Kia Stinger

src: www.caranddriver.com

The Kia Stinger is a mid-sized 4-door fastback manufactured by Kia Motors.

Video Kia Stinger

Overview

The Kia Stinger traces its roots to the Kia GT Concept from the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show and the Kia GT4 Stinger from the 2014 North American International Auto Show. Designed by Peter Schreyer and Gregory Guillaume (Kia's Chief Designer) at Kia's European studio in Frankfurt and engineered by former BMW M Vice President of Engineering Albert Biermann, the car was unveiled at the 2017 North American International Auto Show. (Biermann is now executive vice president of performance development and high performance vehicles of the Hyundai Motor Group.)

According to Guillaume, the Stinger's design was partially inspired by the Coca-Cola bottle. During an interview, he offered the following comment of the car's purpose. "The new Kia Stinger is a true gran turismo, a car for spirited long-distance. It's not about outright power, hard-edged dynamics and brutal styling all at the expense of luxury, comfort and grace. The Stinger has nothing to do with being the first to arrive at the destination - this car is all about the journey."

Testing of the car involved over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) at the Korea International Circuit and 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

The Stinger uses a shortened version of the Hyundai Genesis' front engine, rear wheel-drive platform with additional steel reinforcement and is offered with a choice of two engines: a 2.0 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that produces 255 horsepower (259 PS; 190 kW), and a 3.3 liter twin-turbo V6 that generates 365 horsepower (370 PS; 272 kW) for the AWD variant. For the European and Korean markets, the Stinger will be offered with a base 2.2 liter CRDi diesel I4 that produces 197 horsepower (200 PS; 147 kW). All models are equipped with Brembo brakes and Michelin tires (18-inch on the base model, 17-inch on the CRDi model, and 19-inch on the V6 model). The sole transmission is an 8-speed automatic with five driving modes and paddle shifters.

For the Korean market, the Stinger wears the E badge, which symbolizes the core theme of "Engineered by Excellence".

Kia claims that the 2.2 diesel, 2.0 T-GDi and 3.3 V6 Twin-Turbo models will do a 0-100 kilometres per hour (0-62 mph) acceleration in 7.7, 6 and 4.9 seconds, respectively. Schreyer reportedly drove a pre-production Stinger GT at a top speed of 269 kilometres per hour (167 mph) on the Autobahn.

During a test by Car and Driver, an all-wheel-drive U.S. spec GT 3.3T model with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires achieved 0-60 miles per hour (0-97 km/h) in 4.6 seconds on the track, reached 0.91 g on the skidpad and was able to stop from 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) in 164 feet (50 m). According to this publication, the U.S. model's top speed is governed at 167 miles per hour (269 km/h) per Kia specs. In tests conducted by Motor Trend, the 4-cylinder U.S. spec Stinger 2.0 RWD on Bridgestone Potenza tires reached 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) in 6.6 seconds, completed the 1/4 mile (0.40 km) run in 15 seconds and stopped from 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) in 126 feet (38 m). The average lateral acceleration recorded in track testing was 0.85 g.

Maps Kia Stinger

Marketing

In June 2017, Kia Motors teamed up with GQ magazine to promote the Stinger as a "street style icon".

The Stinger GT was featured in Season 2 episode 3 of The Grand Tour, where co-presenter James May raced it against two longboard riders on a mountain road in Majorca, with the car going uphill and the skateboarders going downhill.