2023 Kia Sportage Hybrid is not meeting its potential

2023 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX-Prestige AWD: Another hit for Kia?

Price: $38,155 as tested. Gray paint added $595, and carpeted floor mats, $155.

Conventional wisdom: Consumer Reports likes the “fuel economy, composed ride, roomy interior” and that it’s “easy to get in and out of,” but not the “agility, braking, unintuitive gear selector.”

Marketer’s pitch: “Say hello to exploration.”

Reality: “Hello? We want an explanation.”

What’s new: The Sportage Hybrid is all new for the 2023 model year. A plug-in version is also available. It’s a welcomed advance for the model.

Competition: Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, Honda CR-V Hybrid, Toyota Venza, Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

Up to speed: A 1.6-liter turbo hybrid powertrain provides the Sportage with 227 total horsepower. Socks will not be knocked off, as the vehicle takes 7.7 seconds to get to 60 mph, according to Consumer Reports.

A knob offers Sport mode — in addition to Eco, Smart and Snow — and that does add the oomph. Smart and even Eco modes are not all that bad for acceleration, either. (It was too warm to test Snow mode while I had it.)

On the curves: Winding roads are not the greatest joy in the Sportage, either, but they are not so bad. Steering is a little heavy until you start trying to swing and sway, and then it feels just right when put to the test.

On the bright side, the Sportage will move nicely in town, in the country, on the highway, in all three modes.

Driver’s Seat: The command pod is reasonably comfortable to sit in, covered in SynTex seating material with heating and cooling options. It also adjusts with power controls.

But a problem that I thought Kia had ironed out years ago continues to show up in the Sportage’s jumble of confusing controls. It took me several rides to pinpoint what irked me, but I realized just little touches. Read on for the full complaint list.

Shifty: The spiffy new shifter comes in a dial form; twist clockwise for Drive and counterclockwise for Reverse. Shift with the paddles. And that all works fine. It’s only a six-speed, though, which seems odd for a vehicle that aims to be economical.

But why is the tiny emergency brake lever across the steering wheel where it lived in the old days? And it’s grouped with lights, traction control, and tailgate release. Now that the lever is so compact, it could live in a more convenient place, such as near the shifter. It does in the 2023 Soul.

Keeping warm and cool: Kia has upgraded the heater controls with a wide touchpad running quite a ways from driver to passenger side, and offering lots of temperature and fan functions. So why put the seat heater and cooling controls in a seemingly random spot on the console?

Furthermore, the heater vents in the corners are an odd shape — horizontal trident is my best description — making adjustment almost impossible. Fortunately, the vents run across most of the dash, but having control over airflow direction is still a good thing — and something I missed during my rides.

Play some tunes: Kia has upgraded the infotainment screen with a nice 12.3-inch LED display, but seemingly without knobs or buttons of any sort. Engaging the screen seems elusive, until one notices the three small dots at the bottom of the screen. Aha!

Swipe to the right and up pops a menu, and you can proceed from there.

I spent the whole review wondering where volume and tuning might be; it turns out that they use the same knobs and buttons as the HVAC, but you have to know about the switcher button on the left. Otherwise, you’ll just be a frustrated as Mr. Driver’s Seat was for a week.

At least sound from the Harman Kardon system is pretty good, about an A- or an A.

Friends and stuff: The rear seat is plenty spacious, with lots of legroom, headroom, and foot room for the occupants. It also offers seatback angle adjustments, though “recline” would be too strong a word.

Unfortunately, the seat itself is rather unsupportive. It appears flat and lacking anything resembling a snuggle, and looks do not deceive. The seat bottom also is very flat and could benefit from some angles, as well.

Cargo space is 73.7 cubic feet with the rear seat folded and 39.5 with the seat up.

Fuel economy: I averaged about 35 mpg in 100 miles of testing, which was actually improved over the 32 mpg average of the previous 500 miles.

I was able to squeeze 40 mpg out of the small SUV while taking it easy around Chester County one afternoon. (See? And you thought I was physically incapable of driving calmly.)

Where it’s built: Gwangju, South Korea.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the Sportage Hybrid reliability to be a 3 out of 5.

In the end: I’m not sure what Kia executives were thinking with this model. It’s rare that their vehicles so lack comfort and sportiness. Unfortunately, after years of hits, their improvement record with new models has become spottier.

It’s surprising that the Sportage Hybrid cousin Tucson Hybrid was a much better ride, but its fuel economy (29 mpg observed) takes it out of the running.

I’ve recommended the Venza to many people over the years; I’m also a fan of the RAV4 Prime. Both will lighten your bank account more severely, but they’re definitely better rides.