For those trying to compare different trim levels I’ll give some info on what I saw today at 2 different dealerships.
The GT Line (NOT S) 4.2″ screen is not what I was expecting, it’s MUCH better. The 4.2″ relates to the display between the rev counter and speedo. The overall size of the screen is just as large as the top of the range ones. I was expecting it to be smaller and to have a black plastic bezel, using the same material as what the car uses on the lower interior trim (i.e. scratchy plastic). But it’s the same bezel-less glossy screen edge.
The 3’s exterior black plastics do not look very nice imo. It is especially noticeable on the rear of the car as the bottom third is all basic black (i.e. the type that can sometimes turn to a grey colour and are a nightmare if you wax your car and it touches it). The black plastic sill of the car looks very inferior to the coloured ones of the GT. The GT’s black plastics are all smooth gloss, giving it a Premium feel.
I also don’t like the silver parts such as on the grille and below the grille (surrounding the fog lights). The colour coded look much better on the GT’s.
As for colours, I saw a red, blue, black, silver and white. Colours are very personal, but I’ll give you my opinion.
I personally don’t like red in general, but if you like red cars, then this red suits the car and red always goes well with black. The red one I saw was a “launch edition” which we can’t get on Motability. It looked like a 3 trim level, but I guess had some of the 4 trim technology. The silver grille bar looked especially bad next to this colour.
The blue really surprised me. I never considered this colour based on what I’d seen online, but it really suits this car. It probably helped with the fact that it was in GT-S trim and was in the showroom, all clean and under spotlights. It looked stunning from every angle. It’s now on my short list!
I love black on sporty cars (hate keeping it clean and scratch free though) and with the Sportage looking sporty I thought I’d love it. When I saw it I was a little disappointed. There was nothing wrong with, but it didn’t show off all the nice angles of the car and it just looked boring. The positive is that I think the black would suit the ‘3’ trim as it could do with those silver bits to break up all that black.
Silver was on my shortlist, but not after seeing it “in-the-flesh”. I like my silvers to be silver. This was more grey than silver, but also had a bluish hue to it. It may have been a better choice for the ‘3’ with it’s silver grille strip, etc. But silver is only available on GT trims. Not a bad colour, but not to my liking.
The final colour I saw was white. This was on my shortlist and will stay on there. White was as expected and was the only colour that actually looks like it does online. I think it suits the very well. It didn’t “pop” as much as the surprising blue, but I really need to remember that the white was outside on a miserable grey day, whereas the blue was inside a shiny showroom.
One of the salesmen said that someone had recently picked up a green Sportage. They said that in all the brochures and online the green looked really good, but when it arrived, he didn’t like it at all and looked very different.
Although I didn’t see the dark grey on a Sportage it was on another Kia. It is VERY dark grey and looked good, but would of liked to have seen it on a Sportage. It’s still on my shortlist.
Overall –
- I’d personally skip the ‘3’ because the Gt looks much more premium. The possible exception being if I wanted a black one. It really is a choice of premium looks of the GTs vs the few extra tech bits of the ‘3’ .I’ve never had heated, powered seats and steering wheel so maybe that’s why I prefer the GT.
- I’d DEFINITELY look at any colour I was interested in, in-the-flesh. As mentioned previously, the colours look much different than on the website and brochure. Although this is true for any vehicle brand, the difference seems even greater with Kia.
- If, like me, the 4.2″ screen of the GT Line was concerning you. Don’t be, until you’ve seen it.
- I didn’t see a ‘4’ and although online it looks the same as a ‘3’, I think the exterior black plastics are gloss black like the GTs. If so, this will be a big improvement over the ‘3’. The silver pieces on the ‘3’ are Matt Chrome, so I expect it would look nice than the ‘3’, but still no match for the GT’s looks.
- I’m not overly keen on the GT’s wheels. Apart from being smallish, the colour looked good in the showroom, but outside they looked grubby and dull
The Motability salesman said that the Sportage can’t be ordered at the moment. I said that other people have been ordering them since it disappeared on Motability’s website, to which he explained that orders can be taken, but Motability aren’t accepting “the code” at the moment so orders can’t actually be processed. I don’t know how true this is, but I did notice that as of today, it states “currently unavailable” on Motaclarity’s website. I still suspect it was bs, because although he was very friendly and talkative, when I pushed for a test drive, he said that I should wait until it reappears on Motability’s website. The went on to say, “may as well wait until after Easter”. I.e. really not trying to get more Motability customers.
Please note these are my opinions and other may see SUVs as off roaders and therefore the black plastics could make them look more “rugged”.