Kia Stinger GT-S | Spotted
Kia's loveable rear-drive, 370hp fastback is fast sinking under £20k. Still not tempted?
If automotive history teaches us anything, it's that interesting things tend to happen when carmakers step outside their comfort zone. The short-lived Kia Stinger GT-S is a case in point: yes, the Korean giant knew how to build front-engined execs, but it had not previously attempted to step so blatantly on the toes of its European rivals in a premium market that they dominated.
The rear-drive flagship was a siren call to anyone considering a similarly fast Audi or BMW. And, as it tends to, Kia came to play: the Stinger looked brilliant and drove very pleasantly because it was overseen by industry heavyweights Peter Schreyer and Albert Biermann, men who knew what it took to make a 370hp fastback appeal to European buyers. Appeal it did, though mostly to car hacks bored to tears with the long-running German hegemony of the wider segment.
Badge snobbery, snowballing SUV sales and admittedly punchy running costs ultimately held the GT-S back - although they were also among the reasons that ensured cult status almost immediately. That and the fact that its 3.3-litre twin-turbocharged V6 was a subdued sort of peach, enabling a sub-5 second 0-62mph time, and the Stinger itself which drove like a genuinely accomplished GT - one with a limited-slip differential and reasonably good idea of what fun-to-drive should feel like.
Unsurprisingly, all this made the punchiest version a seem like an even better bargain secondhand than when it was new, though its relative scarcity (certainly compared with the German rivals it failed to outsell) meant that prices did not arrive at the cliff edge some had expected. Only now, some three years since the Stinger disappeared from UK showrooms - and eight years since it launched - has the GT-S consistently turned up at the £20k mark.
Here’s one with 52k on the clock, and another with 63k, both almost on the button. And a slightly leggier one at £19k. Admittedly, the subject of today’s spotted is slightly pricier, but it looks terrific in Ceramic Grey over full black leather, and boasts the kind of service history you’d want from a car departing the safety net of Kia’s transferable seven-year warranty.
Of course, for now, the Stinger’s reputation is sustained by the idea that its demise had a lot more to do with external issues than its own qualities - whether or not it becomes a genuine future classic will depend on a good deal more on how the latter is viewed over time. But from where we’re sitting, the GT-S looks like a practical, fast, comfortable and good-looking fastback with no little amount of Q-car intrigue or basic talent. It makes an increasingly compelling case for preservation.
SPECIFICATION | KIA STINGER GT-S
Engine: 3,342cc V6, twin-turbocharged
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 370@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 376@1,300-4,500rpm
CO2: 225g/km (WLTP)
MPG: 28 (WLTP)
First registered: 2017
Recorded mileage: 39,700
Price new: £42,495
Yours for: £22,989
I think they get overshadowed in the power stakes, more along to an M lite kind of output but they are quick enough for most.
Also had a Borla exhaust which was so loud it was completely at odds with the q-ship looks.
We didn't get the RWD versions on our side of the channel. Those might be more interesting.
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.
If I remember rightly they are generally very well-specced, but have 5k service intervals I think?
6k or 6 month intervals which was the most strict anywhere in the world for some unknown reason and likely another nail in its coffin. Good luck finding one that has been serviced correctly because so many have not, but mine had 13 of them by the time I traded it in. Service plans were cheap though. I bought 3-10 for £1,438 and saved around £1.5k in out of plan servicing. The biggie is 10 which is around a grand on its own not in a plan. I was servicing every 5 months on average but other than your wallet feeling it, there is no doubt frequent oil changes keep a car running its best. I even do my wife's GR86 every 5k/6 months despite Toyota offering a 10 year/100k warranty but it's cheap insurance and also a car we plan to keep until the wheels fall off. I just don't trust those Subaru boxer engines... I see enough going bang in the facebook groups.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=20...
If I remember rightly they are generally very well-specced, but have 5k service intervals I think?
6k or 6 month intervals which was the most strict anywhere in the world for some unknown reason and likely another nail in its coffin. Good luck finding one that has been serviced correctly because so many have not, but mine had 13 of them by the time I traded it in. Service plans were cheap though. I bought 3-10 for £1,438 and saved around £1.5k in out of plan servicing. The biggie is 10 which is around a grand on its own not in a plan. I was servicing every 5 months on average but other than your wallet feeling it, there is no doubt frequent oil changes keep a car running its best. I even do my wife's GR86 every 5k/6 months despite Toyota offering a 10 year/100k warranty but it's cheap insurance and also a car we plan to keep until the wheels fall off. I just don't trust those Subaru boxer engines... I see enough going bang in the facebook groups.
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