The Israeli car market has a consensus that has been well established over the past two years: Israelis will buy everything, literally. It doesn’t matter if it is a new and designed off-road vehicle or a Tesla that costs more than NIS 200,000.
Quick phone call to bank, loan, lien. We will buy today because tomorrow we will die, maybe from Corona. And for those who do not have money yet there is an excuse to spend: the corona. Just need the right product at the right time.
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When it comes to car importers, they like to pile up orders and then proudly tell that stock is out. And Israelis like to hear that stock is running out. It only makes them fear that they will miss the next shipment, and preferably before Passover. The Kia Sportage is a prime example.
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Kia Sportage
(Photo: Dor Manuel)
The original Sportage was a true rugged SUV. Then Hyundai and Kia merged and Sportage became another version of the Hyundai Tucson. Kia has become Hyundai’s cheeky sister, and it’s going well for her. Like most of its previous generations, the Sportage is based on a Hyundai platform, in this case a Hyundai Tucson. But the positioning is different, especially in Israel. In previous generations the Sportage was an off-road vehicle with a popular scent. Sometimes it had versions with little armature and its price was not significantly higher than the price of a family car.
The new Hyundai Tucson, Sportage’s brother, arrived in Israel last year. Now comes Sportage. A year is not a long time, but many things happened in it: there was one war, there was an exit from one plague, there was a Tesla entry into Israel and there was a price of fuel that skyrocketed to new heights. The new Sportage is a vehicle that needs to prove itself in a completely different environment, break away from popular branding and compensate with an abundance of technology.
And there is one more acute problem: the new Sportage is no longer in-depth. It costs tens of thousands of shekels more than the outgoing version. Here is the real test: whether the herd drive to attack every new off-road vehicle will beat the math and whether buyers will adapt to the new positioning.
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The new Kia Sportage. A wonderfully spacious and well-equipped cabin and a powerful engine
(Photo: Dor Manuel)
It is important to mention that 2022 is the year of the clean car. There are hybrids, there are plug-in hybrids. Sportage does not have all these technologies. In Europe there is a Sportage from every green variety imaginable, one that is plugged into an outlet, one with a lightweight hybrid system that saves fuel using the power system and of course one that is a hybrid.
The Sportage that came to us has a 1.6-liter turbo gasoline engine and a robotic automatic transmission. The engine does not disappoint, certainly not to the extent required of a family off-road vehicle. It is strong enough, the gears shift quickly, unless you really press the Sportage, but it’s hard not to wonder why it is impossible to give buyers such a desirable technological advantage.
Hyundai also does not offer these fuel-saving systems. That means the big sister also deprives customers and as long as customers show disappointing consumer ignorance and rush to pull out a wallet in the face of a new SUV and damn fuel consumption. So one can certainly understand why some people study their Tesla car books for hours to save a few shekels and why the future lies in an electric car.
Our sportage is galloping in the direction of Ramot Menashe. Raz Falls is always beautiful, the Judge’s Stream flows, the landscape around is green. The Sportage has an excellent cabin, the senior level of finish ensures digital indicators, a sunroof, active safety systems. Those who buy the vehicle in the senior trim level will enjoy an excellent cabin.
The trunk is a bit small but everything else indicates a significant change with quite a bit of thought on the subject of human engineering. The switches that operate the climate control are replaced with the push of a button for control switches in the multimedia system. And what’s nice is that they’re out of the huge multimedia screen, so Sportage does not fall into the familiar trap of driver confusion with plenty of operations in the multimedia system.
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Sportage. High quality materials
(Photo: Dor Manuel)
The quality of the materials is high and even the plastic at the bottom of the cabin is high quality. To shift gears you need a long dial, and the dial takes time to respond. To get a mirror of the phone you have to wait, and the mirror is slow.
The roads of Ramot Menashe are sometimes bad, sometimes winding and always fast. In 2022 few Israelis are looking for sporting behavior and doubt who it is still interesting. Indeed, Sportage absorbs bumps well.
This is a particularly tight vehicle that also knows how to dampen well. But Sportage has unpleasant boundaries. When encountering really deep potholes on the road it sends a very strong vibration through the steering wheel by the driver, a result of what may be poor damping. The driver is startled, takes a second to recover and continues in the direction of the green fields of Ramot Menashe.
When cruising on the highway the Sportage is quiet and pleasant and its active cruise control does a very good job, but if the ride is extended beyond a few hours, then the driver’s seat can be a bit tiring, especially given that its lower part lacks support.
And another important point: for those who expect heads to turn around with the new Sportage because it is a bestseller, a disappointment is expected. The new Sportage manages to look good without looking excessive. It’s a matter of taste. The outgoing generation had some gimmicks like giant wheel rims designed to differentiate it from the herd of SUVs. Kia now has her own identity and is much more cohesive. Sportage does not shout that he has arrived. He is very handsome even without shouting.
The bottom line is that the new Kia Sportage is a truly successful off-road vehicle. It has a spacious and wonderfully equipped cabin, its engine is powerful and if not pushed to the limit of its capacity, it offers a decent return.
The main disadvantage is not products, but a disadvantage in the technology and pricing sector. The previous Sportage was a vehicle with a popular positioning. The new generation is tens of thousands of shekels more expensive than the outgoing generation. His brother, the Hyundai Tucson, has not been a popular car for a long time, but the Tucson was there before and the Sportage is more expensive than it. In addition, keep in mind that fuel is expensive and the lack of advanced propulsion systems is cumbersome at the gas station.
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driver’s compartment. Huge but not confusing multimedia screen
(Photo: Dor Manuel)
The importer is proud of the fact that the outgoing Sportage is the SUV sold in Israel. But Israel has undergone a profound change and the current reality is likely to present Sportage buyers a test that is not only interesting at the level of the vehicle but also at the level of the public in Israel: whether to ignore the price jump and lack of technology to own the latest version of what everyone has, or stop for a moment And think if what the new Sportage offers is enough to allow it to continue to hold the title of best-selling SUV?
Appearance, finish quality
Price, lack of green technology
The significant increase in price obscures a proper off-road vehicle
Engine: Gasoline, volume 1,598 cc. Maximum power 180 hp, maximum torque 27 kg.
Performence: Top speed 201 km / h, jump to 100 km / h in 8.8 seconds
Fuel consumption: Manufacturer data 13.5 km per liter. Test data: 11.4 km per liter
safety: 7 airbags, not yet tested in a public crash test. Active cruise control
Price: NIS 195,000