2018 Kia Stinger consumer reviews

My First car was a 360 H P Tri-power G T O, followed by a 911 Porsche and many more incredible, high performance cars but the Stinger is in a class by itself. The power , the technology and the design are like nothing I have ever owned or driven. Magnificent car!!!

This car is amazing! Not only does it go fast but the beauty of it on the outside is out of this world. The best!

Could use some work on interior (Seats) and affordable 52k?. Found better pricing different areas of Country. Happy to see it at 42-45k. More where it should be. Car is a Sleeping Giant for a Kia.

This is a lot of car for the money. Tasteful and sporty styling, amazing performance, comfortable interior, and plenty of standard amenities, even with the base model.

Very smart looking, comfortable ride and safe as well. The features are great. It?s a sports car both in looks , safety and comfort. Highly recommend this car.

4 door roomy car for a sports car. Very peppy engine with very good cornering. Very good sound system. Very good braking also. Fun to drive.

I got to test drive this car on a closed track at the Kia Experience at Met Life Stadium. It is the most fun to drive car and has great handling and so much power. I love it. Best car purchase I ever made.

My wife and I are no stranger to KIA and Hyundai, having been customers of both brands these past six years. We've been waiting for another sport compact coupe to come out to replace our aging KoupSX, but it seems KIA has abandoned that market to the Japanese. In the meantime, we were invited to drive the Stinger by the GM of our local KIA dealership. I had been intrigued by the glowing articles about the car. The opportunity finally came up during an oil change visit for one of our stable of KIA/Hyundai vehicles. I selected a GT2, which has an out-the-door sticker price north of $50k. This was my first chance at seeing one up close, much less driving one. Outside: The exterior design gives me pause, somewhat. Despite the artful hand of Audi's Peter Schreyer as the head of KIA's design board, the exterior of this car seems to be a stitched-together conglomeration that borrows heavily from other cars. The tail lamps look as if they were directly lifted from a current-generation Dodge Charger, and like that car, the Stinger seems like the factory got the front and back just right, but those darn sides were a problem. Its probably just the result of focusing on having a "sports sedan", but the car looks stretched and a little boring between the wheels. The Stinger is supposedly a clean sheet design, yet the overall visual signature of the Stinger seems to be that of an Optima with a body kit. The roofline and window glass looks almost identical at first glance. Closer examination of the car as a collection of parts reveals that almost nothing is identical about the two cars, which means an awful lot of work went into making something brand new look visually identical to something thats been out for years. What a shame. If you look at the original KIA Stinger GT Coupe concept, its obvious there are people there that know how to design an exciting-looking car. They must have all been on sabbatical when the Stinger sedan was sent to clay. Interior: I found the interior to be well laid out, and the material quality was above average, on par perhaps with the Volkswagen CC. I liked the heated/cooled seats. I did not like the nanny-functions. I can't stand beepers and lights warning me about cars next to me. The Stinger offers synthesized motor noise through the stereo, but I have no idea why = none of the settings had any effect on perceived sound level. The car had no tone to speak of no matter what setting I used. I'm not sure why KIA - or any manufacturer - would synthesize such sounds and play them through the stereo when they could simply use an intake sound tube between the airbox and interior, just as Hyundai does. Or just add a couple of resonators to the exhaust in the right spot, and tune the car properly. Make it, don't fake it. Performance: To produce the Stinger, KIA hired Albert Bierman away from BMW, where he previously headed BMW M, the performance division of that storied company. Apparently, not much of his expertise made it into this car. This car was quick. Very quick. I was surprised at how quick it was. It was also boring. The novelty of quick wears off... quickly... when one realizes that the car has no character. I found the sensation to be very reminiscent of driving old Cadillacs and Buicks and the like which had huge engines and old-school three speed automatic transmissions: Push the pedal to the floor, the trans downshifts, and the car scoots down the road with nary a bit of feeling. Its just a luxury barge with a tighter than usual suspension. To be fair, the car handled exceptionally well, but it did it in a numb fashion, if that makes sense. I felt disconnected from the road. The steering was tight and responsive, but offered no feedback. At no point did the steering feel like it was linked to the actual tires, but more like I was telling the car where to go, and after deciding that it seemed like a good idea it went there on its own volition. I haven't looked much into the sub-systems on this car but I'm willing to bet this is "electric" steering, not hydraulic. I didn't buy the car, though I actually went into the test drive with a desire to replace a KIA with another, new KIA, and I had a substantial downpayment in my pocket. Had I never read a single article about this car and then judged it on its own merits I may have been a little more lenient on it. But I'd heard all those shining reports of how this is the car that was going to break the German stranglehold on sports cars. If you've read any reviews of this car, you'll see many people making favorable comparisons to BMW, Audi, and the like. The word on the street seems to be "the Germans should be worried... look out! Here comes KIA!" Let me put that to rest: the Germans have nothing to worry about. Evidently Bierman thinks the Stinger should cost as much as a BMW in order to compete with one. But the value isn't there. This car doesn't have the performance of the German marques, certainly not the character, and KIA doesn't have the pedigree. If the GT2 was offered at a price point below $40k, then KIA would sell so many of these cars you'd be sick of seeing them on the road. At $50K+? No way. For that much money I could buy a three to four year old M3 or Audi S5, enjoy a much more road-connected car that does everything exceptionally well, and still have money left over for several sets of tires plus maintenance. Then of course, there were the nanny systems... I think my mind was made up when the car shut itself off at a stop light. I thought it had stalled but it was just a nanny letting me know I was about to save a tiny bit of fuel by shutting off the motor for 30 seconds, and sweating inside of a car with suddenly non-working AC. (No idea if KIA is aware that shutting a car off and restarting it within the next minute, dozens of times a day, will definitely shorten engine life as it washes the protective oil off the cylinder walls. We'll see how that works out for them.)

I bought this car thinking I could have a budget muscle / sports car with decent reliability. Boy was I wrong. 3000 miles in already and when I hit anything above 3000rpm the whole car is shaking and acceleration stalls out. Taken to dealer 2 times and they have been super rude claiming there are no problems. Accelerate onto the highway and it stalls out again when merging. This thing currently has the acceleration of a Prius. Taking back next week to have a look. 100k fake warranty I am never buying a Kia korea again. Should have gone with the mustang gt almost 500 hp car instead. xxxx Kia

Standard model does not come with bells and whistles like higher model does - expensive but decent interior. Sporty outer design with a low profile design