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Before we begin talking about the Kia Stinger, we want to get one thing clear. Anyone who will not give this car a chance simply because it wears a Kia badge is just plain ignorant. We have decided to take a bold stance on a car that we genuinely loved after spending a week driving it. The Stinger is the car equivalent of the plucky underdog, like Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa. If you're one of the people who doubts the Stinger's credentials just because it is a Kia, you do so at your own detriment.
With all of that out of they way we can dive into what makes this car such a joy. This car is so enigmatic because most people don't even know what to compare it to. Kia sent us a helpful breakdown that compared the Stinger to everything from the Audi A5 Sportback to the Porsche Panamera. In our Rocky metaphor, you can think of the German rivals like Ivan Drago and Apollo Creed, heavily favored against our underdog Kia. The Stinger GT may be faster and more powerful than the base BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe, Mercedes CLS and Porsche Panamera (all of which are $20,000 to $30,000 more than a fully-loaded Stinger), but most people won't cross shop these cars with the Kia.
Among the cars that Kia benchmarked, we think that the Audi S5 Sportback and BMW 440i Gran Coupe are the most apt. To help visualize the Stinger's size, think bigger than a BMW 3 Series, yet slightly smaller than a 5er. The Kia is only beat by the Panamera in overall length and only the Audi A7 has more room in terms of cargo capacity. The Audi S5 and BMW 440i are the closest competitors, given their price and similar liftback designs. However, the cheapest BMW 440i Gran Coupe starts at $48,300, while the Audi S5 Sportback is even more expensive at $54,400. Our test model was the fully-loaded GT2 model with the 365 hp twin-turbo V6 and it didn't even crack the $50,000 mark. Read more: The Kia Stinger Is The Underdog Story That We Should All Root For
With all of that out of they way we can dive into what makes this car such a joy. This car is so enigmatic because most people don't even know what to compare it to. Kia sent us a helpful breakdown that compared the Stinger to everything from the Audi A5 Sportback to the Porsche Panamera. In our Rocky metaphor, you can think of the German rivals like Ivan Drago and Apollo Creed, heavily favored against our underdog Kia. The Stinger GT may be faster and more powerful than the base BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe, Mercedes CLS and Porsche Panamera (all of which are $20,000 to $30,000 more than a fully-loaded Stinger), but most people won't cross shop these cars with the Kia.
Among the cars that Kia benchmarked, we think that the Audi S5 Sportback and BMW 440i Gran Coupe are the most apt. To help visualize the Stinger's size, think bigger than a BMW 3 Series, yet slightly smaller than a 5er. The Kia is only beat by the Panamera in overall length and only the Audi A7 has more room in terms of cargo capacity. The Audi S5 and BMW 440i are the closest competitors, given their price and similar liftback designs. However, the cheapest BMW 440i Gran Coupe starts at $48,300, while the Audi S5 Sportback is even more expensive at $54,400. Our test model was the fully-loaded GT2 model with the 365 hp twin-turbo V6 and it didn't even crack the $50,000 mark. Read more: The Kia Stinger Is The Underdog Story That We Should All Root For
