RE: Kia Stinger GT-S: Driven

[RossF1984]

aaron_2000 said:

Is there a C-Class at that price that's close to as fast? Thought the C43 was around £50k?

I wasn't basing my choice purely on speed. It was based on the "whole package" ie. Looks, usability, PRICE, performance, etc. Obviously some of these are totally personal preference but I just feel that the Stinger has been priced too high for a car from Kia and that is coming from a current Kia owner who is very happy with his current car and the price of it. I actually feel disappointed that they priced the Stinger so highly... I would of ordered a 'GT-S' all day long if it was ~£35k. I think Kia have missed a trick here and think that people will be able to pick up an absolute bargain in 2 years time... That's if you can get hold of one as have people have already said, I don't think many GT-S' will be knocking about the UK.

[DaveH23]

Remove the bonnet vents and it's not that bad looking.

As others have said it needs to be priced sub £40k

[daemon]

aaron_2000 said:

Is there a C-Class at that price that's close to as fast? Thought the C43 was around £50k?

The C43 can be got for around £41K after discounts.

[theplayingmantis]

r11co said:

theplayingmantis said:

.....backed up by a misleading 7 year warranty...

What's misleading about it exactly? The terms and conditions are clear from the outset.

I know someone who recently had the electrically folding mirrors of their KIA Sorento replaced, in their entirety (not just the motors or mechanism) under warranty with no quibble. The car was registered new in March 2011 so is in the final year of the seven, and the car is into its second owner.

The dealership could probably have come up with a million real or alleged reasons to wriggle out of the claim - box not ticked on a service schedule 5 years ago or no record of the correct type of air in the tyres, or even saying the mirrors could have been clipped in the past before the current owner had the car (which said owner would not have been able to dispute) but they didn't.

But the naysayers will continue to peddle the same st about 'white goods' with not a hint of irony about the most popular colour choice for their preferred halo marques.

Oh, and with regards to build quality - the Sorento in question is enduring the same sort of use as my own BMW but it hasn't suffered the same oil leaks, water-pump failure, peeling trim or ECU water ingress. Mirrors that stopped folding in were a trifle in comparison.

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 4th October 14:13

you do know what white goods means, don't you?

[theplayingmantis]

aaron_2000 said:

RossF1984 said:

As an on-going owner of some of Kias modern vehicles (Post 2012) and somewhat "brand champion" (Most of the people who give them a bad rep have never been near one, let alone owned one, pure badge snobbery!) even I have been put off from placing an order for the Stinger with the rather steep and in my opinion mad pricing! I fail to see the logic behind their pricing.... I think they have totally missed their target market, in the UK at least.

I have been pestering my local dealer for placing an order for the 'GT-S' but having seen the pricing I would rather go over to the 'darkside' and place an order for a C-Class.

Is there a C-Class at that price that's close to as fast? Thought the C43 was around £50k?

probably not but no where near as embarrassing

[moffat]

Stinger the Minger.

Awful and it needs to be £15k less than a 440 to compete. Currently you can get 20%+ discounts on the 440 with 2.9% APR. Use the savings to invest in Individual leather and leather dash and a sprinkling of M Performance parts including the amazing MPPSK (M Performance Power and Sound Kit) which takes the car to 360bhp and provides a full switchable sports exhaust making it sound better than a stock M4.

[Momentumous]

The car this most closely resembles is the Infiniti Q50S. Not many of them have sold and the hybrid manages about 33 mpg. The Q50 however had bad reviews from most of the press in the UK despite being liked elsewhere. Like everyone says cannot see many of these on the road but they may be available for alot less. I bought a 4wd Q50 hybrid for less than half list price at 2 years old with 25k miles.

[DonkeyApple]

RossF1984 said:

As an on-going owner of some of Kias modern vehicles (Post 2012) and somewhat "brand champion" (Most of the people who give them a bad rep have never been near one, let alone owned one, pure badge snobbery!) even I have been put off from placing an order for the Stinger with the rather steep and in my opinion mad pricing! I fail to see the logic behind their pricing.... I think they have totally missed their target market, in the UK at least.

I have been pestering my local dealer for placing an order for the 'GT-S' but having seen the pricing I would rather go over to the 'darkside' and place an order for a C-Class.

I don't think they intend to sell many here. I suspect the job of this car and its price tag has more to do with shifting perceptions and selling more of the standard vehicles.

[vz-r_dave]

Typical of PH to start an article on the interior quality rather than the performance and drivability

[vz-r_dave]

moffat said:

Stinger the Minger.

Awful and it needs to be £15k less than a 440 to compete. Currently you can get 20%+ discounts on the 440 with 2.9% APR. Use the savings to invest in Individual leather and leather dash and a sprinkling of M Performance parts including the amazing MPPSK (M Performance Power and Sound Kit) which takes the car to 360bhp and provides a full switchable sports exhaust making it sound better than a stock M4.

I'd rather not look like the fool who should have just got an M4 in the first place so I am all for the Minger.

[RamboLambo]

The german stuff isn't all its cracked up to be and they are just trading off the badges reputation. The fact that the Kia Stinger is being compared to them shows you how much the brand has improved.
I think people need to visit their Kia dealer when its launched and drive one before they make sweeping opinions based on what ?, past perception at best.

New Kia's are fantastic products with great standard spec, fantastic build quality and reliability hence why they can offer a 7 year warranty unlike any other manufacturer. How long do the germans warrant their cars for, - 3 years ???????

Agree with the monthly PCP argument but until the monthly prices are known the list price for what you get seems very reasonable and I'm surprised its not closer to the £50k mark with the spec. Its easy to add another £15k on the equivalent german base price to get similar spec

[IJB1959]

r11co said:

D200 said:

'I know someone'

Is that someone you? You seem to know a lot about this someone.

Yeah I do. He's my father. Owned a string of Audis and Mercs, but bought a KIA once and never looked back.

Yep, retirement sometimes means you do have to compromise to lower spec.

[anonymous-user]

I am finding the relentless negativity and knowing cynicism a bit tiresome here to be honest. It's a new venture for a company who are trying to shift perception, and gets greeted by a barrage of scepticism from people that cannot have had the opportunity to try one. Online reviews are as much use as chocolate teapots, and I find it sourly amusing that people actually base their own perceptions on them. I cannot wait to see and try one.

[IJB1959]

Simonium said:

I am finding the relentless negativity and knowing cynicism a bit tiresome here to be honest. It's a new venture for a company who are trying to shift perception, and gets greeted by a barrage of scepticism from people that cannot have had the opportunity to try one. Online reviews are as much use as chocolate teapots, and I find it sourly amusing that people actually base their own perceptions on them. I cannot wait to see and try one.

Fair comment on some points, but I have seen one at my local dealership. All I can say is it is a good effort, but the price point is wrong for the quality of build. Had they been in the RRP ITRO 32k then it would be a good buy, particularly with the new VED. At 40k the quality & competition alternatives are to strong to compete with.

[Pesty]

I like it

Looks great to me sound like it's a good drive and powerful

Then again I've never been a badge snob and just realised since I bought the terracan now own three Korean cars .

[r11co]

IJB1959 said:

Yep, retirement sometimes means you do have to compromise to lower spec.

He retired 23 years ago having sold his business for a 7 figure sum so budget constraints were not the deciding factor. He wanted a taller car because his mobility wasn't what it used to be and he was struggling to get into and out of his A8.

He wanted a 4x4 and considered Land Rover and Jeep as the class of the field but notoriously unreliable, and regarded the Q's, X's and M's as pretenders to the throne so he may as well try all the pretenders. He spotted the lightly used Sorento and the rest was history.

OK, so he's in the 'elderly' demographic now, but he is a man who for decades bought German cars starting from their heyday of genuine superior build and reliability and he's been around long enough to know that they are now trading on that reputation while at the same time having chipped away gradually at their over-engineered quality, while others have caught up and raised their game. His last Audi was sold with 118,000 miles on it when failure of the twin catalytic converters made it uneconomical to repair.

Exactly the sort of customer KIA wanted to win over, and did so successfully thanks to a worthy product with honest after-sales service, even for the second owner.

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 4th October 18:52

[TomScrut]

HB2K said:

As others have said, this car is clearly not aimed at the UK market at all, and it will probably struggle to sell here given the absolute fixation we have with German executive saloons.

But I am interested in how Kia's brand is moving upmarket. I see a lot of Sportages (and the odd Santa Fe) around, and many of them are sitting next to expensive German machinery on the front drive - so it's a brand many people have invested in.

Makes me wonder whether Hyundai MG would consider bringing the Genesis brand over to compete with Lexus and Infiniti?

We have an S5 and a Sportage. Both ideal for their primary drivers!

[daemon]

IJB1959 said:

Simonium said:

I am finding the relentless negativity and knowing cynicism a bit tiresome here to be honest. It's a new venture for a company who are trying to shift perception, and gets greeted by a barrage of scepticism from people that cannot have had the opportunity to try one. Online reviews are as much use as chocolate teapots, and I find it sourly amusing that people actually base their own perceptions on them. I cannot wait to see and try one.

Fair comment on some points, but I have seen one at my local dealership. All I can say is it is a good effort, but the price point is wrong for the quality of build. Had they been in the RRP ITRO 32k then it would be a good buy, particularly with the new VED. At 40k the quality & competition alternatives are to strong to compete with.

+1

They've been seen more recently as slightly lower priced competition to Skoda, SEAT, Vauxhall, etc with a longer warranty. Its a big step up to all of a sudden be asking close to the price of say a 440i / C43 (both of which are exceptionally good and established) and expect people to just go "oh thats ok then, lets pay the £40,000".

[TomScrut]

vz-r_dave said:

I'd rather not look like the fool who should have just got an M4 in the first place so I am all for the Minger.

So basically we should decide on who we buy our cars from by who's halo models we can afford?

It's like buying the best house on a bad street rather than the second best house on a good street.

[CaptainSensib1e]

IJB1959 said:

r11co said:

D200 said:

'I know someone'

Is that someone you? You seem to know a lot about this someone.

Yeah I do. He's my father. Owned a string of Audis and Mercs, but bought a KIA once and never looked back.

Yep, retirement sometimes means you do have to compromise to lower spec.

Wow, some serious bellends in this thread