BMW owner ogling my Stinger

[WRXtoStingerGT]

Yes. The Stinger is really beautiful from every angle...but almost overdone, if not overdone a little. It's no sleeper.

^

agreed... it stands out way too much... far too often someone has asked me if it's [insert luxury brand name here] and I have to say "nope, just a Kia!" and their reaction is either bewilderment or being impressed

 

[hummus]

Yes. The Stinger is really beautiful from every angle...but almost overdone, if not overdone a little. It's no sleeper.

I'm with you in sentiment, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it slightly overdone. If you lined up a Stinger with a 440iGC, S5, C43, Q50/60, G70, I don't think it looks out of place. In some respects it's on the more aggressive side, yet it fits in well while managing to be distinctive. This is one of the design team's most criminally under-appreciated accomplishments.

I think they showed considerable restraint in some meaningful ways. I see a lot of reviewers lament about the fake hood vents, but how many new higher-end cars can claim to have front grilles that are only as big as they need to be, with very little blocked/blanked area? Or functional, simple-looking exhaust tips? How many nearly mid-sized cars offer optional wheels topping out at 19"? Seems like you can get 19" wheels on subcompacts these days. But, in another design flourish, both the 18" and 19" designs fit the Stinger quite well.

 

[AnalogMan]

It happened again last night, at an ice cream stand while visiting in Massachusetts.

A couple in an Audi SUV were heading to their car, and changed course and approached me in my Kia, with the same excited questions - "Who makes that car?" "Stinger, never heard of it, who makes it?"

Again, when I told them it's made by Kia, it was the same look of mixed astonishment, disbelief, bewilderment, confusion, amusement, and maybe a bit of agony, and the squealed response, "Kia?!?!?!"

The car has been out for 5 years. It's astonishing to me that so many people driving direct competitors, who Kia should have reasonably expected to cross-shop, are still completely unaware of the car.

If there was ever a case study for the importance of proper marketing and advertising (and what happens when you don't have it), the Stinger is it.

Ditto for the Kia K900. I'm a hard core car geek and spend way more time reading all the usual magazines than is probably good for normal mental health, and I had never heard of the K900 until I saw the recent announcement that it's being discontinued.

For both cars, it's Marketing 101. No one will buy your product if they don't know it exists. So far, outside of a small group of dedicated enthusiasts (like, everyone here), Kia has failed to change their reputation and image as a maker of low-end entry-level economy cars.

(I personally don't care that no one seems to know what the car is, and greatly prefer having an underdog that's a much better value in so many ways than the usual Gerr-mahn brag-mobiles so many people reflexively buy just for the badge, but I'd like for Kia to make enough money on the car for it to be worth their while to continue it and even introduce an updated version).

 

[Kimberly Lazarski]

The EV 6 GT has super car performance already. And anyone will be able to buy one.

EV 6 doesn't do it for me - no EV does. Oh sure, it looks like a neat crossover and it would be fun, but EVs are nonstarters for me.

Now, if it were a plug-in hybrid/EV + "range extender" that would be a different story, and if the Stinger line is continued with a performance hybrid, I'd trade in for one, or if I move on from my current job to one of the opportunities courting me, I'd buy one in addition to my current GT2. If it's a pure EV, I don't see those working for me. I suppose I could pick up a small generator from Hazard Freight and recharge the car on camping trips, but that is horribly inefficient plus it doesn't solve the 500+ mile trips that are not along the charging infrastructure.

 

[JSolo]

It was Randy Pobst who sold me on this car few years ago in the MT track video. I think this is it.

Hmm.. They seem to have pulled the video..

Hell will freeze over before I buy an EV/hybrid. Too old to accept change at this point. Some of my neighbors have switched over to electric lawn care products. We're a corner property. I fully enjoy my 2 cycle backpack leaf blower (husky 360bt) and weed wacker. I watch them struggle with the leaves every fall. They claim the 2 cycle stuff makes too much noise and pollutes... Maybe, but that's what ear muffs/plugs are for.

 

[Aarvix]

I'm all for electric appliances (hate having to deal with/mix 2-cycle gas, change oil, replace carbs/plugs), but I sure as hell don't want to DRIVE an appliance.

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

I'm all for electric appliances (hate having to deal with/mix 2-cycle gas, change oil, replace carbs/plugs), but I sure as hell don't want to DRIVE an appliance.

Sadly the majority of the population prefer appliances and automated everything... and to make money corporations gotta cater to the masses... I wish there was a sheep icon built-into the emoji section in chat lmfao!!

 

[keithfoco]

Today parked in Freeport Maine, next to a BMW X5, I came out to the car and found the guys in the BMW were checking out my Stinger. One of them was all excited, saying 'Nice car!' and 'Stinger, who makes that car? Who builds it?'. When I said Kia, his face got contorted in a mixture of amusement, bewilderment, disbelief, and astonishment, and he squeaked, "Kia?!?!"

As has been pointed out and discussed many times before, this has been the Stinger's primary (and maybe only) problem: it's built by Kia. The specifications, build quality, and performance of the car just don't match the perception of Kia. I think they would have sold many more of these cars if it wasn't given to Kia dealers (the sleaziness of most Kia dealers didn't help either).

To be honest, that was one of the strong attractions for me to this car. It's the anti-snob car. So many people buy a car just for the brag value of being able to show off to strangers about their Beemer, Benz, or Por-shuh. Like one of my friends, who always buys the highest number series BMW he can afford (5, 7, etc.), just to show off and be able to say he drives a '5 series'. It usually means they're high-mileage, unreliable, and expensive to maintain, but major brag value.

The Stinger is the opposite of that. No one buys this car to brag at the bar about 'scoring a Kia'. You only buy the car if you care about what it actually is, the design, the engineering, the performance, the build quality, and the value it is for the money. The car has similar (if not better) specs to a 5 or 6 series BMW for tens of thousands of dollars less purchase price, and far better reliability and less expensive maintenance and repair costs. That spoke loudly and clearly to me.

Hyundai created an entirely new division, Genesis, to sell their 'premium' cars. I imagine the Stinger would have sold much better if it were branded a 'Genesis'. The only downside is, selling so few of them, the rumors of its demise may well be true.

I am 99% sure the stinger is a mercedes benz/BMW with a kia engine. Put it up in the air and show me a single part that is kia and not m-b or BMW besides the engine. Even the interior has benz written all over it. ZF transmission, benz suspension, benz everything. I havent been able to figure it out, but I think its built on either copied from a E class or S class chassis from 2010-ish. I am a former benz technician and I have brought this fact up in Kia tech classes and the instructor will nod and leave it at that! lol. I know it was designed by a former BMW guy that now works for Kia.

 

[MerlintheMad]

^^^Albert Biermann, Peter Schreyer, Gregory Guillaume all got hired away from Audi/BMW to work for Kia. I enjoy referring to the Stinger as "a German car made in South Korea."

 

[keithfoco]

^^^Albert Biermann, Peter Schreyer, Gregory Guillaume all got hired away from Audi/BMW to work for Kia. I enjoy referring to the Stinger as "a German car made in South Korea."

I agree. Too bad they put Kia engines in it. Not the most reliable engines.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I agree. Too bad they put Kia engines in it. Not the most reliable engines.

Kia powertrains have come lightyears away from their econobox days. The Stinger got an "in house" powertrain simply to prove that Kia has arrived.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

I agree. Too bad they put Kia engines in it. Not the most reliable engines.

Good thing, they didn't put bmw engine in it.

 

[Kamauxx]

Man, that's a whole heap of "wrong" in just two short posts. But coming from a Kia service tech I'm somehow unsurprised.

 

[RIck-F]

A friend of mine was showing me his recently acquired CLA250 that he bought new. He liked the look of mine but then went on to tell me that his car had a bigger displacement engine and was overall faster...

I asked him how a turbo 4 cylinder engine with 220HP was faster or bigger than what's in my stinger. The funny part is with options he paid $50k for it.

Nice enough car but the same price as a stinger (and with less options) but faster? nope

I'd keep an eye out for those AMG-CLA45's -- M-B is squeezing 382 HP out of the 2.0 4-banger and it weighs a LOT less than a Stinger, and chip tuning will take it to 426 HP.