2019 Kia Stinger GT

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et’s first address the glaring question, the one I was asked the most while test-driving Kia’s new Stinger GT. It went something like this: “$80,000 for a Kia?”

My position is to ignore stupid questions and reply that a car’s price is a reflection of its merits – and in the case of this Kia, the merits are significant. As a matter of fact, unless you’re still living in the early 1990s when the brand was just finding its feet and establishing itself in the market, you should be aware that Kia has come a long way, proving itself repeatedly in terms of reliability, design language, build quality and a generous roster of standard equipment.

Besides, let’s be honest, if this were a BMW, you’d be saying. “Isn’t that too much for a car in this country?” And if it were a Lamborghini, the leading question would be, “Where in Lebanon can you drive a car like this?” See what I mean by stupid questions? So, before I kick off this review, I say to the naysayers: Stop with all the negativity. Don’t dismiss it before you try it.

Back to the Stinger GT and why it completely stunned me. As I said before, Kia has come a long way, but that doesn’t mean it frequently – or ever – drops powerful and high-end sports sedans on the market. The marque has a reputation for manufacturing reliable and economical cars that offer high value for money, something the Lebanese are shrewd enough to recognize, which is why Kia is easily the best-selling brand in Lebanon.

But a sports sedan with a twin-turbo 3.3-liter V-6 that produces 365 ponies and does the zero-100-kilometers-per-hour sprint in 5.3 seconds with a top speed of 270 kph? This is something from the brand that definitely calls for a proper test drive and review because, man, those are not everyday figures.

Here’s the thing though. One would expect that a company producing its first road-going performance car would make some compromises and come up short in some areas. It’s understandable as no one can be expected to get it perfect the first time. For example, handling might suffer in an initial foray or the transmission might not be quite up to the task. I was prepared for such disappointments.

Moreover, the GT faces some serious competition from the likes of BMW’s 4 Series, which has won accolades for its precision handling, or the Audi A5 Sportback, whose legendary all-wheel-drive system is a tough act to follow. And Kia, with next to no track record in performance, has come along trying to take on these giants. It seems like an unfair battle – until you get behind the wheel of the Stinger and experience what it can do.

Get ready to grin from ear to ear because what I encountered was a car that felt as if it had a century of racing experience under its belt. Where was Kia hiding all that expertise? Set the drive mode to Sport and the Stinger displays the confidence of a stock market shark and devours the road like a piranha. With practically no perceptible turbo lag, power builds up in a smooth curve that keeps going till the red line while the gear shifts on the eight-speed automatic transmission are solid and smooth.

As for the paddle shifters, they’re just as precise as the automatic shifts, although the car doesn’t like it when you try to shift at points that are less than optimal during hard driving. Personally, I’d rather not argue with complex algorithms that can manage thousands of bits of information simultaneously and make decisions thousands of times faster than I can.

In addition, I believe Kia’s figures are a bit on the conservative side because acceleration is quicker than the cited 5.3 seconds. I suspect it’s actually closer to 5.1, possibly 5.

But where the Stinger truly shines is on curvy roads, especially with the heavier steering and stiffer suspension in Sport mode, because new kid on the block or not, this car handles those corners like a thoroughbred stallion, its electronically assisted rack perfectly weighted and sending plenty of feedback with the GT’s agile chassis and muscular Brembos inspiring confidence.

With ridiculously delightful handling, the GT is no pretender; it’s the real deal. It belies both its size and weight, behaving like a much smaller and lighter sedan as it negotiates corners with little effort, its all-wheel-drive system keeping all four tires gripping the asphalt and keeping the car pointed where you want it to go. The car’s low-slung design helps a lot in that, its low center of gravity further cutting down on body roll and keeping the tires planted firmly on the road.

And if you choose to take a more casual drive, as most of us tend to do most of the time, expect a perfectly relaxed demeanor as the car glides through traffic with the grace of a royal. The cabin is as silent as a cathedral, the suspension filters out all road ruckus and the steering, with the car in Comfort mode, is slick as a Cadillac.

It’s also spacey, seeing as its size falls somewhere between a BMW 3-Series and a 5-Series, with ample storage areas and cubbies in the cabin and a cavernous 406-liter trunk that can be further expanded to more than 1,100 liters by dropping the rear seatbacks. And it’s a fastback, so the entire rear end lifts up for easy access.

Besides being a joy to drive, the Stinger also holds its own against its European rivals in terms of the quality of materials used. Seats are covered in nappa leather. The interior smells pleasant – you won’t detect any odd plastic odors, only the smell of supple hide.

Slip into the driver’s seat and you’ll discover that it can adjust to any position you like and can get really low, affording you a sportier position and lower center of gravity. The very sporty flat-bottomed steering wheel is equally accommodating when it comes to adjustment and features all the basic controls to keep your hands on the wheel while driving.

Clear dials in the instrument cluster frame a 7.0-inch screen that displays everything from nav directions and temperatures to boost pressure and a G-force meter. It’s pretty thorough. The dashboard itself looks space age and presents a very alluring environment. The 8.0-inch touch screen that sits atop and at the center of the dash displays everything you need from the infotainment system to telecommunications to driver data.  It’s certainly nothing new, but then again it also leaves nothing to be desired, so there’s nothing to complain about there either.

In the version I was driving, the interior was finished in what looked like a subdued carbon-fiber theme. In combination with the aluminum accents, red leather heated and ventilated seats and the red stitching on the steering wheel, it produced the character of a car that was meant to be driven.

The gear selector was also pretty easy to use, once you got used to the idea of pressing the park button instead of the more traditional “slide into park” at the top. It’s the same idea as the setup in Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce, but those have a stalk coming out of the steering wheel. Personally, I like this much better.

One thing you need to get accustomed to is people throwing you curious looks because the Stinger’s styling is anything but benign. The car’s design language screams speed, while its angry fascia and myriad scoops and vents underline its sporty demeanor. Moreover, seeing as I was driving what looked like a metallic cherry red example trimmed out with black chrome, boasting a panoramic sunroof and riding on massive 19-inch rims, whoever wasn’t throwing furtive glances must have been blind.

The front end alone looks feral, with angry-looking, swept-back headlamps on either side of an elongated version of Kia’s bow-tie grille and sitting above a pair of air scoops. You also get a pair of vents on the hood itself, which is sculpted with the same crisp folds and taut graphic lines that adorn the rest of the car. Also, as I mentioned before, the car sits very low and wide, signaling its road-holding prowess even while parked.

As for the rear, well the twin pairs of exhaust pipes, in black chrome, emerging from either side of the car and sitting above a black diffuser, definitely lend the tail a menacing look. That’s only further accentuated by the sweeping LED taillights that run below the edge of the fastback lid, presenting a distinctive rear fascia.

And for the safety conscious among you, which I hope includes everyone, safety appears to have been at the top of Kia’s priorities when building this car. In addition to bestowing the Stinger with a lightweight, strong and remarkably rigid chassis, the manufacturer has equipped it with advanced dual frontal air bags and driver’s knee air bags, as well as front-seat-mounted and side curtain air bags.

But those, along with the four-wheel anti-lock-braking system, are the basics. The Stinger also features blind-spot monitoring to inform you of what you can’t see coming up from behind, while also warning you of what’s ahead. And if it anticipates a collision, it will hit the brakes for you. I don’t recommend that you try it out, but it’s there for your peace of mind. Moreover, lane-departure warnings will sound you when drift from your lane and the available lane-keeping assist will help keep the car within its designated lane markers. Assuming, of course, that you can find properly marked lanes in this country.

And finally you get smart cruise control, which is capable of keeping a set distance between you and the car ahead of you, decelerating and accelerating, even from standstill, as the circumstances require.

It’s actually quite the prize – a spacey, luxurious, attractive car that also has as much smarts as it’s got brawn and agility. Not an easy feat to pull off, but Kia has managed it, and in its first attempt. Go figure.

As for the price, it’s not exactly cheap, but I really can’t see in what universe you can get this kind of performance, handling, looks, such a massive roster of equipment and premium materials from any of its European rivals at this price.

So the next time someone asks, “$80,000 for a Kia?” you should reply, “Considering everything it offers, you’d think it would be more, wouldn’t you?”