Over the years I have always been cautious to not place unfair opinions on cars that did not deserve them. All things need proper perspective and need to be viewed and judged in their own prism of where they fall and what they are trying to accomplish. You cannot look at a pickup truck the same way you do a McLaren or a Raptor R in the same way you view a Ford Maverick. This is the same approach I have taken to the hundreds of reviews I have written here over the years and the same way I evaluated the 2026 Kia Sportage X-Pro. The X-Pro falls into that very popular mid-sized SUV category that has been the dominant style of vehicles bought in the US for several years now. The Sportage was redesigned a few years ago but still have great style and the X-Pro model is intended to bring a more off-road, all terrain attitude to the party.
The first thing I should address is the “off-road capability” of the Sportage. It’s really the same as any other Sportage with all wheel drive aside from the BFG Trail Terrain tires. The ride height, ground clearance, differentials, and all other important components in any off-road situation are unchanged from the rest of the lineup. Not that the average (or unique) Sportage buyer would be planning on taking this baby to Moab but just understand that the “off road” nature of this one begins and ends with the tire selection. This said, I really enjoyed the ride quality of the 2026 Kia Sportage X-Pro, how quiet the interior was, and how much room is offered everyone. There’s also really nice technology and integration in there.
The interior, which could use some splash of color as again, the “sea of black” is not the most vibrant look, is well appointed, made of great quality materials, and all plays into what Kia calls their CCNC or Connected Car Navigation Cockpit. The 12.3″ LED screen is really nice, it is also contoured to the dash which makes it seem like an actual part of the design of the interior, not something that was stuck in afterward like so many others feel. The buttons in the console for various functions are good, the Touch Bar for HVAC functionality worked well, and the screen interface was also something I found to be well done. It is intuitive and easy.
The bottom line for me on the interior is that the quality is better than the price suggests. This tester was on the order of $42,000 and felt like it was worth $10-20,000 more than that just based on what the market price is for other SUVs of the same size and feel. The truest strength of KIA, as it has been for several years now, is overdelivering on the quality, tactile experience, and styling for the price point.
As you can see, carpeting is plush in the rear, the amount of passenger room is plentiful and on a couple of long drives that we took, people did comment on how comfortable the whole experience was. Rear stowage is copious and laying the seats flat opens it up to cavernous levels. The 2026 Kia Sportage X-Pro will be able to handle virtually every homeowner task you could ask of it beyond things that you’d want a pickup truck for anyway.
The styling of the Kia, which was bold and in some cases seen as gaudy a couple of years ago is still cutting edge and fresh in my eyes. It looks like a modern SUV should with the bold front end, interesting angles and creases down the body, and lighting treatments that are truly unique front and back. In a sea of vehicle that are the same shape in this class and category, doing something cool with that shape is what sets you apart from the pack. The Kia still has that going for it.
The main criticism I have for the 2026 Kia Sportage X-Pro is simple. 187hp. It’s just not enough. Yes, the engine is hooked to an 8-speed automatic transmission but even where these larger ratio boxes shine, the lack of oomph here has the eight speed hunting for gears upon gears whenever you ask to the Sportage to do anything but gentle roll down the road. Full throttle acceleration to 60 mph was observed to be over nine seconds in duration, which again, is just tepid and for this era, pokey. As mentioned, I was not looking for nor judging the Kia to be some kind of a dragster, but I was also not expecting it to be so lacking in dynamism mechanically. The turbocharged engine that the company has would solve this problem immediately and bring another level of driving fun to an already good car.
Sp that’s my take on the 2026 Kia Sportage X-Pro, a fine car that does everything right for the passenger and driver interior experience, delivers value in quality, styling, and overall feel well beyond its price, but needs more power to be a truly stand out member of its crowded class of SUV competition. Kia has done all the hard parts perfectly, now, just add power.
