New for 2023: Kia’s Sportage Hybrid, with our tester being the all-wheel-drive EX model.
This one might be a little short, but here ya go: This might be my favorite hybrid SUV so far.
And for the simple reason that it doesn’t drive like one. There’s no lag, no shudder, no awkward handoff between battery and ICE propulsion.
You just, like, drive it, with it being Kia’s usual these days. The seats felt supportive even after a few hours behind the wheel, the switches make sense, and you get knobs–two of them–for the audio controls.
My one beef: just a knob for the shifter. I guess the future is here or something like that.
Fit and finish felt upmarket, while the ride was quiet and comfortable. It doesn’t feel like a 3700-pound vehicle.
Kia says that this version of the Sportage Hybrid should see 38 mpg combined–the front-drive LX model can supposedly record up to 42 mpg. We saw 32 mpg but were mostly on back roads and didn’t really try to hyper-mile–no cruise control, for example.
Then there’s the price, and someone should check my math. The standard, gas-powered, all-wheel-drive Sportage EX starts at $29,790 and posts a 25 mpg combined economy rating. Our all-wheel-drive, Sportage Hybrid EX AWD started at $30,990.
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