KIA Stinger set to blow away the competition

By CARSIFU | 9 January 2017


SEOUL: KIA's upcoming Stinger is a high-performance fastback sedan that's going to be the Korean carmaker's 'tip-of-the-spear' to shake-up the market that's typically dominated by European makes.

It's effectively a 'gran turismo' that's due to emerge in markets worldwide at an unspecified date sometime this year after having been designed (in Frankfurt) and honed (at the infamous Nurburgring) in Germany.



It was designed (Frankfurt) and honed (Nurburgring) in Germany, and perhaps it could be the reason why the Stinger has a wheelbase of 2,906mm that's longer than an Audi A4, Infiniti Q50, Lexus IS, BMW 4 Gran Coupe, Lexus GS and Mercedes CLS.

It uses a high-tensile steel unibody that provides for the most spaciously accommodating cabin and boot, while putting its dimensions at 3,028mm-long, 1,869mm-wide and 1,400mm-tall.

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The Stinger will arrive with an 8-speed automatic gearbox for its two turbocharged powerplants earmarked for the US market.

The least-potent Stinger will use an aluminium 2.0-litre (1,998cc) turbocharged Theta II petrol engine - pushing out an estimated 255hp at 6,200rpm and 350Nm of torque from 1,400 to 4,000rpm for its rear wheels.

It'll roll on 18-inch wheels with 225/45 series tyres for grip, while ride is taken care of by front MacPherson struts and rear multi-link (5-link) suspension.

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Stopping power comes from a pair of 12.6-inch (front) and 12.4-inch rear discs.

However, the Stinger GT is extremely potent with a 3.3-litre (3,342cc) twin-turbo V6 Lambda II engine punching out 365hp at 6,000rpm and 510Nm of torque from 1,300 to 4,500rpm for all-four wheels.

Although the GT variant may be using the same engine block, but gets a bigger 92mm (+6mm) bore and a shorter 83.8mm (-2.2mm) stroke.

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This should allow the Stinger to sprint from 0-100kph in 5.1 seconds before reaching a top speed of 269kph - which is why the brakes have been upgraded to Brembo 4-piston (front) and 2-piston (rear) calipers that bite down on the 13.8-inch (front) and 13.4-inch (rear) ventilated discs.

Not to mention it'll roll on larger 19-inch wheels wearing 225/40 (front) and 225/35 (rear) series tyres.

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Features of the Stinger include a powered tailgate, electronically adjustable suspension and five driving modes (Personal, Eco, Sport, Comfort and Smart).

Inside, there's a rack-mounted motor driven power steering (R-MDPS) system, paddle-shifters and wireless charging pad, steering-wheel mounted control, for Bluetooth hands-free operation and accessing the vehicle's subsystems.

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Connectivity, entertainment, navigation and vehicle information will also be projected onto a height-adjustable colour Heads-Up Display that's reflected onto the driver-side windscreen.

Entertainment will come from a six-speaker sound system with a seven-inch haptic touchscreen for the Stinger, while the 3.3-litre GT variant gets nine speakers in total and throws in an amplifier.



A 15-speaker 720-watt sound system from Harman/Kardon is available as an optional extra.

For safety, there's blind-spot detection, dynamic torque-vectoring, driver attention alert system, forward collision assistance, integrated autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, advanced smart cruise control, lane-keep assist and rear cross traffic alert among others.


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