Kia Sportage test drive 2025

Make and model: Kia Sportage – 2025 facelift
Description: Mid-sized SUV, petrol/hybrid
Price range: £30,885 to £43,725

Kia says: “A significant mid-life refresh with a new exterior design and interior capabilities, as well as cutting-edge technologies from Kia’s newest model.”
We say: Don’t fix what isn’t broken – the latest updates to the Kia Sportage simply add to the attraction of one of the UK’s best-selling cars.

• Kia Sportage (2022 onwards) – Expert Rating
• More Kia reviews, Expert Ratings, news and features

Introduction

If ever a car was a signpost for a company, it is the Kia Sportage. First launched 30 years ago in 1995, this SUV has exemplified the transformation of Kia from budget brand to the high-quality mainstream manufacturer it is today – the fourth best-selling car brand in the UK in 2024.

The Sportage reflects this success – now in its fifth generation, which reached showrooms in January 2022, it takes around a third of all Kia sales and routinely battles with the Ford Puma for top spot on the UK’s new car sales chart. However, no manufacturer can afford to allow such access to breed complacency, particularly with a host of new brands arriving from the Far East to challenge the status quo, so now we have an updated Sportage.

The changes encompass the typical mid-life refresh menu of styling tweaks and updates to keep pace with the rapid advances in technology, plus a simplified model range. In showrooms from September 2025, the Sportage now offers buyers a choice of petrol or hybrid powertrains. The plug-in hybrid was briefly off the menu when the facelift was launched, but is due to return before the end of  2025. Eight of the nine model choices across three trim levels are front-wheel drive, with the top GT-Line S version also available in all-wheel-drive format.

As of November 2025, the Sportage retains a top-level New Car Expert Rating of A in The Car Expert’s industry-leading Expert Rating Index – will this latest package of updates keep it ahead of newer contenders? 

What is the Kia Sportage?

The Sportage competes in the now completely saturated mid-sized SUV market, against rivals offered by virtually every major traditional manufacturer along with a host of (mostly electric) models from recently arrived Chinese brands. Despite such competition the Kia remains the most popular car of its type, comfortably ahead of challengers like the Nissan Qashqai.

Always regarded as one of the more attractive-looking vehicles of its type, the exterior visuals of the Sportage have been sharpened up with updates such as the larger grille and distinctive headlight pattern (which Kia calles ‘Star Map’) taken from the company’s latest EV models.

Other changes include redesigned front wings and side cladding, new wheel designs and subtle rear-end changes also making use of the star map lights and revisions to the tailgate with a distinct crease across its mid section. Generally the changes are less than dramatic and the Sportage retains inoffensive visuals.

What do you get for your money?

The Sportage now comes with a simplified three-step line-up, dubbed Pure, GT-Line and GT-Line S. All three can be specified with either of the current two engine options, a 1.6-litre petrol unit of 150hp and a hybrid version with 238hp.

How much equipment comes with your Sportage depends greatly on which trim you select – the days of long options lists are gone, with only the exterior colour now a choice. Standard is white, with four options for the Pure and five for the other models, each priced at £650. The top-level GT-Line S can also be specified with a two-tone finish of silver with a black roof for £800.

The entry-level Sportage Pure with petrol power and a six-speed manual gearbox starts at £30,885, the hybrid costing an extra £3,540 – all the hybrids are fitted with a six-speed automatic gearbox. A long list of equipment includes such desirables as wireless Apple Carplay/Android Auto connection, parking sensors and a reversing camera and as well as the 12-inch central touchscreen and a four-inch digital display ahead of the driver.

GT-Line trim, the best-selling in the range, adds an extra £2,500 to the purchase cost and the petrol version is also available with a seven-speed dual-clutch auto transmission for £35,085, £1700 more than its manual equivalent. Extras include bigger wheels (18-inch on the petrol car, 19-inch on the hybrid), faux leather and suede upholstery, heated front seats and steering wheel, USB charging sockets for the rear seats and various styling tweaks.

Top of the range is the GT-Line S, only offered with the auto gearbox and costing from £40,285 in petrol form, £42,125 as a hybrid – this can also be had as the only all-wheel-drive variant for an extra £1600.

GT-Line S buyers get all the toys including a panoramic sunroof (with tilt/slide and an electric blind), electric adjustment and ventilation of the front seats, rear seat heating, a powered tailgate, the driver’s digital display growing from four to 12 inches and gaining a windscreen head-up display, wireless phone charging, a better sound system and some extra safety aids including a 360-degree surround view camera.  

The additional electronic driver aids add to a strong standard safety package – last tested in 2022, the Sportage earned a top-level five-star rating from Euro NCAP. And like all Kias, every Sportage also comes with a seven-year/100,000-mile warranty, until recently the longest on the market.

We like: Long warranty.
We don’t like: Only higher-spec models get features like wireless charging that are standard on some rivals.

What’s the Kia Sportage like inside?

The Kia Sportage continues to offer interior space for both occupants and their luggage that, while not the biggest in the segment, is competitive with rivals. There’s 591 litres in the boot of the petrol version, dropping to 587 in hybrids (as the battery sits under the boot floor). With the rear seats folded flat, space increases to 1780/1776 litres.

The rear seats fold in a 40/20/40 format, which is quite useful, though they can’t be moved back and forth, increasingly a feature of rival SUVs. Rear-seat headroom is not overly generous, particularly on top GT-Line S models with the panoramic sunroof, although this does make the cabin feel bright and airy. 

Once settled in the car, you’ll find the standards of fit and finish Kia has become renowned for – as expected, the hard plastics of the pre-production models we drove three months before launch have made way for much better-looking and feeling surfaces, at least in the more obvious areas, with a suede-look finish on all but entry-level Pure models. One definite gain is the replacement of the previous gloss piano black on the centre console with a brushed effect that does a better job at hiding dust and fingerprints.

The driver’s environment changes significantly between Pure and GT-Line grades. While drivers of the entry model get a four-inch display with the essential information such as speed on it, in the GT-Line it jumps to 12 inches, integrated into a sweeping panel across the front of the car, which looks smart and also contains the central infotainment touchscreen of the same size.

One positive aspect is that Kia has bucked the trend towards complete minimalist form over function – the most-used controls retain their own dedicated buttons, both in the centre console and on the steering wheel, and have not been incorporated into a more difficult to get at touchscreen menu.                

We like: Buttons – Kia has resisted putting everything on a touchscreen.
We don’t like: Rear seats less versatile than rivals.

What’s under the bonnet?

Powertrain options for the Sportage are simple, with currently two engines, petrol or petrol-electric hybrid, and depending on trim a choice of transmissions. Surprisingly you can no longer get a mild-hybrid Sportage, though the plug-in hybrid that was available pre-facelift is due to join the updated range before the end of 2025.

The facelift has not included any changes to the car’s mechanical specification, though the electric side of the hybrid has been given a power boost over its predecessor.

All of the petrol models make use of Kia’s familiar 1.6-litre four cylinder unit, offering 150hp of power and 250Nm of torque. All offer 0-62mph times of just under ten seconds, the seven-speed auto units just a shade quicker than their six-speed manual equivalents, and with combined cycle fuel economy figures of around 40mpg and CO₂ emissions of 160 to 163g/km.

Go for the hybrid and alongside the expected economy increase there are also performance gains. Supplied as standard with a six-speed auto transmission, the hybrids cut the 0-62mph time to just under eight seconds with fuel economy nudging 50mpg and CO₂ emissions of between 126 and 130g/km.

The exception is the all-wheel-drive variant, only available in top GT-Line S trim, which takes eight seconds to get to 62mph and offers official economy and emissions figures of 44mpg and 145g/km.

What’s the Kia Sportage like to drive?

At a drive event for the UK-specification Sportage, The Car Expert was able to try out both petrol and hybrid versions, and with both front and all-wheel-drive powertrains. The latter will account for few purchases, but might be useful in the winter for those living in more rural locations.

The petrol engine provides adequate power for most buyers – it’s reasonably refined, though a little noisier than some rivals. The hybrid is more potent in this respect, the electric motor providing acceleration assistance, and with the benefit of electric power only in slow-speed rural environments, it’s very quiet indeed, though not for long as its battery is soon exhausted. One plus point is a less coarse engine note than is typical of hybrids.

On the road, the Sportage generally copes well with less-than-perfect surfaces, with the innocuous handling and feel through the steering wheel that will suit the vast majority of its target market. Unsurprisingly, we did find that the bigger the wheels, the slightly less comfortable the ride.    

We like: As well behaved as family SUVs should be.
We don’t like: Petrol engine could be a little quieter.

Verdict

The revisions to the Kia Sportage fulfil their aim of keeping the car fresh without doing anything too dramatic to risk its best-seller status. The basic qualities of this family SUV remain and we’ve no doubt it will continue to find plenty of owners.

Mid-range GT-Line specification provides the best compromise between equipment and price, while the extra performance for better economy of the hybrid is tempting, and it’s a better drive than the petrol version. The individual buyer will have to decide, however, whether it’s worth paying an extra £3,500 for.  

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Key specifications

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