the car.

That and newly designed alloy wheels are the only external visual clues. Inside there are more significant changes – a new frameless rear view mirror has been fitted, the steering wheel has gained some metallic trim and there’s a new 10.25in infotainment screen and digital driving instruments.

The latter include a function that displays a door mirror’s view when you’re indicating to overtake.

It’s more gimmick than useful aid, not least because the vehicles behind look as though they’re further behind you than they actually are. Stick with the traditional door mirrors.

Kia used to offer the Stinger with a smaller petrol engine and a diesel option but now the car is only available with the 3.3-litre twin-turbo petrol engine that produces an exciting 361bhp. This enables a top speed of 167mph and 0-60mph in 4.7sec, which sound impressive.

In reality the Stinger GT-S doesn’t feel as quick as those numbers suggest.

Partly it’s down to the fact that the eight-speed auto gearbox has a sluggish shift, but also because the V6 engine has a rather subdued note, even though it’s enhanced through the car’s speaker system.

More of an issue with the engine is its thirst. Kia quotes an official combined fuel consumption of 28mpg but in practice you’ll be running nearer 25mpg on a long trip and even lower around town.

Obviously plug-in hybrid rivals like the new Peugeot 508 PSE which has similar performance are a lot more economical, as is BMW’S M340i which isn’t even a hybrid.

We took the Stinger on a long run up to North Wales and back, and because the fuel tank only holds 60 litres it required a stop which doesn’t really qualify the car for Grand Tourer status even if it does have those initials in its name.

Also, a shortage of rear legroom doesn’t make the big Kia a natural choice for long journeys with a grown-up family aboard. A rather stingy 406-litre boot doesn’t help with that role, either.

But the Stinger GT-S’S ace card is undoubtedly its price. Our test car costs £43,330 without options added and, here’s the clincher, apart from metallic paint there are no options because Kia has loaded the car with a huge equipment list.

Both the BMW and Peugeot I mentioned before cost almost

£10,000 more, and you can buy a lot of petrol for 10 grand.

This review may seem loaded with negatives but the Stinger GT-S isn’t without appeal.

To my eyes it looks great and this rear-wheel-drive motor is entertaining on the road and very quick, even if it doesn’t feel like a car that can fire you from 0-60mph in less than five seconds.

But what’s best about this Kia is that it isn’t a BMW or an Audi and it’s great to have variety in life, especially when it comes to cars.