Kia Stinger GT (2018) - Journey of a Petrol Head

I’m sure you’ve heard of Albert Biemann … but for those who haven’t, he has the pedigree of being a previous man-in-charge at BMW’s M division. So he knows a thing or two about making slow cars go faster. And be good to drive. And all that.

So when I read that Mr Biermann was now working for Kia and had been responsible for the development of the Kia Stinger GT, I got interested.

Debuting at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show where I’m sure Mr Biermann felt on home ground, the Stinger GT launched on to the market in 2017 after a few trips around the Motor Show Circuit. While the base model is powered by a 2.0 litre inline four cylinder turbo powerplant, the one we’re interested in, the GT version, is powered by a 3.3 litre V6 twin turbo powerplant that delivers 365bhp (272kW) and 510nM (376 lb-ft) of torque, Oh, and it drives the proper (rear) wheels through an eight speed auto box with tiptronic shift and five different driving modes. This really just gets better and better!

Braking is provided by 4-piston front and 2-piston rear Brembo calipers while the handling is cleverly set up – the car has a limited slip differential with adaptive damping controlled via the 5 driving modes – Smart, Eco, Comfort, Sport and Custom, while the platform is a shortened version of that from the Hyundai Genesis.

Custom mode allows the driver to set up different engine and transmission characteristics, coupled with different steering responses and adaptive damping rates. I do have a gripe though – fake engine noise is piped into the cabin. I wish they just relied on the natural engine sound.

And just to reinforce how much of a drivers car this is, I have two interesting facts to share.

A Stinger 330SI has become the car of choice for the road policing arm of the Queensland and Tasmania police forces in Australia – this being the country of fast ute’s (pickups!) and Holden V8’s.
Mr Biermann says of the car – “this car is about the journey”.

I definitely want to drive one of these, but I doubt I’d buy one as I suspect the depreciation is astronomic. Maybe when it’s 5 years old …

The Stinger GT was developed on the Nurburgring and benchmarked against the BMW M4

The quad pipes and wider wheels and tyres give a visual hint to the performance on tap

The front seats provide good lateral support for enthusiastic driving

The flat bottomed wheel holds the paddle shifts for the 8 speed automatic transmission

Dial layout is clear and uncluttered while the wheel controls are sensibly laid out

Personally I prefer the old fashioned mechanical handbrake lever, but auto-hold is handy on an automatic transmission

Multiple driving modes on offer that allow the driver to set the car up according to preference

Doesn’t look like a lot of headroom for rear seats passengers in here

Brakes by Brembo – 4 pot calipers on the front and 2 pot calipers on the rear

Twin turbochargers help to propel this machine to 60mph in less than 5 seconds

Kia Stinger GT (2018) – Vital Statistics

Power		272 kW (365 bhp) @ 6000rpm
Torque		510 Nm (376 lb/ft) @ 1300rpm
0-100 km/h (0-62 mph)		4.9 seconds
Maximum speed		270 km/h (168 mph)
Fuel consumption (average)		11.2 l/100km (25.1 mpg)
Fuel type, tank capacity		Petrol, 60 litres
Weight		1737 kg
****		****
Engine		Hyundai Lambda II RS T-GDi, Twin-turbochargers, All aluminium engine, Timing chain, Variable valve timing, DOHC, Variable intake system (VIS)
Displacement		3342 cc
Cylinders and valves		V6, 24v
Transmission		8 speed automated transmission
Drivetrain		Rear wheel drive

Kia Stinger GT (2018) – Vital Statistics

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