The 2020 Kia Sportage is a compact crossover SUV with sporty looks and strong turbo power. Newer rivals give it fierce competition, however.
For its impressive quality, optional turbo power, and sporty moves as its name implies, we give it 6.7 out of 10 overall. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
The Sportage was updated for 2020 with a sporty looking S trim, new headlights, wheels, a redesigned front and rear bumper, and more standard equipment including an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. The 2020 Sportage is offered in LX, S, EX, and SX trim levels.
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The styling tweaks to the Sportage work well to keep this crossover SUV contemporary against a redesigned Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4. The interior features fine materials on high-trim versions, but the base LX can feel a little chintzy.
The Sportage is powered by either a 181-horsepower 2.4-liter inline-4 or a 240-hp 2.0-liter. Front-wheel drive is standard and all-wheel drive is optional, teamed in every configuration to a 6-speed automatic transmission.
Though slightly smaller than some of its popular competitors such as the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, the Sportage packs plenty of space for people and stuff with 31 cubic feet of cargo room behind the second row and just over 60 cubes with the rear seats folded flat. The Sportage is also quiet on the road for a mainstream crossover, though the standard engine produces an unsavory noise at full tilt.
Thanks to Kia’s trim level and option packaging, selecting a Sportage is as simple as choosing how much you want to pay and what color you want it to be painted. Turbo and all-wheel-drive models naturally cost more, but not prohibitively so.
For 2020, the Sportage gains active lane control, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, automatic high-beam headlights. Blind-spot monitors are optional.
Fuel economy is one area where the Sportage doesn’t stack up. The thriftiest model is the base front-wheel-drive Sportage at 26 mpg combined, while the turbo-4 drops that figure to just 21 mpg combined with all-wheel drive.