How We Rated the 2023 Kia Sportage

What is the Sportage?

To begin, let me state unequivocally that the current Kia Sportage has no obvious flaws. That may not sound like a glowing recommendation, but its plush seats, extensive list of tech features, and long warranty make it a strong contender in the class. 

The problem is that there are so many terrific compact SUVs on the market that the Sportage gets lost in the mix. Kia has recently been on the rise, and the prospect of an underwhelming crossover amid its otherwise impressive portfolio isn’t sitting well with the company. Thankfully, a revised Sportage will be available in a few months, and it appears to address many of the issues with the current model. When the 2023 Kia Sportage arrives in dealerships next spring, expect it to shatter expectations.

What’s under the hood of the Sportage? 

The Sportage will be available with a number of engines, as Kia and its parent company, Hyundai, have been increasing their powertrain ranges for their small SUVs. 

How’s the interior of the Sportage? 

The paucity of inside space in the modern Sportage is one of its drawbacks. Because of its length, it falls somewhere between the subcompact and compact segments, so consumers looking for a family-friendly SUV (not the three-row Sorrento) will be disappointed. Kia listened to customer concerns and expanded the total length and wheelbase of the 2023 model. The new Sportage should be slightly larger than the Honda CR-V, which is now the market leader in terms of passenger and freight capacity. Indeed, the new Kia’s load capacity of 39.6 cubic feet beats the CR-39.2 V’s cubic feet. 

Though we can only go by images at this juncture, the revised interior of the 2018 Sportage has the potential to be another major standout. The available digital instrument panel and large centre touchscreen are housed together in a single housing unit, creating the impression of a one continuous screen. It has a layout similar to the Sorento’s, which we think is one of the highlights of that vehicle’s interior. 

What’s the status of the Sportage’s technology? 

The latest Sportage includes ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, and front and rear parking sensors, which are hard to find in competitors. These premium features, as well as new ones like a surround-view camera and a Wi-Fi hotspot, will be available in the 2023 Sportage. The redesigned control cluster beneath the touchscreen has piqued our interest. It allows the user to choose between climate and radio functions for the knobs, providing context sensitivity to physical controls that we haven’t seen before. It’s a cool feature that ingeniously combines digital and analogue controls. 

The Sportage will come standard with a number of advanced driver assistance features. Every Sportage will include forward collision alert with pedestrian and bicyclist detection, automated emergency braking, rear parking sensors, and lane centring assist. Blind-spot monitoring, a blind-spot camera, and an adaptive cruise control system are standard on higher models, which can automatically reduce speed when entering a zone with a lower speed restriction. To say the least, when the Sportage debuts, it will be one of the most technologically advanced vehicles in its class.