To me Kia and Hyundai are almost identical twins, mostly same cake with different frosting. Regardless of what J.D. Power (can you say bologna) says and with my personal driving of a Korean rental car recently, they still have quite a way to go to match Honda, Toyota and Subaru in initial quality, performance and especially long term reliability.

Same ball park as Giulia, get outta a here!

 

Same ball park as Giulia, get outta a here!

they claim to be rivals to Mercedes, have cut and pasted Mercedes interiors, they mention Maserati grand touring cues in their "Stinger", have trolled Lamborghini with one of those cutesy underdog "our doors open and we have 4 of them" ads (WTF? lol)

rivals? they arent even rivals to Toyota yet LoL

 

"all the hamsters drive"
we recently had to rent a car, they suggested a kia soul, I said no way I was driving a hamster car.
they gave us a mustang, very nice.

that aside, I don't understand why this thread was started, let alone continues.
they are different cars for different people.

 

"rivals to mercedes"
people can claim whatever they want, and that is a common claim

 

I have a Giulia Ti Sport Q4 on order, but I did consider trying out the Stinger before ordering. Went to the local Kia dealership (Battleground Kia in Greensboro, NC) and they refused to let me drive the car. I told them my Hyundai Genesis lease would be up in 3 months and I was going to be buying soon. He told me to come back when I was a month from ending my lease. He refused to let me drive any of the 4 they had on the lot. And he was the sales manager! I just shook my head and left. That place is a joke. In stark comparison, the Fiat/Alfa dealer in Greensboro is an absolute pleasure to deal with. Can’t recommend them enough.

 

Strange behavior--wonder if Kia are seeing yahoos coming in to test the Stinger.

 

Interesting that I stumble upon this thread being that I saw three Stinger GTs in about an hour time span yesterday. Caught them staring at the Giulia every time. I always thought they were gonna be pretty cool until I saw it in person. Kia tried to make it look like a Kia, an aggressive sports car and a big luxury GT car all at the same time and it simply doesn't work IMO. Sure it's quick in a straight line, but I imagine it could hold it's own in the corners being how big and heavy it is. Plus, given that I've heard of people recording 4.7 0-60s with a stock Giulia Q4, I just can't wrap my head around dropping over $50k on a Kia given the competition at the price point. I'm sure it's a perfectly fina car and even a bit of fun, but it's just about $5-10k too expensive IMO. At the end of the day it still has a Kia badge on it. And I know for a lot of people that doesn't matter, but to me that alone turns me off.

 

I find it strange how people feel the need to crap on the Stinger to feel good about their Giulia. At the end of the day, a reliable, value-centric brand like Kia offering an interesting, enthusiast-oriented vehicle like the Stinger is a win for all of us, especially in the SUV age.

I leased a Ceramic Silver Stinger GT1 for about a week before the dealer took it back over horrible paint damage they inflicted. I was so turned off by the TERRIBLE dealer experience that I jumped ship and ended up in a Giulia for about the same money. I'm happier where I landed, to be sure, but the Stinger was still a cool, SUPER PRACTICAL car. It turned more heads than my Giulia all day, and the straight line speed and engine sound were a riot. The driver assistance tech was also some of the best in the business. Not to mention you can already get a piggyback tune that will push well over 400 HP for 500 bucks, no ecu tune required.

After a week with it, I started noticing how the handling felt really heavy and kind of sloppy as you neared the limit. The high speed stability was also not up to par for a car with that much power, the adjustable suspension made zero perceptible difference, the gas mileage was abysmal, the touch screen was obnoxiously hard to reach, and the center arm rest felt like it was made of cardboard.

All in all, I was happy to see it go, but you could certainly do a lot worse in the mid $40K range. The Giulia gives you a perfectly balanced, cohesive machine designed for dynamic driving bliss. The Stinger gives you size, power, and tech, kind of duct taped together with a bonkers warranty. Horses for courses.

 

I've seen a couple at the local cars and coffee, and it's an eye catching car. Get's lots of attention. No Kia (or Hyundai) hate here

 

I saw one in flat gray today. Looks nice. Sort of like a Japanese version of the Audi A7?

Reviews on it are universally good. It's faster in a straight line. However, it's also heavier and won't have the handling of the Giulia.

If there was no Giulia though, I may have gotten it.

 

Faster than Giulia in a straight line ?

 

Hey, if it comes with their 10 year warranty...... (My son’s wish car is a Genesis).....

 

I looked at it and even contemplated it before getting the Giulia. It's an even better deal in Canada, 50k for the top loaded version (that even has bird's eye view and wireless phone charging over the US gt2, from what I remember reading). Quite a few other creature comfort features on top of what Giulia offers, too, even at 15k more.

But... The elegance of the Giulia is hard to match, the Stinger's styling is a bit over the top for my taste, fake vents and grills just don't have a place on a serious car IMO.

The G70, OTOH, looks to be a more serious contender in the style department, and is said to be tighter, too.

And yet, I doubt either one would be as enjoyable as Giulia for me. There are just too many things that feel right, driving the Giulia, more so than with any other car I drove (test or otherwise) recently.

 

Still a Kia.....:nerd:

 

I came from a Mazda. I'm honesty not sure what makes some brands "luxury"? Haven't been that impressed with the Audis, Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes ive been in.

Alfa is cool because it's different and has a racing history, not so much the luxury.

 

One thing to note is that many of the glowing reviews are of the GT2 trim with RWD, 19" summer tires, and a LSD. My GT1 AWD with 18" all seasons and no LSD had the top speed limiter permanently reduced to 129 mph (down from 149) and was actually pretty crap when the roads got even slightly twisty. The LSD is supposedly coming to all V6 models down the line, which to me says they realize they need it.

Car and Driver's summary of "a very fast approximation of a sports car" is literally the perfect way to describe it.

 

"approximation of a sports car" that is a wonderful way to describe it. C&D often use interesting descriptions like that....

 

While enjoying ice cream the other night at a local place with outdoor seating, I was glancing at the Kia parked next to my E-Type. My first thought was, wow cars used to look better. My next thought was a realization of how foreign the thought process of "let's go buy a Kia" is to my brain. "Let's go buy a Chevy", or "let's go buy a Ford", I understand. People have family traditions to uphold and these are solid brands that support America. I even understand "let's go buy a Toyota", for all their reliability and Japanese tradition of boring excellence. "Let's go buy a Kia" is still beyond me. Who thinks that? Apparently a lot of people. I wish more people thought "let's go buy an Alfa". Unfortunately the WSJ made it clear to me in the most depressing article of the year that Americans just don't care about cars anymore:

"At heart, however, the travails of the car stem from the shifting relationship between people and their automobiles. Owners are less concerned with the shape of the sheet metal or what’s under the hood than they are with how many people their vehicles can transport, or how much sports gear or home-remodeling supplies they can put into the rear hatch.
“It’s all about activity today, rather than elegance or performance,” said John Wolkonowicz, an automotive historian in Boston. SUVs “are made for dogs and kids and activities and taking care of the house. It’s the tool that does the job.”
That's from this article:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-has-fallen-out-of-love-with-the-sedan-1535169698

Seriously disrupted my mood on Sunday. I guess we'll be alone driving around in our swoopy beautiful sedans. (btw the winner of this year's Pebble Beach Concourse was an Alfa 8C 2900B sedan).

I do love C&D's description of an "approximation" of a sports car. That's all Korean cars have ever been in my mind, approximations of better products from Europe and the USA. Anyone remember the Hyundai Sonata blatant ripoffs, or many others? The Stinger is a busy design without any elegance or grace, and it looks like they didn't really get the mechanical details right either.

Seriously, "let's go buy a Kia"?!?!

 

Internal designation was 991 GT3...but just google GT3 Fire Recall.....Uber Quality or Glorified VW...? You decide...

 

I hear you...but I'm not speaking to "snobbery"....I'm speaking of LEGACY....Something you can't just "create".....

 

No, it takes time of course. Hyundai has done a pretty good job of that. I expect Kia can do the same. But of course, neither matches the racing pedigree of Alfa and Ferrari. But everyone has to start somewhere. I say give them a chance

 

Buy a Q.V. and you won’t have to worry about other cars being faster! Top of food chain. Stinger is a decent car for the money and it looks sporty.

 

I agree it's nice enough but the styling ....well it just looks a little disjointed....like it's trying too hard....the "C" pillar is especially awkward....

 

In fairness, both Hyundai and Kia have made tremendous strides in the last 10 years...Designs are now interesting if not intriguing yet and products are now worthy of consideration in their relative class and price points....some obvious exceptions...Is the Genesis ever going to steal sales from large Lexus, Benz, etc...If you go back to the Hyundai Excel that was an initial offering, they have improved lightyears...and of course, you have to begin somewhere with respect to legacy and racing pedigree, but we must all agree that they will never be this.....

https://www.automobilemag.com/news/...-alfa-romeo-4c-scores-best-of-show-win-at-2018-pebble-beach-concours-delegance/

....and to further the point, maybe they shouldn't be or strive to be....Maybe they should just be the best "Hyundai and Kia" they can be....

 

Kia hired a VP of engineering from BMW. That's why they are getting better and the Stinger is a good car


But the Giulia was engineered by a Ferrari team.

 

i still say it looks like something out of the fast and furious in not a good way. Not saying anything about performance or reliability but not a fan of the design and i can not imagine $50k for a Kia. To many other options that I would feel good driving. Kudos to those that find them attractive. Different strokes for different folks.

 

Seeing it on the road, I'm not sure about the styling. Looks too busy and sort of confused as to what type of car it is. It's not ugly. For me just doesn't emote.

 

Living in the Land of Hyundai and very close to the Kia Plant, I could NEVER see myself even comparing, driving or even renting one of these cars.. Sorry.. but they are trying to compete where they should not.. I know one of the department heads at Hyundai and when he heard I bought the Giulia, he came right over to our house.. He was so in love with it. He even said that given a choice, he would buy the Guilia over the Kia every time. He even said that the quality control is not up to compete with the luxury brands..

 

Kia stinger isn’t a bad car for the money. Very economical for a car that runs 4.5 seconds 0-60. A good bargain for under 50k Just like the Ford Focus SVT. I think it has its niche of people who will enjoy it just like the niche of people who like the giulia. I obviously would never buy one but I’m sure those who do are not disappointed. I’ve seen a fair share of them in philly area. Not sure KIA will stay in this car segment for long term. Isn’t the stinger cheaper and faster straight line than the Giulia TI?

 

for 72 more Kw, not by much, about 0.5 second
base Stinger is slower by the same margin

then they have to get past that first corner

so no, there is no comparison because if they want to bring their top of the range, we have one as well

 

for 72 more Kw, not by much, about 0.5 second
base Stinger is slower by the same margin

then they have to get past that first corner

so no, there is no comparison because if they want to bring their top of the range, we have one as well /forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

So their top line model is still faster and cheaper than the TI in a straight line.

 

half a second with 2 more cylinders is still not enough to want to jump out of a Ti and into a car with fake bonnet vents though,

its cheaper for a reason




and Alfa dont just do straight lines


but if you want to compare an apple with an apple then the Quadrifoglio is the one you need to line up against ... 6 cylinder vs 6 cylinder

 

I’m not a fan of it or I would of bought one but they definitely didn’t do a bad job for first time production that’s all I’m saying. They must be doing something right if they can get 4.5 sec 0-60 and 12.9 1/4 on a 4,000 lb car for around $45k. That’s not bad. May not handle as good as a giulia and doesn’t look great but to each his own.

 

Why did we waste 18 pages on this? It's still a Kia.>

 

Why did we waste 18 pages on this? It's still a Kia./forum/images/GiuliaForums/smilies/tango_face_devil.png

Same reason you wasted your post. Gives people something to do.