Kia Sportage long-term test: report 4
The Sportage is one of our favourite family SUVs, and the mild hybrid version promises low running costs, but what's it like to actually live with? We're finding out...
The car Kia Sportage 1.6 T-GDi 48V ISG 3 Run by Allan Muir, managing editor
Why we’re running it To find out whether a petrol family SUV still makes sense in the face of growing electric competition, and whether the Sportage is among the best of them
Needs to Be comfortable, good to drive and practical in daily use, and be frugal enough to keep running costs down
Mileage 1490 List price £33,700 Target Price £32,309 Price as tested £34,350 Test economy 33.6mpg Official economy 44.1mpg
22 January 2023 – Display dismay
The digital instrument panel in my Kia Sportage may look impressive, but I wish it was more configurable. Yes, you have a choice of three fonts and colours that can be tied in with the driving modes (although I use just one), but you’re basically stuck with conventional-looking round dials and an info panel between them.
Why can’t I have a more diverse choice of layouts? I’d prefer something like the displays you get in some sports cars and on many new motorbikes, with numerical readouts for speed and gear and a bar graph for revs – not because this looks ‘sporty’, but because it’s very easy to absorb. And you can present all the key info in a smaller area.
Thankfully, I can have a numerical speed readout showing in the panel between the dials, but I reckon more cars with digital displays should offer some proper alternative layouts.
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