Sports car fans struggle, unless they reside in the South. You want to be able to enjoy your automobile, but driving without AWD in the winter can be perilous. Thankfully, more recent cars have been made more accessible for these drivers, such as the Kia Stinger.
There are now sports cars with available all-wheel drive and safety features for drivers in bad weather. The Kia Stinger GT is one of the least expensive vehicles on the list, according to U.S. News, and it also receives favorable reviews. Is the Stinger really a great vehicle for all four seasons?
In This Article...
How dependable is the Kia Stinger GT AWD?
How Reliable Is the Kia Stinger? The projected reliability rating for the 2022 Kia Stinger is 80 out of 100. A predicted reliability score from J.D. Power of 91 to 100 is regarded as the best, 81 to 90 as great, 70 to 80 as medium, and 0-69 as fair and below average.
The Kia Stinger is self-driving, right?
Two distinct turbocharged engines are offered for the 2022 Stinger: a new 300-hp 2.5-liter turbo-four and a 368-hp twin-turbo 3.3-liter V-6. Although we haven’t tested the new engine, the V-6’s thrilling performance has our enthusiast hearts racing. The eight-speed automatic transmission that is paired with both engines, in our experience, produces rapid shifts and is unobtrusive when left to shift on its own. However, we wish the paddle shifters responded to driver inputs more quickly. Still, the V-6-powered Stinger GT does not let down drivers who are only interested in achieving maximum straight-line speed. During our track testing, the Stinger GT mastered straight-line speed and accelerated to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds. Although it behaves admirably in everyday driving situations, it couldn’t quite equal the poise of its more seasoned competitors when pushed to the limit. We also noticed considerable resistance from the rear suspension, including some fore-and-aft tilting during our all-out acceleration and braking runs, as well as an alarming side step while turning hard on a bumpy road. All GTs have strong Brembo brakes, which allowed for swift stops by any standard and blended in admirably with this group of high-performance sedans. The Stinger is less remarkable in this class or any other class without the Brembos and when equipped with less grippy all-season tires.
Is the GT line Kia Stinger AWD?
Our impartial expert analyzes a 2022 Stinger GT-Line painted in the brand-new Ascot Green shade and fitted with the following features in the sections that follow:
- the Sun and Sound combo
- Front passenger seat with 8-way power
- sweeping sunroof
- Harman Kardon high-end audio system
- rugs with carpeting
- Cargo mat with carpet
The test car cost $39,715 in total, including the $1,045 destination fee.
Stinger GT-Line Gets Much Better Engine
A new turbocharged 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine replaces the outdated 2.0-liter turbo engine in the Kia Stinger GT-Line. It produces an identical 300 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque, which are sent to the rear wheels via an 8-speed automated transmission. An AWD system is available if you live where snow flies. According to Kia, it takes 5.2 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph, which is only a half-second longer than the Stinger GT.
The Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) uses this 2.5-liter turbo engine in a variety of vehicles, including the Hyundai Sonata N Line, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Genesis G70, and GV70. While occasionally sounding a little rough around the edges, it offers plenty of acceleration and is more polished than the engine it replaces. While the test vehicle averaged 23.8 mpg, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that a 2022 Stinger GT-Line should achieve 25 mpg in combined driving.
The Stinger GT-Line is much more enticing than it was before because of this upgraded engine. Less weight over the front axle is actually a positive thing because the Stinger’s nose tends to push in tight turns. A Stinger can understeer while executing a rapid U-turn or accelerating too quickly into a corner, but it can also be tail-happy in certain circumstances. Fans who drift will adore this. Those who enjoy driving on dangerous mountain routes won’t. Despite the GT-Line trim’s lack of torque vectoring, strongly consider the AWD option.
Rubber that is stickier might also be beneficial. The Stinger GT-Line comes standard with new 18-inch wheel designs, although they are fitted with 225/45 Bridgestone Potenza all-season tires that squeal more frequently than is ideal when the car is being driven hard. A choice of performance tires with greater aggression would be wonderful.
Refined Styling and Design Enhancements
The 2022 Stinger lineup gets new wheel designs in addition to a new daytime running light signature and full-width rear taillight treatment. Additionally, the exhaust outlets are larger than before in order to emphasize the sound of the Stinger GT’s new active exhaust system.
Gloss black interior trim panels, chrome accents, and ambient lighting give the inside a more sophisticated appearance and feel. The premium Nappa leather interior of the GT2 now has what Kia refers to as a “chain link” motif, and the GT versions have new contrast stitching patterns.
Otherwise, the Stinger keeps providing the space and functionality that come with a 5-door sportback style. In essence, the Stinger competes against vehicles like the Volkswagen Arteon, BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe, and Audi A5 Sportback. It can also be used as a substitute for SUV “coupes” like the Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe and Infiniti QX55, as well as wagons like the Audi A4 Allroad and Volvo V60 Cross Country.
Those SUVs and wagons might be over the top. This Kia is low-slung and, to be honest, a little challenging to get in and out of. However, it provides plenty of room for four passengers to be comfortable in addition to the convenience of a rear hatch that opens up to show a sizable 23.3 cubic-foot trunk. The vehicle can accommodate 40.9 cubic feet of cargo when the back seat is folded down.
The Kia Stinger is a terrific option if you’re the kind of person who likes to drive something unique. On most days, it’s doubtful that you’ll pass another one while driving.
Next-generation Infotainment Debuts
A new infotainment system with a 10.25-inch touchscreen will be available for the Stinger in 2022. It has a navigation system, satellite radio with a free 3-month subscription, UVO Link linked services with a free 1-year subscription, wired Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto, wireless smartphone charging, and more. The Stinger GT2 comes standard with a 15-speaker Harman Kardon surround-sound system and is available with GT-Line trim.
Although I don’t like the visuals on this system, the technology is efficient unless you try to use the voice-recognition feature. The voice recognition in the Hyundai Santa Fe, which I had on the testing schedule at the same time as the Kia Stinger, turned out to be better. The Stinger, on the other hand, seemed to have trouble finding anything other than the nearest Starbucks, however by tweaking a few commands, it was able to pass more of my standard tests.
The climate control, seat and steering wheel heaters, audio, and “other functions” should all be controllable by the driver using the Stinger’s “improved UVO voice-assist technology,” according to Kia. The UVO Link subscription on the test Stinger may not have been activated by Kia.
The New 2022 Stinger is a Safer Car
The 2022 Stinger receives a significant safety technology improvement from Kia. Here is a summary:
- the addition of bike detection to the front collision warning system
- In order to prevent risky left turns into oncoming traffic, a new junction turning system stops.
- Blind Spot Collision-Avoidance Active Assist makes its debut, and if the driver continues to make an unsafe lane shift, it will gently nudge the Stinger back into its lane.
- The rear cross-traffic warning system benefits from rear automatic braking.
- When it is risky to escape the Stinger due to oncoming traffic or cyclists, Safe Exit Assist alerts the driver and passengers.
- The Stinger is kept centered in its lane of travel via Lane Following Assist.
The 2022 Stinger adds Highway Driving Assist as well. It combines lane following assistance and intelligent adaptive cruise control to produce a Level 2 hands-on semi-autonomous ADAS. The Highway Driving Assist in the 2022 Stinger is great and suggests how it might easily become a hands-free system in the future, as is true of most other HMG technologies.
911 Connect and safe teen driving settings pertaining to speed, curfew, and geographical restrictions are among the safety-related features provided by UVO Link. You may even utilize the Find My Car function of the UVO Link smartphone app to locate your Stinger. Additionally, if you own a Stinger GT2, the app has access to surround-view cameras and can display information about the area around your car.
If the Stinger’s safety features can’t stop a collision, you may drive with confidence knowing that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has given it the highest possible rating of “Top Safety Pick+.” This is an improvement over the previous year, when the car just made the “Top Safety Pick” list.
Is the Kia Stinger a reliable everyday car?
The Kia Stinger’s smooth ride (while in Comfort Mode) and high-end Harmon Kardon audio system are additional reasons to buy it. But if you switch to Sport mode, you can turn up the excitement and have a blast whether you’re slicing through the country roads or accelerating through stoplights. The Kia Stinger will, above all else, give you the comfort and sportiness you wouldn’t anticipate from the brand.
What issues are there with Kia Stinger?
Many Kia Stinger owners have experienced electrical system problems in the past.
These were brought on by damage to the front wire harness, which might have resulted in short-circuiting and fires.
You may check to see if the vehicle you drive or are considering purchasing is included in the recall, which took place in late 2018. If it happens, the recall entitles you to a free replacement wiring harness.
Is maintaining a Kia Stinger expensive?
During the first ten years of ownership, a KIA Stinger will require roughly $6,281 in maintenance and repairs.
This is $815 less expensive than the industry average for popular sedan models. Additionally, there is a 17.53 percent likelihood that a Stinger will need a significant repair within that time. Compared to comparable automobiles in its sector, this is 3.97 percent better. The following graph shows how these expenses and the likelihood of repairs will rise over time.
Why aren’t Kia Stinger sales up?
According to information coming out of South Korea, the Kia Stinger as we know it may be nearing the end of its useful life and may no longer be produced starting in December 2022.
Kia will stop producing the Stinger starting in December, according to a post on the Korean forum Autospy. This confirms a claim from the country’s DailyCar website from July 2021, which predicted that production would end in the second part of this year.
According to a story from August, Kia’s design chief Karin Habib hinted that the car would continue to exist, adding that the firm is “working on a new model for the Stinger… we want the Stinger spirit to stay at the core of hunger.”
The Hyundai Vision FK, a 500kW hydrogen-powered concept car that bears an eerie resemblance to the Stinger given that Kia is a member of the Hyundai Motor Group family, will be the most obvious reincarnation.
According to reports from Korea, the Stinger is built at the Sohari Plant, which will be converted to produce electrified vehicles starting in 2023.
More rumors that the rear-wheel-drive sedan may switch to a battery-electric powertrain have been sparked by a silhouetted image from Kia showing a future electric car with a shape similar to the Stinger.
What does the Kia Stinger’s smart mode do?
With the Smart mode, you can monitor your driving and strike the appropriate balance between fuel economy, smooth operation, and performance since it anticipates your steering preferences and switches between Sport, Eco, and Comfort modes based on the road and your driving style. Special Mode.
Are all-season tires included with the Kia Stinger?
The Kia Stinger has garnered a lot of attention from motorists and acclaim from auto enthusiasts because it bravely attained the sporting performance that so many of us desire in our vehicles – while at the same time maintaining the usefulness of a dependable sedan. The beautiful body design of this chic Kia was inspired by European cars, which is why Kia wanted to compete with high-end producers like Maserati and BMW. The Kia Stinger, however, not only competes with some of its rivals in terms of appearance, but also in terms of performance.
The Kia Stinger is renowned for its exceptional sporting performance, and the most recent model is equipped with a 2.5-liter turbocharged engine that can produce up to 300 horsepower. Even if it falls short of some of the high-end sports car specifications, this is still an amazing set of features for a car that costs only $37,000 and is still considered to be a sedan. But if you want to fully take use of the Kia Stingers’ 300 horsepower, you should choose a tire designed for high performance, as this will help your car function at its best on the road.
This will be especially true for owners of the GT1 and GT2 editions of the Kia Stinger, since they have even more sporting performance features to offer. Having saying that, not every driver of a Kia Stinger will be interested in a High-Performance tire, since some people choose to prioritize dependability and practicality when driving. In that situation, you might want to think about choosing a more versatile tire, like an All-Season tire, as these will be much more dependable for a wide range of various driving conditions and terrains.
In conclusion, the Kia Stinger is a terrific car for a variety of drivers, but you’ll discover that it performs much better when you outfit it with a set of tires that are tailored to your driving requirements. There are many options available, so it’s simple to be tricked into buying the first set of cheap tires you see. To get the maximum performance out of your Kia Stinger, we advise that you take the time to consider the advantages of the various tires that are on the market. We have hand-picked some of the top tires for the Kia Stinger to aid you in making your choice.
All-Season Tires
Today, all-season tires are the most frequently utilized types of tires. The goal of an all-season tire is to give drivers the most versatile driving experience possible so they can rely on only one set of tires for almost all typical road conditions. All-Season tires were first met with mixed reviews because in the past they frequently fell short of living up to their promise because the All-Season label did not fully match the performance in reality.
However, during the past 20 years or so, all-season tire performance has undergone some remarkable advancements. This is because the rubber compound used in current tires has undergone ground-breaking innovation. Better grip, handling, and weather resistance are all important characteristics of contemporary All-Season alternatives. The addition of silica to All-Season tires has significantly boosted the reliability of their on-road performance.
For a Kia Stinger driver who must navigate a variety of challenging road conditions, including inclement weather, rough terrain, as well as routine city and interstate driving, an All-Season tire will be suitable. For someone who wants to mount a set of tires on their car without having to think too much about technical performance, this is going to be the ideal choice. All-Season tires are also excellent for drivers who want their tires to last a long time thanks to technology. With all-season tires installed on your Kia Stinger, you may anticipate only needing to change your tires every 60,000 to 70,000 miles due to their very extended tread life.
All-Season tires are very active, but not every Kia Stinger driver will find them to be the best option. With a set of All-Season tires, the Kia Stinger’s great sporting skills won’t show as clearly because these tires were made primarily for reliability rather than high-end performance. Additionally, you should be aware that All-Season tires work well in the majority of road situations, but not all. Extreme temperature zones will not yield your Kia Stinger’s best performance. This kind of tire will by no means be able to compete with the qualities of a High-Performance summer tire or a winter tire, but it will work for everything in between. For more information on the finest all-season tires for the Kia Stinger, continue reading.
Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus (Grand Touring All-Season Tire)
Pirelli is a name you can rely on when it comes to tire production. Pirelli has been creating top-notch tires that have consistently lifted the standard for on-road driving performance for well over a century.
Although Pirelli has always specialized in producing High-Performance tires for sports cars, this manufacturer has recently started to provide some amazing All-Season alternatives. For drivers of the Kia Stinger, this All-Season tire is among the best ones available.
This Grand Touring All-Season tire offers improved performance together with all of the dependable features of a typical All-Season tire. The fact that many All-Season tires on the market simply do not perform as well as they could when it comes to handling and cornering is a typical problem. This Pirelli tire has a highly developed tread pattern that significantly improves its traction on common roads, giving your Kia Stinger more cornering traction.
When you examine your yearly gas bills, the Kia Stinger’s mile per gallon rating is good but not ideal, which can end up being pretty expensive. Tires have a significant impact on how fuel-efficient your automobile may be, with certain alternatives lowering the number of miles per tank. The best potential fuel efficiency is another key component of Pirelli’s tread design, which will ultimately help you save money on gas.
Additionally, this All-Season tire performed admirably in both dry and wet weather. The Kia Stinger performed well in our dry and wet acceleration tests with these Grand Touring All-Season tires, reaching 60 mph in under 5 seconds in both conditions. Both in dry and rainy circumstances, these tires provided strong stopping force, and braking felt safe and controlled.
Additionally, we discovered that this Pirelli tire performs superbly in the cold. This tire can be a terrific choice for drivers in areas of the country with moderate winters because of the excellent traction we experienced in light snow and ice conditions. Pirelli’s Grand Touring All-Season tire, however, fell short of Toyo’s All-Weather tire in terms of performance because of the poor traction provided by deep snow and ice. Later on, more on this!
In addition, we were really pleased with how comfy the Kia Stinger was on these Pirelli tires. All-Season tires frequently seem a little bumpy on the road or emit a faint hum, especially when traveling at high speeds. However, the Grand Touring All-Season rubber from Pirelli seemed extremely quiet while driving.
Finally, the wear life on these tires is excellent. These should have a tread life of around 70,000 miles on average. You can be confident that they are covered by a warranty in the unlikely event that they don’t live up to this expectation. Discount Tire is selling these Grand Touring All-Season tires for for $116.00 each. This is a fantastic deal given the dynamic performance characteristics and outstanding tread life.
Toyo Celsius (All-Weather Tire)
There are several excellent tire alternatives available from Toyo, but we discovered that their Celsius model was the most appealing for the Kia Stinger. This tire is praised for its All-Weather performance because it was made with the intent to withstand almost every weather scenario.
We put the Kia Stingers through rigorous testing in both dry and wet environments, and we were extremely pleased with their performance. In both situations, the Kia Stinger’s acceleration was strong, and its stopping capability was comparable.
The Celsius will not be able to match the dry and wet performance of a High-Performance tire, but if sports performance is not your top priority, this All-Weather tire will be a perfect fit for you.
Having said that, this tire really shines when it comes to providing drivers of Kia Stinger with exceptional winter performance. Choosing a pair of all-season tires for your car only to discover that they function poorly when the coldest part of the year rolls around may be immensely irritating.
Toyo created the Celsius to perform so well in snowy circumstances because they intended to provide drivers a tire that would not fail them even in the dead of winter. The Celsius performed admirably when put to the test in some light snow and ice. However, we were astonished by how dependable the traction remained when we drove the Kia Stinger in deep snow with these tires fitted.
This All-Weather tire is important to consider if you drive a Kia Stinger and must travel in challenging winter driving conditions because it will allow you to use the same set of tires all year.
This tire not only performs superbly in all weather conditions, but it also has a great tread life. Your Celsius tires should last 60,000 miles on average before needing replacement. But if you take good care of your tires, you should be able to drive on them for at least another 5,000 to 10,000 miles before you start to notice any significant balding.
Toyo has backed their tires with a warranty in case you experience any problems with them up to 60,000 miles. These Toyo tires are presently available from Discount Tire for about $100.00 per set, which is an excellent price for a Kia Stinger driver looking to purchase a pair of well-rounded tires on a tight budget.