Back in 2019 I traded in my 2011 Subaru STI Hatch and bought a 2019 SWP GT2 AWD Stinger. To me the Stinger was the spiritual successor to the STI Hatch. An upgrade in every way, and way more comfortable daily driver and long haul cruiser. I leveraged the massive $9400 kia lease incentive, then I immediately bought out the lease with a conventional auto loan.
Lately I've been finding myself doing more and more outdoors type stuff which involves travelling up rocky forest roads. The Stinger can do it, barely, but it definitely isn't happy about it. I've been wishing for a long time that Kia would make something like a Sorento with the stinger drivetrain.
The recent crowdstrike stock market panic caused a couple of my trailing orders to trigger so I ended up with a bunch of unexpected money in my account. I've been thinking about moving on from the Stinger for a while and this finalized the decision. So I did a ton of research on the current market offerings. The criteria was: SUV, HUD, 360 camera, ground clearance, and I didn't want to feel like I was giving up anything from the Stinger.
I did a bunch of test drives and let's just say I was rather suprised with what I ended up with:
2024 BMW X3 M40i
I was not expecting to own a BMW in my lifetime, ever. Last time I looked at BMWs was in 2011 and I was not impressed at all. The cars felt sterile and cramped inside, and idrive was a complete disaster. The cars drove well but utter lack of interior convenience features and user ergonomics they were absolutely awful. Turns out BMW has massively changed since then. They have fixed all the usability issues I had with their earlier designs and they now feel like normal vehicles inside.
The m40i checks all the boxes I was looking for and completely nails the comfort and performance. Just about everything feels like an upgrade from the Stinger. It really is the vehicle I wish Kia had made.
For comparsion, the old stinger, and the 2011 STI Hatch that the Stinger replaced:
2019 Stinger GT2 AWD
2011 Subaru STI Hatch
Lately I've been finding myself doing more and more outdoors type stuff which involves travelling up rocky forest roads. The Stinger can do it, barely, but it definitely isn't happy about it. I've been wishing for a long time that Kia would make something like a Sorento with the stinger drivetrain.
The recent crowdstrike stock market panic caused a couple of my trailing orders to trigger so I ended up with a bunch of unexpected money in my account. I've been thinking about moving on from the Stinger for a while and this finalized the decision. So I did a ton of research on the current market offerings. The criteria was: SUV, HUD, 360 camera, ground clearance, and I didn't want to feel like I was giving up anything from the Stinger.
I did a bunch of test drives and let's just say I was rather suprised with what I ended up with:
2024 BMW X3 M40i
I was not expecting to own a BMW in my lifetime, ever. Last time I looked at BMWs was in 2011 and I was not impressed at all. The cars felt sterile and cramped inside, and idrive was a complete disaster. The cars drove well but utter lack of interior convenience features and user ergonomics they were absolutely awful. Turns out BMW has massively changed since then. They have fixed all the usability issues I had with their earlier designs and they now feel like normal vehicles inside.
The m40i checks all the boxes I was looking for and completely nails the comfort and performance. Just about everything feels like an upgrade from the Stinger. It really is the vehicle I wish Kia had made.
For comparsion, the old stinger, and the 2011 STI Hatch that the Stinger replaced:
2019 Stinger GT2 AWD
2011 Subaru STI Hatch
