Kia Sportage review | The Car Expert

Make and model: Kia Sportage – 2025 facelift
Description: Mid-sized SUV, petrol/hybrid/plug-in hybrid
Price range: from £30,885

Kia says: “The new Sportage – one of the UK’s favourite new cars in recent years – has undergone a significant mid-life refresh, with a new exterior designed and interior capabilities.”

We say: The driving might feel the same, but there are plenty of useful updates in the new Kia Sportage that should help it maintain its enormous popularity in the UK.

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Introduction

This is the updated Kia Sportage, a substantial mid-life facelift to one of the UK’s best-selling new cars. Kia might have a dozen different models in its range (with a few more on the way), but the Sportage makes up more than a third of all Kia’s UK sales, so it’s that the updated model helps to keep those sales ticking along.

The current, fifth-generation Sportage went on sale in the UK in early 2022, and this is an update of that car. Based on usual car manufacturer timelines, we can expect this version to be on sale until 2028/29 before being further updated or replaced.

The new bits mostly consist of revised styling, upgraded interior and a simplified range line-up. You have a choice of petrol, standard hybrid or plug-in hybrid (which will arrive a little after the other two) powertrains, any of which can be had in either front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. As part of this update, and in line with almost every car manufacturer these days, the previously offered diesel engine has been binned off.

Even after more than three years on sale, the Sportage still holds an Expert Rating of A in The Car Expert’s industry-leading Expert Rating Index. So how effective and meaningful are these 2025 changes? We attended an exclusive preview in Germany to drive a pre-production version of the latest Kia Sportage.

What is it?

The Kia Sportage is a mid-sized SUV, which is basically the default family car segment in the UK new car market. For the last couple of years, it’s been the best-selling car in its class and one of the best-selling cars of any kind in the UK, usually just ahead of the (UK-built) Nissan Qashqai.

The 2025 update provides some revised exterior styling, with a new front end and slight alterations at the rear, plus the usual new wheels and revisions to the paint choices. The nose looks more squared-off than before, with a large rectangular grille flanked by Kia’s stylised ‘Star Map’ LED running lights that are more elaborately shaped than the previous boomerang-shaped lights. It’s still recognisable as a Sportage, but looks fresher and cleaner.

The rear styling changes are more subtle, although the rear bumper is new, with the most visible difference being changes to the LEDs within the rear lighting pods.

Inside, there’s been a similar tidying up of the vents and materials, with a new steering wheel nicked from the EV6 being the most obvious change. There’s good news if you don’t like fingerprint marks everywhere, as the glossy black plastic from the previous model has been replaced by a textured matte grey plastic.

At launch, there will be a choice of two power units, both carried over from the previous model. These are a 1.6-litre petrol unit and the same engine as a hybrid, with an electric motor and small battery pack for a bit of electric-only running. Both can be had in two-wheel drive (driving the front wheels) or all-wheel drive forms. If you like changing your own gears, you can get a six-speed manual gearbox on the base model (called ‘Pure’) or mid-spec model (called ‘GT-Line’). All other versions are only available with an automatic transmission.

A plug-in hybrid model will follow before the end of the year, but Kia is keeping specifications under wraps for now. Don’t expect anything radically new, as it will presumably be the same powertrain as available previously.

What do you get for your money?

Kia has streamlined the Sportage line-up, which is always good news for consumers. There are now three trim levels, starting with the entry-level ‘Pure’, which kicks off at just under £31K for the petrol engine with a manual gearbox. Mid-level spec is called ‘GT-Line’, which starts at just over £33K, while top-spec ‘GT-Line S’ is a steeper jump with a starting price of £40K – however, that model is only available as an automatic, which accounts for £1,700 of the £6,900 difference. All of the pure petrol models are two-wheel drive only.

If you want the hybrid version, it’s about a £3,600 jump (although, again, that includes about £1,700 for the automatic gearbox). So the Pure starts at just over £34K, the GT-Line at £37K and the GT-Line S at £42K. The top-spec model is also available in all-wheel drive, which adds £1,600 to the GT-Line S price to hit the road at £43.7K.

GT-Line and GT-Line S models get slightly different styling to the base-spec Pure models, with chunkier bumpers, bigger wheels, more black trim and chrome skid plates.

The only factory option is paint colour, with white being standard and four or five (depending on specification) other extra-cost choices. Your Kia dealer can load you up with various other accessories, like towbars and floor mats, but the range is now very simple.

The interior tech gets an upgrade in line with Kia’s latest EV models, so the updated screens respond faster and offer a few extra features like Netflix and Disney+ apps (only when stationary, and you need a subscription. In fact, you’re better off just buying an iPad…). There’s also now a head-up display on the top-spec GT-Line S models, and some reorganisation of various controls.

Overall, each trim level is pretty competitive for the money. We won’t regurgitate the full list of standard features here, since you can find all that information on the Kia website, but the Sportage seems to stack up well against similar cars in this segment.

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that the Kia Sportage has a class-leading seven-year/100,000-mile new car warranty, which is good for both new and used car buyers. Some of its rivals are still rocking a bare minimum three-year warranty, so this is a big plus.

Expert tips

• Three trims, no optional extras except paint
• Competitive levels of equipment
• Seven-year/100,000-mile new car warranty is excellent

What’s the Kia Sportage like inside?

As with the exterior, it’s a case of evolution rather than revolution inside the new Sportage. Kia has smoothed out the dashboard, hiding the big angular air vents and squaring off the touchscreen surround for a simpler and cleaner look. The glossy black plastic previously used in the centre console and elsewhere has been replaced by a brushed silver plastic, which is much better at hiding fingerprints.

If you’re comparing it with the now-replaced version from the last three years, you’ll find that the dimensions in every direction are exactly the same. The Pure models get black cloth upholstery with no heating and manual adjustment, while the sportier models get two-tone black and white artificial leather/artificial suede. They’re still manually operated on the GT-Line, but you do get heating for the front seats and steering wheel, while the GT-Line S offers electric adjustment with memory for the driver’s seat, plus ventilation for the front seats and heating for the outer rear seats. The GT-Line S also gets a big panoramic sunroof, which certainly brightens up the cabin.

Cabin space is good up front and reasonable in the back. Like many cars, longer-legged drivers will wish for a bit more fore-and-aft adjustment of the steering wheel, but finding a comfortable driving position should be easy enough for most people. Boot space is also good, not the best in its class but plenty for most household needs.

The overall layout is functional, with dedicated buttons and dials for features such as air conditioning, seat heating, and mirror adjustment. It doesn’t look as minimalist cool as many almost-buttonless interiors that are becoming prevalent these days, but it is much easier to adjust things on the move, which is far preferable.

We drove pre-production cars during our time with the new Sportage, so some of the plastics were not final specification (very shiny and hard, whereas production versions will be softer and textured). This made the interior feel cheap in places, especially with the top-spec model’s head-up display, which looked tacked onto the top of the dashboard. We’ll need to see the final production versions when they reach the UK to properly assess but Kia is pretty good in this area compared to most brands, so we expect the interior quality to be on the money.

Expert tips

• Interior has a good blend of touchscreen and physical controls
• Base-spec Pure upholstery is a bit plain, other models have much nicer artificial leather/suede combo
• Only top-spec GT Line S gets a panoramic sunroof, which brightens things up considerably

What’s the Kia Sportage like to drive?

If you’ve driven the soon-to-be-replaced version of the Kia Sportage, this one is going to feel exactly the same. There have been no significant upgrades to the Sportage’s mechanical package so there’s nothing new to report here.

If you’re not familiar with how the Sportage drives, then you can sum it up by saying that it drives like pretty much any family SUV – comfortable and perfectly predictable, but not very exciting. For most customers, that’s exactly what they’re looking for.

Most of our driving took place on well-maintained German roads, rather than potholed British ones, so we’ll reserve final judgment until we have a local drive in a UK-spec car. But we don’t expect any surprises, as the Sportage behaved exactly as you’d expect across a range of driving speeds and situations, from stop-start driving in Frankfurt traffic to winding country roads and a brief Autobahn blast at speeds well beyond the UK motorway limit.

As with most family SUVs, there’s not a lot of feeling and the overall experience is pretty numb. Motoring journalists tend to bemoan this, but actual paying customers generally don’t want their family wagon to feel like a racing car so it’s not normally a problem.

The hybrid version can cover a relatively small distance of urban driving on electric power alone. This is serene and quiet, as it would be in a fully electric car, but it doesn’t last long. Any substantial prod on the accelerator will wake up the petrol engine, and once the small hybrid battery is empty you’ll be relying on petrol power alone. There’s more electric power available than previously, but the battery isn’t any bigger so it’s still limited to short spells.

The petrol engine is fairly noisy, and not as refined as you’ll find in some rival SUVs. It’s not terrible, but it has a gruff note and you’ll find yourself turning up the stereo more often than you might expect. Performance is reasonable enough for most household needs – the standard petrol model is adequate, while the hybrid version can use the electric motor together with the petrol engine to provide more power, as long as there is enough electricity in the battery.

We only drove front-wheel drive models, but for most customers the extra grip of all-wheel drive isn’t really going to be necessary. If you live in country areas where your regular driving may involve mud or snow for several months a year, it would be worth considering.

Expert tips

• Petrol motor is rough but performance is decent
• Electric motor in hybrid version has been upgraded to provide more power than previous model

How safe is the Kia Sportage?

The updated Sportage doesn’t add anything over and above the previous model when it comes to safety, but that’s not really a problem as the car already has a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating.

All the crucial safety kit you’d expect to see is included as standard, which is good news. There are airbags aplenty, as well as the latest-generation accident avoidance technology.

As with pretty much all new cars, the Kia Sportage has the latest EU-mandated warning systems that will beep and bong at you constantly unless you disable them. This means you’ll get bonged at whenever the speed limit changes, or whenever you happen to drift one single mile per hour over that limit, or whenever it thinks you may possibly be distracted, or whenever it thinks you may possibly be tired, and so on.

You can disable some of the most annoying systems fairly easily but the EU mandates that they must be reactivated every time you start the car, so it becomes part of your pre-drive checklist to switch the bongs off before each trip. Yes, this seems ridiculous for what are ostensibly safety systems, but that’s where we’re at.

Expert tips

• Five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP when tested in July 2022

Verdict

In every way, the updated Kia Sportage is a case of evolution not revolution. The improvements are all worthwhile, particularly if you’re buying the hybrid model which can now rely a bit more on the electric motor and less on the petrol engine around town.

If it sounds like we’re struggling to get too excited about the Sportage, you’re probably right but that’s certainly not a criticism. If you have the current model and are looking at upgrading to the new one when your lease or PCP runs out, you’ll find some worthwhile improvements in how the infotainment system works and the cabin looks a bit neater – bit we’d understand if you decided that it’s too much of the same thing and you’d like to try something different next time around.

If you drive something else and are looking at switching to a Sportage, you’ll find it ticks most of the boxes that families will want, and will do so easily. There’s plenty of space, fit and finish are good, pricing and equipment levels are competitive, the safety rating is on the money and the seven-year warranty is a big plus.

The Kia Sportage is a proper head-over-heart kind of car, which is exactly what plenty of customers are looking for. There’s a reason it’s so popular with UK households, and the updated model should help to keep it that way.

Expert recommendations

• Hybrid model is a nicer drive, offers more performance and gets better economy, but it’s a £3,600 jump over an equivalent petrol version
• Mid-spec GT-Line looks to be the sweet spot of the range for value, and monthly payments shouldn’t be too much more than a Pure model with the same engine and gearbox
• Plug-in hybrid version should land before Christmas 2025

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