Firestyle Magazine: Issue 6 - Winter 2016
Welcome to the Firestyle Magazine – The Magazine for the 21st Century Fire and Rescue Services Personnel. Please visit our website for more: http://firestylemagazine.co.uk
Welcome to the Firestyle Magazine – The Magazine for the 21st Century Fire and Rescue Services Personnel. Please visit our website for more: http://firestylemagazine.co.uk
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Kia<br />
Sportage<br />
1.6T-GDi<br />
The Kia Sportage has been one of the Kia success stories, and<br />
now Kia has introduced a new 4th generation of the vehicle that is<br />
probably one of their best sellers, writes Bob Hickman.<br />
The Sportage range between £17,995 and £31,495 and there is quite a huge selection of choices to<br />
be made. There are 4 engines, 3 gearboxes, the choice between front or 4-wheel drive and there<br />
are 5 levels of trim, the top specification being the particular vehicle that I had on test recently,<br />
the GT-line. What I particularly liked about my derivative was the 1.6-litre engine which produced a<br />
healthy 174 bhp but what was impressive to me it drove all 4 wheels. This particular Sportage is not<br />
just a look at me I am a 4-wheel drive look alike, this was a genuine 4-wheel drive vehicle, so when<br />
the good old British weather turns a bit nasty, think, icy or horrendous rain you are going to have that<br />
security of 4-wheel drive if you have chosen this particular derivative.<br />
It has a high CO emission of 177 so it is not going to be cheap to tax and the fuel figures quoted<br />
are 37mpg, I only managed to achieve 34mpg on a combined cycle on a variety of various roads<br />
including an odd bit of motorway but primarily around town and on country roads.<br />
The 5-door body shape is new and as in keeping with a lot of manufacturers is slightly longer by 40mms,<br />
albeit the wheelbase has increased and this does generate just that little bit of extra interior legroom.<br />
The floor has been cleverly lowered, again if you are not quite as able as you would like to be, this makes<br />
for a vehicle that is easier to get in to.<br />
The cabin is generally comfortable, it is a pleasant area to be cocooned within and in the dark trim it<br />
seemed to suit the vehicle although I do like lighter head linings and the tinted windows all round tend to<br />
diminish the ambiance of being ensconced within this vehicle.<br />
The boot on the Sportage is a bonus it is exceptionally wide and even allowing for the wheel arches you<br />
can store a tremendous amount of luggage within this, the rear seats do fold back and you then have<br />
almost 1.5 metres of transit van type of luggage carrying capacity.<br />
It was gratifying to note that the 1.6-litre engine performed quite well, the 6-speed gearbox had excellent<br />
ratios, and whilst I am a critic of some manufacturers it was possible to utilise both 5th and 6th gear around<br />
town, they had not been incorporated in to the vehicle just to allow for extra fuel economy.<br />
The specification on my derivative was very high, the 19” alloy wheels really set the vehicle off, and the<br />
LED ice cube front fog lamps and the LED day running lights and rear tail lights are an attractive option to<br />
the vehicle. The electronic equipment within my vehicle was easy to understand and very easy to operate,<br />
the BlueTooth system, one of the easiest that I have come across to lock in my mobile phone. The Satellite<br />
Navigational System proved to be an easy companion and the wonderful reversing aid allied to a reversing<br />
camera proved to be simplicity in itself when you came to reversing this larger size vehicle in to a confined spot.<br />
All the Kia range come with the superb and industry leading 7-year or 100,000 miles warranty.<br />
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