Perhaps there is a lesson here for Honda Acura. It is possible to build stylish and distinguished cars that look good.

There’s no indication from his review that this product is less than stellar. For its price this is an absolutely Sparkling product. Ive seen Mr Kleis rip into much more expensive products before like no tommorow.

Mr Kleis to my chagrin is correct about how these 2 products are too much alike. The Hyundai should have had GDi, and options such as Leatherette dash panels, etc… The Tucson is too affordable for its own good.

You can top a Tuscon out to be a a few hundred bucks more than the top of the line Sportage Mr. Kleis tested, but to be honest the Tuscon is the better deal as it started out at a higher price than Sportage, and to top one out its not as

31 MPG seems great, but its not going to cut it anymore in a Hyundai unless its a Genesis, which by the way GDI in Genesis will give that car 31 MPG. For a KIA that’s great as its supposed to be the sportier less efficient brand, but in a Hyundai its not going to cut it.

A Santa Fe should be 31 MPG with a V6 GDI at that.

Im really pissed and disappointed about this, and I refuse to buy Sportage or Tucson in protest until they drop a GDI. The company knows this too. It would have just been cheaper to do it this way to scale down economy and cost, but no they continue to stubbornly pick from the same parts bin without consulting each other on what they are doing.

Yeah, Hyundai and KIA employees sign papers to not consult each other on product development. I think its a bad idea as if Hyundai knew what KIA was going to put in their Sportage, Im quite sute the Tucson would have been a somewhat different product in terms of options than it is now.

That’s the crux of that problem Mr Kleis.

The rear end is BLAND! Especially in comparison to the front.

The center console slants upward a little too much, putting a glare on the display on a sunny day.

The ride is a little stiff, although there were no rattles while going over bumps.

One strange thing which I have never seen before, was the door to the fuel tank is plastic.

Overall it is still a very nice vehicle.

Yeah…the interior isn’t that great but almost all interiors in this class suck (except for the CR-V, Tiguan & Equinox…with more emphasis on the latter two).

The Kuga went into production in 2008 and the new Sportage derives much of its exterior from the Kue concept which Kia revealed in 2007.

http://www.allcarnews.com/article/concept/all-new-kia-kue-crossover-naias/

Aside from that, the 2 have completely diff. greenhouses, rears, headlamps and grills.

Sportage EX models can be further enhanced with available features, including leather-trimmed seats, heated front seats, an air-cooled driver’s seat, push button start with Smartkey, rear sonar detector and rear-view back-up camera, heated side mirrors and a panoramic sunroof.

Now if they could just do something about the low-rent looking interior. That dash looks like it belongs in a Versa/Yaris competitor – not a CRV competitor.

A very nicely executed little rig. Well done… again… Kia.