2025 Kia Sportage Review: The Car You Should Probably Tell People To Buy

We’re not going to pretend that the core audience of Car Throttle has any interest in buying a Kia Sportage. After all, this is a high-up crossover with zero sporting credentials aimed at doing nothing but existing as a motor vehicle. Not really our, or your, cup of tea.

However, it’s an important one for us all to consider. Inevitably, one of your family members who couldn’t tell you what a front-wheel drive car is and looks perplexed when you try to explain why lane keeping assist is something you’d turn off will eventually ask you ‘What do you think of the Kia Sportage?’.

While at this point we’d love to sit here and instead direct them to spend their cash on a rather tidy but used F31 BMW 335d, that’s not how most people think. All it takes is a look at the SMMT’s UK sales data to see that the Kia Sportage was the best-selling car in the UK last month, and currently sits as the second-best-selling so far this year behind the Ford Puma.

A sign of a car that is popular, but not necessarily one that is good. After all, the Jaecoo 7 found its way into the top five last month, and we’d rather not talk about that. What about the Kia Sportage, then?

Well, in short, the last couple of generations of the crossover have been hard to argue with as a car. They’ve looked decent, driven well enough not to be miserable, offered good value for money, a big enough boot to get prams into and alright efficiency for a high-up brick on wheels. We’d hazard a guess that the main thing to most buyers is frankly ‘I like sitting up high’, which the Sportage has always done well.

What about this refreshed car, though? We can say you still sit up high, so that’s box one ticked.

Anyway, this facelift is already building on one of the UK’s best-selling cars, so we suspect Kia would have to really go out of their way to make it anything other than the decent-enough car it’s long been.

Recognising that, the changes are quietly considered rather than drastic. On the outside, if you’re keen-eyed, you’ll spot some reworked headlights to mimic those of the recently updated EV6 and new EV3, along with some meaner-looking bumpers and a bigger grille. In a segment full of the bland, we’re quite keen on the relative outlandishness of the Sportage.

Inside, a new 12.3-inch infotainment display now comes as standard on all cars, with software that’s as slick and smooth to use as everything else in the wider Hyundai umbrella. A new steering wheel comes in, too, and there’s less gloss black that will look horrendous after six months of being grazed by keys, shopping trolley coins, USB cables, probably a child climbing across it at some stage… You get the picture. All welcome tweaks, we think, to an already well-built cabin.

We’d go for a higher-spec model if you’re a fan of not-boring spaces, though. Base-spec ‘Pure’ cars are full of dark colours and a horrible-looking ‘Look what you could’ve had’ strip of button placeholders. Genuinely infuriating, as minor as it sounds.

Regardless of trim, though, it’s still practical. Those in the back will still have a good amount of head- and legroom, while its boot measures 591 litres for the pure petrol version and 587 litres for the hybrid, which can neatly be summarised as ‘more than a Nissan Qashqai’.

As for engines, the updated Kia Sportage retains a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder as standard, although curiously dropping its 48v mild-hybrid system. That’s available with an updated seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, which has had some software tweaks, or, amazingly, with a six-speed manual gearbox. Both versions drive the front wheels, with 147bhp and 184lb ft of torque.

It’s expected that the majority of Sportages on the road will be the hybrid, which sees that four-pot paired up with an electric motor that has a remap for some more oomph. That combo offers peak power of 235bhp and 195lb ft, using a six-speed torque converter auto and with the choice of front- or all-wheel drive.

Both are… absolutely fine. Neither will set the world alight, and more kick from the hybrid system is appreciated when it comes to merging on slip roads and out of junctions, but the base engine will rarely leave you desiring much more in the context of a Kia Sportage. The manual even has a nice shift action to it.

That’s about as much appeal from an enthusiast perspective. It’s incredibly meh if you want any sort of involvement on a back road with its light-set steering, soft suspension and efficiency-optimised powertrains, but truthfully, that won’t matter 99 per cent of the time to 99 per cent of buyers.

Ah, efficiency. Delightfully, our time with the base, manual Sportage returned 40mpg on the nose over a couple of hours of driving – a little more than the quoted combined of 39.8mpg. The hybrid averaged a little higher than that at around 42mpg, although that’s down on the official 50.4mpg.

Beyond that? The Sportage is just as before, really. It’s comfortable enough for you not to worry about its ride on a daily basis, has enough visibility and supporting parking tech available to mostly keep drivers from pranging it into other cars at the supermarket and overall nice enough to be absolutely fine for most people.

As for pricing, the Sportage starts at £30,885. That’ll rise all the way up to £43,725 for a top-spec hybrid, so you’ll find better value for money on paper from its Chinese competitors, but we’d pay the premium to have a Sportage over any of them, truthfully.

Its more traditional rival in the Nissan Qashqai goes pretty-much pound-for-pound with the Kia, so the choice of the two may simply come down to which local dealer can offer a better finance package.

The Kia Sportage isn’t a car we’d tell anyone with an interest in driving to buy, but it’s a car those with an interest in driving can safely tell people who rely on their expertise to consider. Keep that 335d in mind for yourself...