Kia Is Britain’s Most Satisfying Car
What’s the most satisfying car to own in Britain? The Kia Sportage. That’s what leading UK automotive magazine What Car? has discovered, following an extensive survey of British car owners.
The Sportage compact SUV outranked every other car in the magazine’s on-line survey of more than 18,000 new car buyers, delivering the “very best in terms of ownership experience”. In hitting the top spot, Sportage trounced some very glitzy rivals, including the Jaguar XF, Toyota Prius, Skoda Superb and the Mercedes Benz E-Class, which made up the other contenders in the top five.
The What Car? survey rates cars according to 66 ownership attributes, which are grouped into four main sections: vehicle appeal including performance, design, comfort and features (37% of the marks); quality and reliability (24%); ownership costs including fuel consumption, insurance and cost of service and repairs (22%); and dealer service (17%). It included vehicles registered between January 2009 and December 2010.
The Sportage scored a ranking of 83.8% per cent amongst those surveyed, making it the best compact SUV and best vehicle overall.
What Car? says: “The Sportage was the only car in the survey to score five stars across all the categories. Thoughtful design, excellent reliability and sheer value for money helped Kia’s SUV to a historic double win as it is the first SUV ever to take the overall title, in its first year in the survey!”
Among comments reported by owners in the survey were: “It is better looking than other SUVs and less expensive than most”; “This is one of the best looking cars ever!”; “Am I going to trade mine in? I think not; friends, family, passers-by – they all love it”.
Todd McDonald, General Manager of Kia Motors New Zealand, isn’t surprised by the vote of confidence from Sportage owners in the UK, as it mirrors the remarks he often hears from those who have purchased the vehicle in this country.
“We get a lot of comments from New Zealand Sportage owners about the stylish design, comfort and performance,” he says.
“It has been an outstanding success right from the day it went on sale and there is still huge demand from the network for Sportage almost two years later.”
The Kia Sportage is available in two and four wheel drive versions and features a choice of 2-litre and 2.4-litre petrol or 2-litre diesel engines, with a sporty 6-speed sequential shift automatic transmission as standard. Prices start from a very competitive $33,990.
