RE: Kia Stinger GT-S | Spotted

[Bladedancer]

I have to say these are holding their value remarkably well.

[Goatwidcoat]

Bladedancer said:

I have to say these are holding their value remarkably well.

Yep I only lost £12k in 5 years and 61k miles but I did buy September 2020 right before car prices spiked like crazy and normal depreciation was still a thing. Not too bad at all and a lot of car for the money around £20k.

[kurokawa]

911Spanker said:

Other than potentially being a bit more reliable,.what does this actually offer over a 340i?

I test drive the 3.3 before I got my 640d gran coupe.
Compare to my 640d
The Stinger offer more values, almost all the options on the 640d is standard on the Stinger.
It is not as sharp as a 3 series on cornering, more a GT.
I believe it is about as big as my 640d.
The stinger is quick but surprisingly quiet. It is more comfortable than a 3 series
I go for the 640d because the Stinger I was viewing have missing service and hence lose the warranty and I have always been a BMW diehard fan

[moggy1000]

Goatwidcoat said:

I sold mine last month after 5 years and 63k miles. Absolutely adored it and never put a foot wrong. I'd been all over France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany in it on numerous holidays. Mine is still up for sale last I checked at NK Motors for £23k. I had no plans to get rid but the V8 itch has been gnawing away for too long and I just picked up a very good condition W204 C63 estate of which there is a the previous owner's reader's rides thread on the car. The Stinger being more modern is better in many ways and I prefer how it looks, but nothing beats that stonking 6.2l V8. It truly is a bucket list car of an era we will never see again.

I had changed the exhaust and intakes on my Stinger to give it the noise it deserves as stock it is completely silent. Never had a car draw so much attention on the road and start so many conversations out and about as people still had no idea what it was. Hell of a lot of car for the money.

The last pic I took as I handed over the keys

We have quite a decent petrolhead setup at home at the moment. I have the C63 and a Honda Integra DC5 Type R and my wife has a Toyota GR86. Still not quite over that I get better MPG driving the Honda to Donington Park, doing 125 miles flat out on track, driving home and still getting better MPG than the C63 pootling about. It sure makes a terrific noise and the wallet emptying is forgiven.

Edited by Goatwidcoat on Tuesday 30th September 20:39

I have been looking at these for a few years now and so close to going ahead but its a chunk of money that it needs to be worth it!

Went to look at a black one yesterday just to get a feel and on start up it really was silent. I noticed in your posts you fitted the Borla exhaust. Realistically what is the volume like on start up for that or are they valved?

The car would be used some early mornings and my 130i has a different silencer that means you enjoy the noise and can tell its a 3.0 from standing by but its not quite Impreza loud (the other early morning culprit). I like a quiet car for the neighbours and long journies but need volume if I have such a good engine so i'm torn

[Goatwidcoat]

moggy1000 said:

I have been looking at these for a few years now and so close to going ahead but its a chunk of money that it needs to be worth it!

Went to look at a black one yesterday just to get a feel and on start up it really was silent. I noticed in your posts you fitted the Borla exhaust. Realistically what is the volume like on start up for that or are they valved?

The car would be used some early mornings and my 130i has a different silencer that means you enjoy the noise and can tell its a 3.0 from standing by but its not quite Impreza loud (the other early morning culprit). I like a quiet car for the neighbours and long journies but need volume if I have such a good engine so i'm torn

The Borla is not valved, only on the facelift US cars do they have this as an option. It is loud on start up but it's very hard for any car that is not valved to get around this. Once the cold start is over though it can be tame when you want it to be and loud when you put your foot down. It completely transformed my enjoyment of the car even more.

Not scientific but using my phone with an app from 1m back the stock exhaust was 77dB on cold start and the Borla 86dB which I think translates to perceiving it just under twice as loud.

One thing to watch for and very much needed with any aftermarket exhaust for the Stinger is that the stock system finishes just short of the exhaust tips which are part of the rear bumper (but removable). The stock system has external flaps which help the sound not hit the rear of the bumper and bounce right back into the cabin. The hatch design just creates a chamber for all this noise to boom back into the cabin so aftermarket tips which connect directly to the exhaust to carry the sound out the back are needed. The inside noise is loudest at 2k rpm which is 80 on the motorway but this is reduced massively with the tips. There is a reason the Kia engineers designed it to be the sound it is or everybody would moan about drone.

The C63 seems quieter on cold start and is over faster but louder with your foot down. I saw my neighbour's face drop when I initially told her I bought a 6.2l car haha. Her first question was is this louder than the last?

Been wanting to switch the exhaust on my wife's GR86 as they are completely silent but she is out at 6am 3 days a week and as you mentioned with the Impreza, a Boxer engine can be really boomy and loud on cold start. It can be mapped out of course but we want to retain warranty (despite wanting to change the exhaust).

Edited by Goatwidcoat on Thursday 2nd October 17:46

[Magikarp]

Looks like the mist recent owner is nowhere near as assiduous with servicing as they should have been. That’s a red flag.

[pacdes]

Weekendrebuild said:

Just a boring saloon..

Highly likely he's never driven one. LMAO.

[ninepoint2]

biggbn said:

Big_Steve said:

Even kia regretted producing this joke of a motor judging by the five short years of it s shabby existence

This is an interesting point. A car that was pretty universally praised, an affordable, practical quick car...but a 'joke of a motor'? Why do you say that? I can understand you don't like them, each to their own...but what makes it a joke in your eyes?

Because Steve is a moron I guess

[Gustavo7]

Had an encounter with one of these in the Dartford tunnel last weekend. It was making some noise, sounded nice.

I do like a Stinger, nice to see they are “holding some value”, but how difficult are they to sell? (Privately)

[Goatwidcoat]

Gustavo7 said:

Had an encounter with one of these in the Dartford tunnel last weekend. It was making some noise, sounded nice.

I do like a Stinger, nice to see they are holding some value , but how difficult are they to sell? (Privately)

They are a niche car so the market is already smaller to start with. I've only ever managed to sell one car privately which was a £3.5k MX5. Tried to sell my wife's 1 series for £14k before and despite being almost the cheapest on the market for age, spec, miles I still couldn't shift it and there was nothing wrong with it. Part ex offers were £12k and Motorway paid me £13.5k for it.

I went straight with this route with the Stinger too as I had already bought my C63 so needed the money back sooner rather than later. Motorway and Carwow were within £100 of each other and £3-£4k more than Kia and WBAC and maybe £1k less than I might have got privately. Called my local dealer on a whim which does a lot of Kia's but also high end cars that the owner has (currently have a Ferrari, Rolls Royce and Bentley also up for sale). They offered the Motorway/Carwow reserve as a guaranteed sale if I brought it down that same day so went with that option. The salesman did his classic if you don't bring it down I'll buy it tomorrow at auction for less than reserve if it doesn't reach lol. I couldn't see me getting more than maybe £500 more than reserve plus waiting a week or two, another month tax, extending insurance etc so went with this option as the easiest sale ever. I asked the dealer who I bought the C63 from if he could look to see what current bids were and it was £3k less than reserve, although this could have well moved closer to the time.

At £20k I can't see you losing much on one at this point in their life.

[dunc69]

Interesting how many Kia Stinger Spotted and other threads there have been on here since 2017.

They often follow a similar path - those who don’t get it / like them, those who came close / thought about buying one, and then the few who took the plunge.

It is interesting that seemingly all the PH-ers who bought one loved them.

Me included. Had one for nearly three years. What a car!
Miss it sometimes, and am so pleased I took the plunge.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Always enjoy seeing them on the road even now. They look great on the move particularly, and are so low and wide at the front as they approach. They really catch the eye.

Well done Kia I say.

Edited by dunc69 on Sunday 5th October 21:16