The Detroit Newspapers's view

A cable car ride here made me appreciate the merits of the redesigned 2005 Kia Sportage compact sport utility vehicle.

Let me explain. It is a rare new-vehicle introduction where reporters are allowed to test-drive cars and trucks at night. Most manufacturers prefer to have the media drive caravan-style during daylight hours, largely for safety reasons. That’s how Kia set up the drive of the new Sportage, which is being reintroduced to the American market after a hiatus of more than two years.

The five-passenger Sportage, which competes against such mighty products as the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Jeep Liberty and Ford Escape, is on sale now.

A 4×2 Sportage LX, the base model with a five-speed manual transmission and no air conditioning, starts at $16,490, including a $590 destination charge.

A top-of-the-line 4×4 Sportage EX starts at $21,990, including destination. Expect to pay $800 for air conditioning on the base model and $1,300 for a luxury package that includes heated front seats, auto headlights, a stereo with CD and MP3 player .

I deviated from Kia’s drive route to take an afternoon cable-car ride with a friend who couldn’t believe I had been in San Francisco a dozen times but rarely did any touristy things. By the time we finished our unexpectedly long excursion from Fisherman’s Wharf to Union Square and back, it was dark and raining.

I had left the Sportage in a parking structure near the Buena Vista Cafe, a local landmark that claims to have invented Irish coffee. When I returned, a Ford Escape was parked next to the Kia – ideal for an instructive side-by-side comparison.

The Sportage, with its beefier appearance characterized by flared wheel arches, makes the Escape look almost puny. This second-generation Sportage is larger than the previous model, with distinctive looks and personality.

The adjective that most buyers used to describe the old Sportage was “cute,” Kia says. The new Sportage is almost too substantial to be called cute anymore. Perhaps handsome?

But it wasn’t until I got behind the wheel and started to navigate San Francisco’s confusing streets with their serpentine turn lanes that I became sold on the Sportage.

I was feeling guilty about ditching the Kia executives and disobeying marching orders and I was determined to get the Sportage back safely to our hotel.

I needed to focus on where I was going and I was able to do that easily because the instrument panel controls are set up to be seen and understood easily. The knobs and dials are on a par with Toyota quality, the industry’s benchmark. They have very little slop in their slots and no cheap feel.

The ride control of the Sportage was confidence-inspiring, even on slick streets, and should be a major selling point with the Korean SUV’s largely female target audience.

The Sportage has a new unibody platform, which means it is patterned after a car, instead of a truck, and has a nicer ride quality. I noticed just the slightest bit of side-to-side tossing, but nothing that would unnerve you on an unfamiliar road in a strange city.

In addition, the Sportage’s standard safety features give you the sense that Kia has set itself up as Korea’s version of uber-safety-conscious Volvo.

No matter if you get a stripped-down version of the Sportage or the deluxe model, you get the same wide array of safety equipment. The list includes antilock brakes, traction control and electronic stability control, which contributed to my secure feeling on rain-drenched roads because it helps prevent fishtailing.

The new Sportage doesn’t skimp on air bags, either. There are dual front air bags and side air bags to protect front-seat passengers, as well as standard front and rear side curtain air bags that protect all outboard passengers. The six air bags alone may propel the South Korea-built Kia to the top of my shopping list in this segment.

You’ll have to pay $595 extra to get that level of air bag protection in the top-of-the-line Escape Limited, which is priced over $25,000. And front side air bags will add another $490 to the top-of-the-line Jeep Liberty Limited’s bottom line.

Quality used to be the bugaboo of the Korean brands, but that is rapidly becoming a nonissue. I got behind the wheel of several different versions of the new Sportage during that busy day and noticed no squeaks and rattles and very little wind noise, even at highway speeds.

The cabins of each of my test Sportages looked nicely put together with no noticeable gaps or errors. My biggest gripes about the Sportage centers on decorating and convenience features. Whoever selected the seat upholstery with the unattractive checkerboard pattern should be reassigned.

Buyers get a choice of two engines, a standard 2.0-liter four-cylinder that makes 140 horsepower and 136 pounds-feet of torque or an optional 2.7-liter V-6 that makes 173 horsepower and 178 pounds-feet of torque. The V-6 is mated to a four-speed automatic transmission, while the four-cylinder offers a choice of four-speed automatic or five-speed manual.

The EPA says the 4×2 Sportage gets 22 miles a gallon in city driving and 27 mpg on the highway, while the V-6 engine in the 4×4 Sportage gets 19 mpg in the city; 23 mpg on the highway.

Horsepower and torque are where Kia falls short of the competition. The Escape’s 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine makes 153 horsepower and 152 pounds-feet of torque. The Escape’s 3.0-liter V-6 makes 200 horsepower and 193 pounds-feet of torque.

The story is the same with the Jeep Liberty. The Liberty’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine makes 150 horsepower and 165 pounds-feet of torque. The Liberty’s 3.7-liter V-6 makes 210 horsepower and 235 pounds-feet of torque.

Despite the Kia Sportage’s lackluster horsepower numbers next to the competition, it is a decent performer on the highway and seems to have adequate power for passing and merging.

Although Kia could probably dispense with its 10-year, 100,000-mile limited powertrain warranty and five years of roadside assistance that it offers on the new Sportage, buyers are coming to trust the brand after all it continues to offer them.

Even if I didn’t have my cable-car adventure that exposed me to the benefits of the new Sportage in a sweaty-palms situation, I’d probably still give the SUV a strong recommendation.

In fact, this may be the best time of all to buy a Kia Sportage, before the company gets wise and figures the product can now stand alone without a great warranty and other service extras.