I spent last week in the company of a Kia Stinger GT S. It’s not the first time I’ve driven one, but this was a proper test, involving everything from Welsh border B-roads and the derestricted roads of the Isle of Man to an embarrassing number of ‘just nipping out for some milk’ journeys.
The car covered around 1,000 miles, so there was plenty of time to explore its strengths and weaknesses. And right now, 48 hours after a man from Kia UK came to take it away, I’m contemplating spending the rest of my life with one. It really is that good.
I’ve been here before. ‘Owning’ a press car for a week is a little like a holiday romance. The car arrives as though it has just rolled out of a showroom, with a full tank of fuel and no concerns over the usual drawbacks of running a car. Depreciation, tyre wear, tax, insurance or maintenance. It’s a privilege to borrow a press car, and something I’ll never take for granted.
Other cars have made a good impression. In March I borrowed a Toyota GR Yaris for issue 40 of Classic.Retro.Modern. magazine and was blown away by its cross-country capabilities. It’s brilliant, but I’m not about to drop the best part of £45,000 on a new one. Then there’s the Citroën C4 Cactus I ran for six months. I actually asked Citroën for a price before it returned to head office. Had there been an option to pay in instalments, I’d have bought it.
There have been others – the Toyota GT86, Ford Fiesta ST and Volvo V40 Cross Country T5 are three that spring to mind – but this feels different. The Kia Stinger GT S could be the one.
I should point out that the road trip couldn’t have gone any better. I shared the drive with a good mate, which is always better than ‘flying solo’. The weather was perfect, even on the Isle of Man. And even the speed limits and ‘safety’ cameras in North Wales couldn’t spoil the party. Does anyone actually enjoy driving in Wales any more?
At the heart of it all was the Stinger. A good name for a robot in Robot Wars, perhaps, but not so great on the back of a car. I’m surprised it doesn’t come with a supply of pampas grass seeds and a glass ashtray capable of holding several car keys.
The GT S makes a great first impression, especially in Electric Blue. Fun fact (or maybe just a fact): the colour was commissioned by Kia UK at launch to gauge demand before adding it to the options list. It’s no surprise that it became an option later in the car’s life, meaning this launch car effectively previewed a colour buyers couldn’t yet order. I suspect Kia UK won’t be selling it in a hurry. Shame.
At 4,830mm long and 1,870mm wide, it sits somewhere between Audi’s S5 and S7, giving it proper grand tourer dimensions. And it has presence by the bucket-load, managing to turn heads in the queue for the Isle of Man ferry, on the island itself, and when queuing in traffic. Only BMW M140i drivers appear annoyed by its presence on the road. Ask me how I know…
The fake vents on the bonnet jar a little, but at least it has four proper exhaust exits. No faux nonsense here, thank you very much.
As you’d expect from a car with a 3.3-litre V6 twin-turbo engine producing 365bhp, it’s properly quick. The 167mph top speed and 0-60mph time of 4.7 seconds tell one thing, but winning a game of Korean car Top Trumps isn’t the game here. In the real world, on Monmouthshire B-roads, Shropshire A-roads and the Isle of Man’s famous mountain roads, the acceleration feels brutal. Very un-Kia-like, especially for someone who remembers the brand’s entry into the UK, when it shared cars and showroom space with Mazda.
Its biggest strength is its breadth of talents. Some rivals are sharper, with more precise handling. Others offer more steering feel. Some are probably quicker. I haven’t checked, but I suspect evo magazine gave it four stars. That feels about right: three stars as a sports car, five as a GT.
With the ferry from Douglas not departing until mid-afternoon on the last day of our trip, we spent most of the day exploring the island. One minute it’s falling into line with the commuters between the capital city and Castletown, the next minute it’s being catapulted between corners on the TT Mountain Course.
The most exhilarating bit was actually away from the motorcycle route, on the A4 between Peel and Kirk Michael. A 10km stretch of road sandwiched between the Irish Sea and the hills of the Isle of Man countryside.
On this day, when the sea was as blue as the sky and the roads were as clear as a Don Henley lyric, everything slotted into place. The sort of drive that rouses the butterflies in your stomach and the hairs on the back of your neck to stand to attention. As my co-driver Matt will testify, I let out an involuntary yelp and said that my year had just peaked. In a Kia. I know, right?
I started the drive by telling Matt I was concerned the Stinger would lack soul or character. Those intangible things that turn a car into something special. The sort of thing that makes you look over your shoulder when walking across a petrol station forecourt or giving it a pat on the top of the dashboard after another great drive. My concerns were neutralised somewhere between Peel and Kirk Michael.
Having seen the Isle of Man in its best light and with a 167mph Stinger GT S at our disposal, we were reluctant to board the ferry home. Arriving in Liverpool in the middle of the rush hour was a rude awakening, but the Kia took everything in its stride.
With congestion reported on the M6 and M5, we took the more direct route through Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, joining the motorway at Tewkesbury as the sun was setting. From there, the Kia’s long-distance credentials came into their own: heated and chilled seats, adaptive cruise control, smooth automatic transmission, two decent cupholders, wireless phone charger, clear instruments… the sort of things that help to ease the pain of a long motorway drive.
I’ve written a thousand words, which is about 500 more than I planned. You can check out one of the proper titles for a decent review of the Kia Stinger GT S, but let’s just say that I’m desperate to turn this holiday romance into a long-term commitment. My man maths even suggest that I can afford the monthly repayments if I’m prepared to ditch the entire Petrolblog fleet.
I didn’t expect one of the best cars I’ve driven this decade to have a Kia badge on the bonnet. And I didn’t expect it to leave me staring at the cars I own and questioning my decisions.
The Stinger really does live up to its name. And I should probably write a proper review.
