Speaker 1: Well, it's a blustery day here in Southern California, but I'm here with the new Kia Sportage and the ex-pro trim. And Kia's given me a chance to take it out here on this offroad course. So you know that when not I am all in. Okay. So let's talk a little bit about how this thing looks because I really love the styling on it. So we've got this standard tire nose grill that we've always had, but now we've got upgraded lighting. It's L [00:00:30] E D lighting all the way around and like dig these little like boomerang, daytime running lights. They're really dope. Now, coming back here, you know, if you're gonna have an off-road vehicle, you gotta have good tires. So the ex-pro is fitted with 29 inch BF Goodrich, all terrain tires. Now they're not the K2 S but they're still gonna give you plenty of grip when you're out there in the dirt.
Speaker 1: And of course you can outfit your Kia with plenty of bike, racks, rooftop, tents, and all that great stuff. That's all gonna be part of the aftermarket stuff. But I want you to come around here to the back, because here again [00:01:00] is where I think Kia's looking really good. I love the fact that we've got this wide lighting signature here, and the new Kia logo kind of looks like K N to me. But if you look at it right, it is Kia. Anyway, this is not my favorite part. Also not my favorite fake little diffuser down here. I mean, it's nice to have some texture, but I really like it when things actually work. However, on the whole really enjoy the way this new Sportage looks.
Speaker 1: [00:01:30] Okay. Here's a fun fact for you. Did you know that the Kia Sportage competed in both the DHA rally and the Baja 1000 in the nineties? Because I did not know that. So I kind of feel like I learned thing today, so I can go to bed. Now, this Kia Sportage is not quite as powerful as what I assume those Kia Sportages were. This one has got a 2.5 liter, naturally aspirated four cylinder engine, and it's good for just 187 horsepower and 178 pound feet of torque. Now you can [00:02:00] get the Sportage in a hybrid model that is pushing out, like right around the mid 200 S and I really wish they offered the ex pro in that, but ALA it is not to be now, I'm here on this course. I mean, it's not a very fast course, so it's tough to tell about the power delivery, but I will say that I really like how this all-wheel drive system works. Now, the first thing we're gonna do is head up this really steep hill. So in the ex pro what's great is that I have about 8.3 inches of ground clearance. But what [00:02:30] I don't really have is geometry. Your approach and departure angles are still pretty minimal. So if you're gonna take this off road, trust me, you are gonna wanna pick the right line. This is a super steep downhill, and I know I'm gonna get a wheel.
Speaker 2: And I,
Speaker 3: Wow. <laugh>,
Speaker 2: That was fun.
Speaker 1: I, now of course, in this Sportage, you're also not gonna find lockers, but you will [00:03:00] find a center diff lock, which really helps give you that torque. That's gonna be split evenly from front to back now with a vehicle that doesn't have a lot of travel. You know, you are going to get one or two wheels up off the ground. And that's where I think this key really shines because the all-wheel drive system does a great job at kind of, you know, putting the power to the wheel that has got the most grip. Of course, these BFG tires really help. They're not the K two S that's fine. They're doing a really good job out here. But what I like is that I can [00:03:30] just kind of go through these little ravines where I'm getting one wheel up one wheel down, and it's almost like doesn't really matter. Oh, but it doesn't enjoy giving me parking sensors.
Speaker 1: So listen, are you gonna go tackle the Rubicon in this thing? I mean, no. Are you gonna make it to your campsite and this thing? Absolutely. It's actually pretty impressive. We have learned that the Sportage is going to compete in a few offroad rallies. So I'm very interested to see how it is going to do, cuz I think it's gonna know printed on. Good. [00:04:00] So what I do like about this Sportage here is that I've got this nifty little forward facing camera. A lot of times I'm like, nah, I don't need a camera. I'm so good. But what this does is it gives me a little yellow line on my rear tire. So I know where my rear tires going, not just my front tires. So that's pretty dope. So this two point a five liter is made it to an eight speed automatic transmission.
Speaker 1: You might notice I don't have any paddle shifters here, but I still can put it into manual mode and shift it down here from [00:04:30] the stick. Honestly, I don't know. I feel like if I'm gonna have I automatic, like I don't want paddle shifters or I just don't wanna deal with it at all, but I know that a lot of people do enjoy shifting from the stick. So I have, you know what you do, you, if I'm gonna ship from the stick, I want an actual manual. All right, here we go. We got a Baja turn here and he's on the outside of the turn. All right. But come on, go, go, go, go, go a little bit of under little bit of under drift in. Yeah, not too. It holds the res pretty good. [00:05:00] Now, if you just want the look of a rugged vehicle, you can get a Sportage and an X line trim. That's gonna start right around 30, 30, $1,000. The X pro that's gonna start at about 35 and then the top of the line X pro it's gonna be about $36,000. Expect to see these bad boys in dealerships. Pretty darn soon.
