By Barbara & Bill Schaffer Shelton, Wash. ? One of our favorite events each year is the annual Northwest Automotive Press Association?s (NWAPA) Mudfest. We were involved in the creation of the annual SUV evaluation and have participated in a majority of the programs during the event?s 22-year history. Mudfest has evolved through the years…
By Bill Schaffer San Diego — In the 21 years my wife, Barbara, and I have been reviewing new Kia vehicles, each one has been a significant improvement over the previous generation in design, features, quality and performance. So it?s no surprise that the 2017 Kia Sportage shows significant advancements, too. The result of continued…
By Barbara & Bill Schaffer Did you know that the Kia Sportage was one of the original compact sport utility vehicles and it is the company?s oldest nameplate? First introduced in 1993, it preceded the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V by three years. The original wasn?t anything to write home about, except that it was…
By Barbara & Bill Schaffer After two full days of driving briskly between hundreds of traffic cones, cruising along wooded back roads and wallowing through mud in 25 different SUVs, we marked our ballots for the Northwest Automotive Press Associations SUV of the Year Competition. Appropriated renamed ?Mudfest? after a muddy, mucky inaugural event in…
Leader of the Compact Utility Movement Santa Fe, NM ? One vehicle category we?ve come to enjoy for travel is the group of compact to mid-size SUVs, crossovers and similar vehicles.? In general, this group offers roomy interiors, comfortable rides, reasonable fuel economy and on occasion, the advantage of having all-wheel drive for occasional adverse…
The Kia Sportage Turbo is the most intuitive vehicle I?ve ever driven. It doesn?t do anything differently than other vehicle. It doesn?t have a joystick drive system and it doesn?t read your thoughts and suggest radio stations you might like. It?s actually quite regular. But it does everything so effortlessly; driving becomes a calming, Zen…
San Francisco ? Kia was actually one of the leaders of the compact SUV movement in the United States when they introduced the original Sportage in 1993, more than three years before the first Honda CR-V or the Toyota RAV4. Moving into the third generation with the introduction of the 2011 Sportage, the sophisticated new…
Adding another chapter to Kia’s ever-evolving design transformation story, Kia Motors America held the North American debut of the all-new 2011 Sportage compact CUV in conjunction with the 2010 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS). Taking a “Kue” from Kia’s concept vehicle of the same name that was shown during the 2007 NAIAS in Detroit,…
