\
  The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
BackRefresh Options Favorite

WSJ destroys the KIA STINGER GT2 in lengthy screed

THE 2018 KIA STINGER was in development almost seven years. ...
Bull Headed Pit
  04/07/18
...
Bull Headed Pit
  04/09/18
...
passionate senate internal respiration
  04/09/18
are reptile done here
Razzle-dazzle Hot Regret Reading Party
  04/09/18
...
Rebellious Chocolate Plaza
  04/09/18
...
burgundy impressive theater stage twinkling uncleanness
  04/09/18
...
spectacular lavender institution mental disorder
  04/09/18
So his only real complaint is that the steering wheel hub re...
Cocky Transparent Useless Brakes Place Of Business
  04/09/18
...
cerise anal nursing home
  04/09/18
his complaint is that it's a gay car and anyone that owns on...
underhanded kitchen telephone
  05/25/18
I would not have bought the GT but the base model is pretty ...
cerise anal nursing home
  04/09/18
It sounds like he wants one to play with but doesn’t want an...
cerise anal nursing home
  04/09/18
so he's like a normal guy shopping for a $40-50k car?
spectacular lavender institution mental disorder
  04/09/18
or a tinder 5
self-centered violet orchestra pit mediation
  04/09/18
...
Bull Headed Pit
  04/09/18
let someone put 50K miles on the thing and then drive it. it...
Flickering coffee pot area
  04/09/18
...
Bull Headed Pit
  04/09/18
The last five model years Kia has been neck and neck with To...
Vigorous submissive turdskin house
  04/09/18
Reliability =\ quality
Flickering coffee pot area
  04/09/18
NVH? Door thunk? What do you have in mind?
Fragrant stead
  04/09/18
genuinely curious, according to who? JD Power is TTT as fuc...
motley sticky community account
  04/09/18
(Guy who spent 52k on a fancy Hyundai Elantra)
heady medicated legal warrant psychic
  05/25/18
Certain model Kias have been surprisingly reliable
Poppy hideous multi-billionaire principal's office
  04/09/18
I drove a 2017 CPO Genesis G80 with 15K miles. it was garbag...
Flickering coffee pot area
  04/09/18
The only problem with the Genesis line is the overly smooth ...
Vigorous submissive turdskin house
  04/09/18
did u learn to read in Russia? There is a whole host of thin...
Flickering coffee pot area
  04/09/18
The only Korean car I've driven that wasn't a total disappoi...
Poppy hideous multi-billionaire principal's office
  04/09/18
WSJ writing is becoming Jalopnik. So are we to expect Kia...
Insanely creepy crystalline gas station clown
  04/09/18
The entire design team was German. They didn't let one gook ...
Vigorous submissive turdskin house
  04/09/18
Ljl. It’s actually an Audi! Really! Trust us!
Flickering coffee pot area
  04/09/18
...
Bull Headed Pit
  04/09/18
...
Ocher charismatic candlestick maker
  04/09/18
and the 4 series was was designed by a korean dood. oh wut a...
motley sticky community account
  04/09/18
?
slimy chartreuse box office
  04/09/18
ITT: cumskins make NYUUG richer
jet-lagged domesticated masturbator organic girlfriend
  04/09/18
, he lisped from his one bedroom hovel
heady medicated legal warrant psychic
  05/25/18
...
Infuriating Flushed Mad Cow Disease
  05/25/18


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: April 7th, 2018 12:17 AM
Author: Bull Headed Pit

THE 2018 KIA STINGER was in development almost seven years. In that time thousands of product designers, engineers and suppliers must have sat in mock-ups, prototypes and pre-builds of the rakish fastback sedan, the South Korean company’s new halo car and performance flagship. But nobody saw it.

At some point Kia board members must have trooped down to the design center in Namyang for a formal signoff. Still not a word.

Now a Stinger—a GT2 version deluxe ($50,100, as tested), with a throat-singing V6, rear-wheel drive, adaptive suspension, brakes for days—is sitting in front of my house, giving local dads the vapors. The want is strong. The first time Kia tried to bootstrap itself into the premium/entry luxury space was in 2012, with the K900 sedan. But it presented as overstuffed and cut-rate, a large sedan with unsexy, front-drive proportions.

It’s a mistake the Stinger doesn’t make. It is extra rear-drive looking, with the front wheels thrust into the nose of the car (a long axle-to-dash) and rears slung under a fastback hatch. This car practically gyrates its hips at you.

And still, when I sit in the driver’s seat, my eye is irresistibly drawn to this one, centrally located blemish, as if it were a blackhead on a co-worker’s nose.

It’s the steering wheel hub cover. Not even the rim, which is flat-bottomed and wrapped in stitched and perforated leather; but the hard, plasticy hub cover, under which resides the driver air bag. Against the backdrop of Nappa leather seats, lustrous aluminum trim and soft-touch materials, the wheel hub feels like an overturned Tupperware bowl. Mr. Kia, your slip is showing.

Does it matter? Strictly speaking, no. It’s not like anyone is going to walk away from the 167-mph Stinger GT peeved about the hub cover. And there is always tape. But insofar as the Stinger was built to make you forget previous Kias, and largely does, the steering wheel only reminds you.

Some housekeeping: The Stinger is officially a midsize hatchback sedan, with four doors and a rear liftgate. But this is a fairly big car: 190.2 inches long over a 114.4-inch wheelbase, 60% of overall length. It’s also low (55.1 inches at the roof). These louche proportions disguise an unexpected usefulness: 23.3 cubic feet of cargo room and a spacious rear cabin.

Our GT2 test car squatted on 19-inch alloys wrapped in 40-series summer Michelins. Bang.

‘The brand has become typecast as down-market and generic. Kia needed some heat in the britches. Enter the Stinger.’

The bones are in the right place: a longitudinally mounted front engine, rear-wheel drive, near 50/50 weight distribution, front strut and rear multilink suspension. Under that wealth of hood is either a turbocharged 2.0-liter 255 hp four or 3.3-liter 365-hp V6; an eight-speed transmission with paddle shifters; and rear-wheel drive. Torque vectoring all-wheel drive is a $2,200 option with either engine. There are five trim levels, priced from $31,900 (2.0L) to $51,400 (GT2 with all-wheel drive), plus $900 destination.

So are we to expect Kia to take on the Germans at their own game? Yeah, no. South Korea’s second-largest carmaker, behind corporate partner Hyundai, is a master of mass-market, value-priced automobiles. The company’s offerings dominated J.D. Power’s 2017 U.S. Initial Quality Study, for example.

But in all that success the Kia brand has become a bit shopworn, typecast as down-market and generic. Kia needed some heat in the britches. Enter the Stinger.

The Stinger is certainly the best German car ever to come out of South Korea. The pedigree starts with Kia chief design officer Peter Schreyer, formerly of Audi. Kia European design chief Gregory Guillaume, based in Frankfurt, penned the exterior. The chassis tuning and dynamics fell to Albert Biermann, the former director of BMW ’s M performance division, who was poached/joined the company in late 2014.

Here and there, the Teutonic influence reaches comic proportions. The rear hatch and taillamp assemblies are frankly derivative of the Audi Sportback. The flash of brightwork at the doors’ leading edges is very like a BMW. The Kia’s cabin design is a pastiche of the Mercedes-Benz, with three eyeball air outlets, tablet-style center screen, and banded aluminum switches. Talk about great minds thinking alike.

It drives pretty Germanically too. Herr Biermann’s elastomeric choices have yielded a firmly sprung sport sedan, but it’s no track-day monster. There is a thoughtful amount of ride comfort dialed in to the chassis. The GT2 feels a tiny bit soft at the edges, to me. Nor is it exactly light—3,829 pounds in test trim. It exhibits more transient body roll than I prefer in my look-at-me man toys.

The electric power steering is very quick—2.2 turns, lock to lock, just the way I like it—but doesn’t have a lot of road feel in it. The big Brembo brakes are strong and sure if a bit touchy at first.

The Stinger will stand up. Zero-to 60 mph sprints pass in less than 5 seconds—Kia says 4.7 seconds but Car and Driver wrung a 4.4 out of it—and if you keep standing on the gas, a quick succession of gear changes and revving arpeggios take you to the quarter-mile stripe in about 13 seconds. The powertrain engineers also did right by the engine sound: The 3.3-liter turbo engine puts out a nice low burble, surprisingly resonant for a turbo engine, that rises to a heated warble at 6,000 rpm.

Kia’s sport-sedan bananas are still a little green: Around-town and at part-throttle, the eight-speed transmission has moments of dithering delay (the mapping is much better in Sport mode). The car could use some stiffer springs.

But, man oh man, the price is hard to beat. Where’s that tape?



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35784037)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:38 PM
Author: Bull Headed Pit



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799330)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:39 PM
Author: passionate senate internal respiration



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799343)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:39 PM
Author: Razzle-dazzle Hot Regret Reading Party

are reptile done here

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799344)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:47 PM
Author: Rebellious Chocolate Plaza



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799420)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:05 PM
Author: burgundy impressive theater stage twinkling uncleanness



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803173)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:40 PM
Author: spectacular lavender institution mental disorder



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799355)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:43 PM
Author: Cocky Transparent Useless Brakes Place Of Business

So his only real complaint is that the steering wheel hub reminds him it's a Kia.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799385)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:48 PM
Author: cerise anal nursing home



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799434)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 25th, 2018 1:54 PM
Author: underhanded kitchen telephone

his complaint is that it's a gay car and anyone that owns one is an idiot

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#36126718)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:48 PM
Author: cerise anal nursing home

I would not have bought the GT but the base model is pretty nice at $34 k.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799427)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:51 PM
Author: cerise anal nursing home

It sounds like he wants one to play with but doesn’t want anyone to know it’s a Kia.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799461)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 2:52 PM
Author: spectacular lavender institution mental disorder

so he's like a normal guy shopping for a $40-50k car?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35799471)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:01 PM
Author: self-centered violet orchestra pit mediation

or a tinder 5

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803134)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 9:57 PM
Author: Bull Headed Pit



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803110)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:05 PM
Author: Flickering coffee pot area

let someone put 50K miles on the thing and then drive it. it'll be garbage, like all korean cars.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803169)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:12 PM
Author: Bull Headed Pit



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803226)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:16 PM
Author: Vigorous submissive turdskin house

The last five model years Kia has been neck and neck with Toyota in reliability so whatever, bro. Kia had a team of Germans design everything. The only thing Korean behind these cars now is the money. They stole a fuckton of people from BMW and Mercedes. At this point any bitching is just badge whoring.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803261)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:36 PM
Author: Flickering coffee pot area

Reliability =\ quality

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803440)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 11:54 PM
Author: Fragrant stead

NVH?

Door thunk?

What do you have in mind?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35804064)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 11:28 PM
Author: motley sticky community account

genuinely curious, according to who? JD Power is TTT as fuck when it comes to car ratings and really by extension US news.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803887)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 25th, 2018 1:49 PM
Author: heady medicated legal warrant psychic

(Guy who spent 52k on a fancy Hyundai Elantra)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#36126672)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 11:56 PM
Author: Poppy hideous multi-billionaire principal's office

Certain model Kias have been surprisingly reliable

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35804081)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:15 PM
Author: Flickering coffee pot area

I drove a 2017 CPO Genesis G80 with 15K miles. it was garbage. squeaks, rattles, weird vibrations in the steering wheel. and this was their "best" car they produce (other than the bigger G90). how does anyone buy into the korean hype nonsense?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803247)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:19 PM
Author: Vigorous submissive turdskin house

The only problem with the Genesis line is the overly smooth transmissions, the Chrysler 300 grills and the ugly fucking analog clock that's even worse than the one Lexus sticks on its high tier cars.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803294)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:35 PM
Author: Flickering coffee pot area

did u learn to read in Russia? There is a whole host of things wrong with hyundai’s shit cars. I just pointed out a few examples.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803430)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 11:59 PM
Author: Poppy hideous multi-billionaire principal's office

The only Korean car I've driven that wasn't a total disappointment was the Hyundai accent. I swear the 6 speed transmission in that thing is a mind reader. Really felt like I was driving a 90s Civic stick shift except I didn't have to do any shifting. Had a blast driving it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35804093)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:15 PM
Author: Insanely creepy crystalline gas station clown

WSJ writing is becoming Jalopnik.

So are we to expect Kia to take on the Germans at their own game? Yeah, no.



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803250)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:17 PM
Author: Vigorous submissive turdskin house

The entire design team was German. They didn't let one gook touch the model.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803268)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:35 PM
Author: Flickering coffee pot area

Ljl. It’s actually an Audi! Really! Trust us!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803435)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 11:29 PM
Author: Bull Headed Pit



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803891)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 11:36 PM
Author: Ocher charismatic candlestick maker



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803930)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 11:29 PM
Author: motley sticky community account

and the 4 series was was designed by a korean dood. oh wut a global economy

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803893)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 10:39 PM
Author: slimy chartreuse box office

?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803476)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 9th, 2018 11:35 PM
Author: jet-lagged domesticated masturbator organic girlfriend

ITT: cumskins make NYUUG richer

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#35803924)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 25th, 2018 1:49 PM
Author: heady medicated legal warrant psychic

, he lisped from his one bedroom hovel

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#36126678)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 25th, 2018 12:49 PM
Author: Infuriating Flushed Mad Cow Disease



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3941767&forum_id=2#36126216)