mmarshall

Some of you guys in this forum come to me for car-advice.......now I've got a question for you.



Do any of you own or lease a current-generation Kia Sportage (or perhaps the Hyundai Tucson, which is done on the same platform)?

My brother currently has a Kia Soul, almost five years old, that has been an excellent and reliable vehicle..especially concerning that it went out the door, taxes and all, for only 18K. On top of that, he gets truly superlative customer service from the local Kia/Volvo dealership where we purchased it. Among other things, when his car is being serviced, they don't just drop him off at the nearest bus or subway stop in a dealer-shuttle.......in the morning, they drive him to the front door of his workplace (it's about 3 or 4 mies away) and pick up up in the afternoon n a company-owned Town Car that is also reserved for the dealership's owner. The owner is an Ex-Lieutemant Governor in the state, and was just elected to Congress last November, so he will also be representing my brother's District.

Well, my brother has also had the good fortune, in recent years, to live just a few miles from the high-tech contractor-firm where he works (which, believe me, in D.C.-area traffic, can be a real blessing). But his company recently announced a new change of location next year......significantly further north and west of the present location, but still not completely out of reasonable driving distance. And the new location, at least, will be right next to a newly-done subway stop if he chooses public transit, but that means he still has to drive several miles from his house to another subway stop and pay not only the daily parking-garage fee (if there are available spaces) fare but the regular fare as well. Some companies, of course, have partial or full transit subsidies for their employees, and he may (?) qualify for one.

I ask about the Kia Sportage because by the nature of his work, he usually does not have the option to telecommute or work from home, and, unless the company closes down for extreme weather or another problem, he is expected to show up regularly. And because public transit in this area, at least with the above-ground stations, sometimes has problems when it snows, he may have to drive all the way out to the new office location in snowstorms....which will be quite different from just a couple of miles now in his FWD Soul. Winter storms in the D.C. area can vary enormously, from virtually nothing at all to two-foot blizzards (like what we've recently seen in Boston). Up to now, my brother has gotten along pretty well with the FWD Soul, but, due to these changing circumstances in the future (he won't be ready to retire for some years yet), an AWD vehicle may become more of a necessity. The highway departments in this area usually do a good job plowing and treating main roads after most reasonable snowfalls, but side roads (like the one my brother lives on) can be slick and a problem for days. In fact, he'd like to have an AWD Soul (and Kia reps at the D.C. auto show told me they got a ton of requests for that). But, so far, because the company has resisted the requests to do that, the (current) Sportage remains the lowest-priced way to get into a new AWD Kia product in the American market. My brother gets such excellent service (and reasonable prices) from his local Kia dealership that both he and I feel it is quite deserving of repeat-buisness, though we are also considering reasonably-priced alternatives like the Subaru XV Crosstrek / Impreza wagon / Forester, Hyundai Tucson, the upcoming Honda HR-V which has not been released yet, and, of course, the all-new updated Sportage due next year.

So....(and I know I can be long-winded)....my basic question is if any of you own or lease a current-model AWD Sportage (or Tucson), what your experience has been, if you have been satisfied with it, and if it has been troublesome or not. Unlike Subarus, Sportages and Tucsons also come in FWD versions, and I'd appreciate any comments on them, too, if applicable. I did a full-review on the current Sportage a few years ago, and did a brief show circuit test-drive of one at Kia's Ride and Drive event at the D.C. Auto Show a couple of weeks ago, but neither one is the same as actually living with one for several years. Consumer Reports, which I think highly of, gives the Sportage a decent reliability rating, but still, nothing is better than one-on-one comments.

Thanks again....appreciate any feedback.

MM

JDR76

Not exactly the response you were looking for, but since no one else has responded...

My parents owned an '06. It was an AWD V6 model, very well equipped. They had it for 6 years and 60,000 miles. They never had so much as a warranty repair, malfunction, rattle, or otherwise. It was a fantastic car during the time they owned it. Even now my mom talks about how much she loved that car.

They traded it in because they were ready for a change. They bought a 2012 Rav4 Limited. Once the redesigned 2013 Rav4s came out, they decided they liked that better, and now have a 2013 which they also love.

mmarshall

Thanks for your response. It definitely helps.

Your parents' 2Gen helps confirm what little experience I've had with them.......that it was a much better attempt than the unreliable, poorly-designed 1Gen. model. (Consumer Reports really panned the 1Gen model) An ex-co-worker of mine had a 2Gen Tucson (same drivetrain/platform as the Sportage) and had very good luck with it (in fact, he told me he bought it after he read my CL review of it). Since then, of course, Kia has had nine more years to improve the design and do the 3Gen model.......(And the 4Gen model may soon debut). But I'm not the type to take anything for granted or verbatim....it always helps to get input and experience from others. Thanks again.

JDR76

You're very welcome.