I'm driving Kia Sportage for 3 and a half years and it's done more then 100 miles. I don't care how it sounds but I'm happy with this car. Of course one of the biggest advantages of this car is the looks. It looks nice and solid. Inside everything is simple, tidy, nice and subtle. There is some plastic details but they don't create discomfort with the rattle. Seats get dirty easy but it's probably the problem of all the cars with the dark interior. Also big advantage is the amount of extras, it's the EX version but it has four heated seats, dual zone climate control, cruise control, hands free. With ABS and ESP it also have safe descend system. I'm driving it a lot, doing around 3000 miles every month. Seats are comfortable, driving itself is comfortable. Of course I've driven and more ergonomic cars, but their prices are on different level. Car is stable, had a chance to test it in the extreme near accident situations, stability control worked perfect. The biggest fault of the car, as was mentioned twice before already by other two reviewers, is noise. If driven in the city or at medium speed there is no problem, but when reached 90 mph it gets noisy inside ( there is audio system to resolve this problem :). I think this problem doesn't exist in a newer version anymore.
Performance
First of all I have to say it's a very economical engine. I drove to Poland using cruise control and reached 56 mpg. Plenty of power for the city driving, car is alive and good in the corners. Didn't have any problems with the engine and when I had to bring it for the test (at 88000 miles), there was nearly no smoke coming out of it at all (0.02). The tester himself said he haven't seen it this low before. Engine is a little bit under powered for higher speeds (90 mph) and fuel economy drops a lot.
Reliability, running costs
Service costs are minimal. Bring it to Kia garage every 20000 miles or every year. They service it. Changed two parking sensors covered with warranty. I was surprised that suspension parts were covered too. At around 46000 miles they changed stabilizer links. Btw they last very similar time, now car is with 96000 miles and it started to rattle again. Show me another car with stabilizer links that would last 50000 miles. At 56000 miles tie rod ends where changed, also covered with warranty. The only thing I had to pay for was break pads change. The price wasn't scary. Depreciation is very small.
Recommendations to buyers
Can't give some specific advice apart from breaking parking distance control sensors. My car didn't have any bigger problems. Should get it inspected same as any other car. I could say that it is excellent price, comfort and quality choice. I can say that after 3.5 years I don't regret the decision to buy it.
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