JDR76

I'm a bit surprised that this was your impression. I don't think it's at the same level as the GS, but I found the Stinger's interior materials to be pretty good. Nappa leather, real aluminum trim, padded dash, etc.

When I drove them I felt like the Stinger was a little bit less planted and refined in it's drive/handling, but the engine and straight line performance were far above the GS. The Stinger is such a fun car to drive!

AsianxWu

At the time I was coming from an S5 (which interior quality was pretty good, but not better than the GS) and I felt the Stinger was still below that. I may have to take another look at it to reevaluate since I only spent about 30-45 minutes with the car, but my first impressions was that it was way too similar to my fiancee's Tucson to have a sticker price of $53k.

drgrant

It's the whole "tablet jammed in the dash thing". They could have gotten away with it if they made a thing that sucked it into the dash when not in use, etc. Or just plain make it waste less space. The problem is that part of the dash looks like it came out of a 25-30K car not a 50K one. That kind of thing is acceptable in a Mazda you buy to save money but not something in this class.

Plus KIA needs better branding for this type of a car. Branding it a KIA evokes automatic gag reflex notions of "mega skinflints and ****boxes", there's no getting around that. Someone at Hyundai figured that out and that's why they have "Genesis" , while everyone knows its a Hyundai product, it doesn't cause that immediate like, gag reflex/throw up in your mouth thing to happen. All they need to do is call it something else, anything but a Kia.

If it wasn't for the ****ty branding and the typical midrange but not luxury dashboard design, otherwise the car would be a huge winner. It's otherwise much faster than a GS (it's a sub 5 0-60 car!!!!) and capable on the road, and most of the rest of the car is put together pretty well.

This is one of those cars that's "throwing way, way, waaaaay.... above its weight, but not quite there yet"... I am really curious to see what Hyundai/Kia/etc will be doing in 2-3 years from now even in this segment...

-Mike

AsianxWu

I wouldn't say that the Stinger throws way, way, waaaaay above its weight with its initial pricing. The GT2 was priced at $53k. An Audi S5 sportback starts at $52k. Yes the Audi won't have all the bells and whistles at the base price, but loaded up with similar options, there's only a $7k difference. So basically with $7k more, you get a more premium vehicle, a much faster vehicle, and you get the (arguably) one of the best AWD systems on the market. It just wouldn't make sense for some people to get the Stinger over the Audi.

Now with the deep discounts on the Stinger (I see that you can get a GT2 for $44.3k), we're talking about a whole different story. This is when the Stinger really shines and punches above its weight.

When I first looked at it, they wouldn't budge at all on their price and because of that, I couldn't justify the price point for what I was getting when I could get something significantly better for a few thousand more.


(Btw OP, I'm in no way hating on your new car. It's a sweet ride!)

kgh31386

Haha no worries at all. You guys are right on with the price point. I definitely wouldn't have paid anywhere near MSRP for it. I got it on the last day of the month at closing time which equaled me getting it for the price of a 16-17 CPO F Sport. It fell into budget for me. With all the other things I looked at, they had the tablet on the dash as well (used SQ5, used X3 M40i, new A5 sportback).

JDR76

When I was looking at them, the deals were pretty phenomenal. It would have been at least $15k less than my GS, and that value is a strong motivator. In the end no local dealer could come up with the one that I wanted (red, AWD, GT2 on 19" wheels). After 4 months I gave up and decided to get the new GS.

GSRockstar

yeah OP please stick around the forums and let us know how she holds up over the years. ive been VERY interested/curious about this car since it came out. My GS has been the best car ive personally driven but that stinger definitely piqued my interest.