I’ll make no excuses for my admiration for the Kia Stinger GT. I’ve driven them, harder than I should probably admit for never getting an official press vehicle, and the only concern I’ve got for the car is it’s longevity. After that, what do you need to know? It’s a blistering twin-turbo V6 powered four-door hatchback that straight-up rips. Get it in rear-drive or all-wheel-drive, get it kitted out fully for about $51,000 or pick the most basic package and get the good stuff for $38,000 or so, or find the middle ground for the mid-40s. It’s a high-twelve second dragstrip car straight from the dealership and it’s quite pleasant on highways, backroads and being shoved into a corner at full chat.
The Mustang GT needs absolutely zero introduction or explanation. Five liter V8, six-speed manual, able to corner and run the strip. And in America, everybody and their mother will take one look at the nose of the Stinger, turn their nose up at the badge, and pick the Mustang every single time. In Australia, however, things are different. Since the Australian motor industry went kaput, pairings like this are going to be par for the course. Aussies don’t care if it has four doors, or really if it came from any Asian country. To them, fast is fast, regardless, and if it’s being imported into the country, then it’s all good.
So let’s take a look at a non-biased approach: a Mustang GT as most enthusiasts would take it versus Kia’s new rocketship. Place your bets…and I hope you picked well.
Maybe he could shift faster without the bling
Here’s the thing, it’s still a KIA. I prefer American muscle.
Kia. Why does the automotive media love a wound up $55K sedan from the SECOND TIER company out of Korea? I do not understand this vehicle’s popularity.
You don’t understand the popularity of a twin turbo AWD car that can do 0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds? A “second tier” car that makes 365 horsepower and 376 lb.-ft. of torque? You don’t understand the popularity of a vehicle that you can drive the kids to the track in, with all their stuff, a sun shade, drag radials, a jack and tools, make a bunch of passes and then load everything up and head home? That is not something you could wrap your head around? Me thinks you might be in the wrong hobby, maybe explore something like macrame or scrapbooking.
I’m with Brian on this one. Wife had a Hyundai when we got married. Broken crankshaft at 60K miles. Picked her up from the dealership in my 77′ Firebird running a 70′ 455 out of a Bonnie with a minimum of 200K hard miles on the stock crank. No Korean cars in this household I don’t give a damn about what consumer reports says about “increased quality and reliability”. Feel free to spend 50 large on a Kia and don’t complain when it’s lost over 50% of its value in a few frustrating years.
Turbocharge anything, and it will be fast…..I’m just sayin’….
I want to see this test with the same vehicles after 75,000 miles on each. Then again at 100,000. My bet would be the KIA would be well behind at 75k and a no show at 100k. That is why normally aspirated V8’s rule.
Not so sure about that. 10 or 12 years ago, KIA was a joke, but I think they’ve come a long, long ways since then. The Optima is a really good, rugged, all around car, and the Rio seems to be hard to kill too. Time will tell.
Especially with typical owners. Oil starved turbos will be the first thing to go even before the rest of the engine starts to give up the ghost.
Why isn’t Ford or GM building there own Stinger? Not based on some FWD crap either. That car is going to sell like crazy.
Even a Kia is fast with low miles on the clock…