2017 Kia Sportage SX Turbo 2.0L FWD
Instrumented Test
Every once in a while, a mainstream automaker turns out an unexpected sleeper, an under-the-radar vehicle with the power to dispatch flashier rides pulling away from a stoplight. Sleepers come in many forms, but few offer better cover than compact crossovers. The 2006–2012 Toyota RAV4 with the optional 268-hp V-6 engine was a good example, as were the stick-shift, turbocharged Subaru Forester XT and Kia’s previous-generation Sportage SX with its 260-hp turbo four-cylinder. Toyota’s fire-breathing RAV4 was extinguished in 2012 and the Forester is now stuck with a CVT, but Kia’s hot turbocharged SX trim level is back and in form following the Sportage’s redesign for 2017, and for the first time we’ve tested it without the optional all-wheel drive.
Quickie Kia
Secretly quick cars are fun, but the outgoing Sportage SX had its share of shortcomings outside of its rowdy engine. The suspension was downright harsh, the interior simply was there, and it returned middling fuel economy. For the latest SX, the sportiest Sportage in the lineup, Kia retained the hot-rod-in-disguise aspect while improving nearly everything else. The crossover’s turbocharged four-cylinder engine pushes 240 horsepower and 260 lb-ft (that’s a 59-hp and 85 lb-ft bump over the base model’s naturally aspirated 2.4-liter four) shot our front-drive SX to 60 mph in 6.7 seconds and on to an electronically governed 135 mph. Those numbers best everything in the compact-crossover melee excepting the Subaru Forester 2.0XT, which comes only in all-wheel-drive form.
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In an effort to improve the carryover turbo engine’s fuel efficiency and smooth the lumpy power delivery, Kia stripped it of 20 horsepower and 9 lb-ft of torque, to mixed effect. The engine still issues its might with a strong surge at about 3000 rpm, but even indulging ourselves with the accelerator pedal we saw 21 mpg in mixed driving, which is also the EPA city mileage rating. Something near 30 mpg seems achievable on the highway. The true vice is one shared among all high-output, front-drive vehicles: torque steer and a penchant for spinning the front tires under hard acceleration. We’d splurge for the optional ($1500) all-wheel-drive system, even though it piles on an extra 119 pounds and adds 0.2 second to the zero-to-60-mph time. We like power—see our affection for the old SX, which we put through a 40,000-mile long-term test—but 240 ponies are a lot to shove through the same two wheels that also handle steering duties.
