Kia Stinger review

Kia’s dealers have a stellar reputation and plenty of customer service awards. The Stinger is subject to the range’s seven-year warranty. Reliability is strong across the range. It all bodes well for the Stinger actually being a more painless thing to own than its posher branded rivals. And then there’s the value.

There’s only one model of Stinger, and you get all the toys. Heated and air-conditioned electric eats, a heated steering wheel, reversing camera plus all-round sensors, automatic LED lights and wipers plus adaptive main beam, keyless entry and start, a full suite of driver assists like blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert for reversing out of parking bays and intelligent sign reading. It’s all standard. 

For this, you pay £44,160 with the only option being around £675 for metallic paint. That’s a hugely well-specced machine for the same money as an absolute base spec BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe or Audi A5, with nothing like as much straight-line performance. An equivalent Audi S5 or BMW M340i are £10,000 pricier overall.

Monthly payments are likely to be over £700, due to residuals not being as strong as posher rivals. In fact, stick 10 per cent of the sticker price down as a deposit and you're looking at monthly repayments of £739 over a three-year term. That's... steep.

Also factor in that you’ll be refilling the tank every 340 miles or so. Even Kia’s best-case scenario claim is a mere 28mpg.