Kia Sportage - Practicality, comfort and boot space

With the Kia Sportage needing to fulfil its daily brief of providing practical, family transport, Kia has included lots of useful touches to help smooth things along. The electric parking brake is located to the right of the steering wheel, which has freed up more storage space, while large hooks are integrated into the front headrests for hanging items. The extra cubby space under the boot floor of the petrol version is particularly useful for stowing oddments on longer journeys. Both the hybrid and plug-in hybrid models have reduced underfloor storage because the battery pack takes up some of this space. 

There are plenty of places for your odds and ends in the Sportage's cabin. For instance, there's a wide, open shelf ahead of the gear selector that's big enough for even large smartphones. The central cup holders are wide and deep, and the armrest behind hides another deep bin. The glovebox is a decent size, and the door bins can hold a one-litre bottle.

There are USB-C sockets fitted in the side of the front seats on all but the entry-level ‘2’ models, allowing rear seat passengers to easily charge portable devices. There are cup holders in the back, too, while a three-zone climate control — standard on GT-Line, GT-Line S, and all hybrid and plug-in hybrid models — means occupants in the back can also specify their own temperature setting.

Dimensions and size

At 4,515mm long and 1,865mm wide, the fifth-generation Sportage is a fraction bigger than the previous model. It’s also larger than the Skoda Karoq and Nissan Qashqai.

Leg room, head room and passenger space

The Sportage offers plenty of room up front, as you’d expect from a family SUV, and buyers will also appreciate that the rear is spacious enough to accommodate three adult passengers. In our three-way test between the Sportage, Mazda CX-5 and SEAT Ateca, we found the Kia to have the roomiest cabin.

When we tested the Kia Sportage against the Vauxhall Grandland, we measured the cabins and found they offer very similar amounts of rear seat headroom and knee room, although the Kia stretches ahead by quite a margin in terms of elbow room — door to door.

Boot Space

The Sportage provides a decent 562-litre boot, which can be super-sized up to 1,751 litres if you fold the rear seats. Our preferred full-hybrid has even more capacity - 587 litres of space with the seats up, increasing to 1,776 litres with the seats folded. Both are spacious enough for most families needs, but a Ford Kuga has an even bigger boot.

The plug-in hybrid version offers less space due to bits of its hybrid system living under the boot floor. It offers 540 litres of room, expanding to 1,715 litres with the seats folded. Again, the Kuga outperforms the Sportage here, but at least it still offers more than the Mazda CX-5 (506 litres) or Nissan Qashqai (504 litres).

There are some useful features of the boot, such as the amount of space petrol models provide underneath the boot floor to hide smaller items away from sight, and a significantly lower lip on the boot entrance that makes loading heavier items easier.

Towing

The mild-hybrid petrol Sportage models have a 1,650kg maximum braked trailer rating. The full-hybrids have a lower 1,500kg limit, while the plug-in hybrids have the weakest towing ability at just 1,350kg.

If you’re after a similarly-sized SUV with hybrid power and need greater towing capacity, look towards the Ford Kuga. In four-wheel drive hybrid and plug-in hybrid forms, it can pull a braked trailer or caravan up to 2,100kg in weight.