About a fortnight ago I was sitting in a pub - purely for business reasons - when a Kia Sportage was seen to arrive in the car park. Nothing too radical about this, you might think, but what attracted the attention of myself and my motor industry companions and brought conversation to a shuddering halt was that this particular Sportage was painted blue. None of us could recall having seen one in anything other than the copper colour which bedecked all the Sportages at the model's launch late last summer.A few days later, along comes the car reviewed here, and blow me down if this one isn't white! Another first, at least for me. And although I don't usually consider white to be much of a colour for a car, I think it suits the Sportage better than almost anything else on the market. The test car was certainly an arresting-looking piece of kit.It was also quite different to any of the ones presented to the media at that launch event. Those were all four-wheel drive two-litre diesels, because that's all that was in the country at the time. This was a diesel too, but one with a smaller, 1.7-litre engine driving through only the front wheels. Although Kia is by no means the only manufacturer to produce an SUV that isn't a 4x4, it's not a bad move, since most SUV buyers seem to like the space and the high-set seating position and are extremely unlikely to venture off-road.For all the advantages of four-wheel drive, its extra complexity leads to extra weight and absorption of the engine's power through all sorts of gears and shafts before it gets to the road. As a result, performance, fuel economy and CO2 emissions all suffer. That's why the 114bhp Sportage 3 1.7 CRDi, though significantly less powerful than the 134bhp KX-3 2.0 CRDi 4x4, is not terribly far behind in straightline performance (it's one second slower from 0-62mph, at 11.9 seconds) but much better on combined fuel economy (52.3mpg versus 47.1mpg). It's also cheaper to tax because the CO2 emissions are lower. And it's more than £2000 cheaper.The fuel economy figures are actually better for the lower-spec 1 and 2 versions because the 3 has larger wheels and lower-profile tyres which create more drag. They also spoil the ride quality to some extent, making the Sportage more fidgety over small bumps than it needs to be, but overall the general road behaviour is excellent. In recent years Kia has veered between brilliance and what-the-hell-were-they-thinking in this respect, and the Sportage is definitely one of its finer efforts, being not only comfortable to drive but also slightly sportier than its shape might lead you to imagine.It's one of its worst in terms of visibility, which is just awful, and about medium among cars of its type for luggage room, with a maximum capacity of 1353 litres (almost exactly the same as the Ford Kuga) when the rear seats are folded down. There would be more space if the boot floor weren't quite so high, and in fact it doesn't need to be because there's no rear-wheel drive to worry about, but changing the back of the floorpan for the non-4x4 models would be horrifically expensive and isn't going to happen.Passenger room is fine in the front and reasonable enough in the rear. At six foot three, I would not be able to survive for long sitting behind a driver of similar height, but four more sensibly-sized adults should be able to travel a long way with no trouble. Engine 1685 cc, 4 cylinders Power 114 bhp @4000 rpm Torque 192 ib/ft @1250 rpm Transmission 6 speed manual Fuel/CO2 52.3 mpg / 143 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 11.9sec Top speed 107 mph Price From £22290.00 approx Release date 01/11/2010
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