This is Why the Kia Stinger GT is a Future Classic Already #blogpost
This super saloon is Kia’s first performance oriented car. When this car was first revealed names like: Lotus Carlton, Renault Safrane Biturbo or VW Pheaton came to my mind.
As much as I love this car I can’t stop thinking that it will be very rare to see one at the streets, but that’s not all that bad news and here is why.
Like Kia, Renault back in 1994 wanted a luxury saloon to face the germans and the Safrane Biturbo was born. Using the same engine from the Alpine A160 plus a turbocharger and an all wheel drive system this car was fast but as you would expect it didn’t set the sales numbers on fire; actually Renault killed this car after just two years of production. I’m not saying this will be the case for the Stinger at all, I hate being pesimistic about this car but its a hard challenge they are setting.
Anyway the Stinger was never intended to be a sales hit, by contrast this car was designed to change brand’s perception and prove Kia’s skills to build fast and desirable cars.
The Names Behind the Stinger
In 2011 “Peter Schreyer” and his team presented the GT Concpet; the car the Stinger is based on, then in 2014 former BMW M division Chief engineer “Albert Biermann” joined Hyundai Motor Company and led the Stinger’s Ride and Handling development.
Is It an Enthusiast’s Car? Well Judge It Yourself
The Stinger GT is powered by a 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 engine producing 365 hp and 376 lb.-ft. of torque, it features a Centrifugal Pendulum Absorber (CPA) torque converter, a Dynamic Torque Vectoring Control system (All-Wheel Drive models), and Brembo vented disc brakes with quad-piston front calipers and dual-piston rear calipers. The car has been extensively tested at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
The 0-60mph takes 5 seconds and has a top speed of 167mph making the Stinger GT the most powerful roadgoing Kia yet.
Conclusions
The Kia Stinger GT is for sure a very exciting car, nothing you would’ve expected from Kia; and that’s the point of existence of this car. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t sell in millions the thing is that the next time you hear the brand Kia the first thing that will come to your mind is the name Stinger and not cheap-econo box cars.
Basically these are the reasons why I think the Stinger GT is a future classic, is a car you will remember not for being a best seller but for being “cool”.
Comments
After reading this, my interest levels in the Stinger have risen.
Can’t afford it right now, but I can’t wait until it’s $12,000 a couple of years from now.
This also depends on if it ends up being a good car. The new NSX had so much hype, but after it came out, it just kind died out.
If it does not have something that makes it stand out from Camaro’s or G37s, its not going to be remembered.
I get what you are saying but first of all the Stinger is set to compete against luxury sedans like the 4series or the A5, and in my opinion the Stinger will be remembered not if it is good or not but because is a unique car from Kia, like the examples I mentioned before the Carlton or the Renault, those cars were not perfect but they are remembered because of their background history.
I reckon the Stinger would be a huge success down here in Aus, more so than in Europe.
It’s said to be released late this year. Come the end of October, Toyota Australia and more importantly Holden are shutting their doors on Australian production. Holden’s also taken a fairly large dump on the iconic Commodore name, because as of next year the ‘Commodore would be built by Opel, in Germany, badged elsewhere in the world as an Insignia. This means a FWD V6 with not a whole lot of push compared to the big LS V8 powered VF SS Commodore.
This means that the option for a new 2018 model sports saloon car is either a rebadged Opel Insignia FWD thing, or a RWD 3.3TT V6 Kia. I knos what my money’s on.