South Korean car maker has a new surprise for us, its new car revealed is a significant model, which deserves your attention. It’s called the Stinger GT, and it’s the first Kia that’s likely to pique the interest of the average petrolhead since the Pro Ceed GT warm hatch. Rear-wheel drive? Check. Well over 300bhp? Check. Good looks? Well, it’s a little fussy at the rear, but to our eyes it’s prettiest Kia since, well, ever.
A 360bhp, 376lb ft 3.3-litre V6 powers the top-of-the-range model, sending its thrust rearwards via a mechanical limited-slip differential. 0-62mph takes 5.1 seconds, and the top speed is a decidedly un-Kia 167mph. There is an optional all-wheel drive system with torque vectoring available - “depending on market,” says Kia - and at a later date there’ll be a lower-powered 2.0-litre entry-level model. Performance figures for the four-cylinder turbo aren’t in the press release, but with 252bhp and 260lb ft on tap, it should be suitably brisk.
This all sounds jolly nice on paper, but further reading makes us hopeful that the GT will be a decent steer too, as well as being quick in a straight line. 55 per cent of the car is made from high-strength steel to give “an ultra-stiff foundation for the ride-and-handling engineers to work with”.
