Kia Sportage facelift review: more of the same from big-selling SUV

Kia’s Sportage is one of the best-selling cars in the UK, and it has a lot of plus points – a big boot, eye-catching styling and a wide range of engines and trims to name a few – but the latest generation was introduced in 2021, so it’s high time it had a mid-life nip and tuck.

We’ve driven a pre-production version of the facelifted Sportage and can confidently report that Kia hasn’t ruined a good thing. However, it’s not really changed that good thing at all – and that might be a problem when you compare it to newer and more exciting SUVs.

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Kia Sportage facelift – what’s new?

The most obvious change is to the front end, where the Sportage has gained a more upright grille and vertically-stacked headlights making it look a little more like the brand’s recent electric cars such as the EV3 and EV9.

Visual changes to the sides and rear are less obvious, but there are some new alloy wheel designs plus slightly reworked headlights. This generation of Sportage has always been fairly eye-catching, so you could argue that Kia didn’t really need to do a lot to bring it up to date. Hyundai took a similar approach when facelifting the Tucson, which is mechanically identical to the Sportage under the skin.

Inside the changes are similarly muted. The upper portion of the dash has been redesigned – slightly – to accommodate a new 12.3-inch touchscreen and what Kia says are ‘hidden’ air vents. In truth, it’s just continued the styling of the vents across the whole width of the dashboard. The touchscreen runs a new version of Kia’s software, too.

The lower portion of the dash remains the same, with a dual-purpose touch-sensitive panel giving easy access to climate functions, and a rotary gear selector alongside physical controls for the seat heating and ventilation.

There’s less shiny piano black plastic in the interior now – Kia says it took feedback from customers who said it collected scuffs and fingerprints too easily – and there’s also a new two-spoke steering wheel similar to that in the EV3.

Quality feels top-notch – even in this pre-production model which had a few areas not up to sale spec. The materials used for the most part feel solid and high-quality.

What’s it like to drive?

The engine line-up remains the same as the current Sportage. There’s a 1.6-litre petrol engine, producing 150hp and paired to either a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic. There’s also a 1.6-litre self-charging hybrid, which puts out 238hp. The plug-in hybrid model will make a return, but not immediately – Kia hasn’t yet said if it’ll be the same powertrain or a new and improved variant.

We sampled both a petrol automatic and the self-charging hybrid model on the roads around Frankfurt, and the good news for fans of the current Sportage is that we struggled to tell any difference.

The petrol model is smooth and quiet – at idle you can’t really hear it at all – and only really makes itself heard in the cabin when you really rev it. It doesn’t feel especially muscular, though, and with a Sportage fully loaded with four passengers and luggage it feels as though you’d have to work it quite hard.

The seven-speed automatic is nice and slick,, without much of the hesitation that you can sometimes get with the dual-clutch gearboxes in something like a VW Tiguan.

The self-charging hybrid is actually a little less impressive. It starts on electric power and turns the engine off at low speeds, but it’s clunkier when switching between its two power sources than a Toyota RAV4 or Vauxhall Grandland Hybrid. The engine doesn’t sound especially nice, either.

The suspension does a decent job of ironing out bumps on the motorway but it does feel a little stiff around town. A Citroen C5 Aircross or Skoda Kodiaq are both more comfortable, while a Ford Kuga feels more sporty when you get to a decent road – the Sportage’s steering feels quite remote and disconnected from the front wheels.

It’s not in the least bit bad to drive – but like the pre-facelift Sportage, it’s pretty forgettable. Most people buy a Sportage for its style or its practicality, not how it feels to carve up a B-road.

Anything else to note?

Practicality remains unchanged so the facelifted Sportage will still be a brilliant family car. There’s lots of room in the back seat, and the boot is up to 587 litres in capacity – a Nissan Qashqai can only muster 505 litres.

The entry-level Sportage will cost from £30,885 – just a few hundred pounds more than it did before. The hybrid powertrain was previously unavailable in this entry-level car, but it is now and it costs from just over £34,000, making it almost £2,000 less than the previous cheapest hybrid model.

All versions come with 17-inch alloys, LED lights and the 12.3-inch infotainment screen, but if you step up to GT-Line you get a sportier exterior styling pack, 18 or 19-inch wheels (depending on your engine), heated front seats and steering wheel, and artificial leather upholstery. Meanwhile, the range-topping GT-Line S gets adaptive headlights, a panoramic sunroof, a full digital driver’s display and Harman Kardon sound system.

Should you buy one?

If you already had your heart set on a Sportage, this updated one won’t change that. Though our impressions are based on a pre-production model, it’s not much different to the old car, and key improvements to interior materials do help the interior feel a bit more family-friendly.

However, it doesn’t move the game on much. The newly updated Nissan Qashqai e-Power is a better hybrid, while if you want a plug-in hybrid there are cars like the VW Tiguan which offer a long range and super-low company car bills without having to wait. Key alternatives like the MG HS bring almost as much practicality and quality as the Sportage in a much cheaper package. So it looks as though the Kia Sportage remains a practical, if not exceptional choice for a family SUV.

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