What kind of car is the 2021 Kia Stinger? What does it compare to?
The 2021 Kia Stinger is a five-seat, five-door hatchback that’s intended as a near-luxury rival to cars like the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes E-Class, though it’s much less expensive.
Is the 2021 Kia Stinger a good car?
Review continues below
It’s an excellent touring car with a swell ride, strong V-6 acceleration, and a huge cargo hold, thanks to the hatchback body. We give it a TCC Rating of 7.0 out of 10. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
What’s new for the 2021 Kia Stinger?
Nothing—it’s been carried over with no changes for the new model year.
Kia wraps a beautiful body around its Stinger mechanicals, but tosses in one too many styling tricks for our taste. It’s a very good-looking car that steps on its own shoelaces on the way to greatness. The interior’s more subdued, but bristles with technology, including a big touchscreen mounted on the dash.
Kia sells the Stinger in turbo-4 and twin-turbo V-6 spec. GT-Line cars have the 255-horsepower turbo-4, good for 0-60 mph times in the sub-seven-second range. It’s coupled to an 8-speed automatic and rear- or all-wheel drive. But, trust us, you’ll want the 365-hp 3.3-liter twin-turbo V-6. It can hurl the car to 60 mph in about 4.7 seconds, with unruffled automatic shifts marking the time or paddle shifters clicking away if you like. The Stinger handles very well on the open road, but deeply knotted bends and track hairpins aren’t its best look. Its suspension is dialed in for comfort with a good degree of precision, not the reverse. We think wider tires and more adventurous transmission programming would unleash its inner boy racer, but as it is it’s a joy to thread through back roads.
Stinger drivers will groove instead on its spacious interior. Kia fits the Stinger with very good front and back seats wrapped in leather, and then cuts a hatchback into the rear end for expansive cargo space. Pity that Kia omits automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control from all but the GT1 and GT2 cars—but crash test scores have been good.
How much does the 2021 Kia Stinger cost?
It’s $34,125 for the base Stinger GT-Line, which has leather upholstery, a 7.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, and power front seats—but no automatic emergency braking. We prefer the $46,525 Kia Stinger GT1, which gets automatic emergency braking and digital gauges, as well as Kia’s excellent 5-year/60,000-mile warranty.
Where is the 2021 Kia Stinger made?
In South Korea.