Eighteen months from now, the Kia Sportspace will make the leap from the design studio to European showrooms.
According to Top Gear, Kia Europe CEO Michael Cole says the estate is part of the automaker’s plans to “enter segments that [Kia’s] not in to support [its] growth. In Europe particularly the D-segment wagon is a volume segment, so it’s worth going for.”
The Sportspace is also leading the way toward a sportier, performance-oriented direction for Kia, which currently includes the green-lit twin-turbo V6 GT. Though the estate boasts Optima’s T-Hybrid diesel-electric powertrain — whose output of 170 horsepower is directed to the front when the estate’s temporary AWD is not in use — Cole says a high-performance version could come “much further down the line.”
Any automaker that creates a new wagon, even if we don’t get it in the US, is better than not creating a wagon at all.
Can’t… see… out… trapped… in… red… coffin…
Maybe some enterprising (corrupt) executive at PPG could start accidentally leaving briefcases of cash around design studios to ‘encourage’ manufacturers to build bigger greenhouses.
There’s not enough glass on that thing. I can see out of a crossover.
I agree, totally. It looks like the Camaro effect. From the MB GLA to this new KIA, it does not give a comfortable feeling sitting so low. Having said this, I think this new KIA could do very well with a little more ground clearance and lowering the windows a bit taking away that Camaro effect. Putting a different name plate on many of the KIA’s including this one could up the price an additional 20%. Just imagine if Toyota or Honda came out with this model.
I’ve been saying this since we first saw it. The visibility on this thing has to be terrible which takes away from the functionality of the wagon itself. The windows look enemy smaller than those on my old Magnum and that thing was a pita to see out of.
I’m still debating the name. Seems like an afterthought.
Quite right about the visibility. The rising waistline trend must have peaked. I experienced a mid-90s Passat wagon and the view out was incredibly good. In comparison the Focus wagon I tried was almost miserable. http://driventowrite.com/2014/05/11/ford-focus-1-6-cdti-review/
Also, isn´t it semantically wrong to have brightwork on the upper edge of the window aperture? Surely it´s most needed on the lower edge of the sideglass to prevent the rubber strips from curling with age? The Peugeot 508 has this oddity as did some versions of the Jaguar X-type wagon. If you have to have brightwork, put it where it´s needed not for decorative purposes (they are nice but secondary).
It very very much pains me to say this.
But I think Kia is/might start eating Acura’s lunch.
They are starting to present design language that trumps Acura and I think it started with the Optima which this wagon presages.
I’m willing to forgo judgement on sightlines until I actually sit in one, but I like it.
In fact, I’ve already started working on the fiancé, on the off chance it comes to Canada in two years time. Especially if it’s in AWD/diesel format. I’m willing to forgo the manual trans, if I must, but I expect it to be available in bronze/brown.
Seriously, I’d pay money for this. I’ve been saying the same thing about the Mazda6 estate, and Hyundai Sonata wagons we don’t get, too.
I like how it’s so red that the camera cannot capture all the redness.
Red doesn’t seem to photograph well as far as reportage goes; Derek wondered the same thing regarding Mazda’s famous red not too long ago.
I’d think the OEMs would be keenly aware of this by now, and would avoid – since these events are really about photos.
They would be, but the journalists and bloggers aren’t the only ones with a camera. Photography shops like Getty Images are likely invited, as well, and their job is to make those images pretty for ad agencies and PR departments, even those hard-to-shoot red cars.
Ah you’re right.
And everybody wants a nice red for a professional Getty. The fastest color.
I’m diggin’ it. I agree with other posters about the sight lines, but I also will reserve judgement until I actually sit in one. Besides, if Chevy won’t make me another Malibu Maxx (or anyone else for that matter), I may have to shop at Kia.
I’ll buy one the minute it’s sold here. 15 – 24 months is about right.
It’s stunning to me just how many comments on car blogs are about the greenhouse and the high belt lines.
If you’re snarkily commenting about high beltlines and small greenhouses, as if anything could be done about them (especially in wagons), then you’re basically loudly proclaiming that you’re not one to pay much attention to visual details and are basically (haha) blind.
Short of a massive shift in engine design and placement or drastic advances in materials engineering, those beltlines are not coming down. The only way you increase the greenhouse and improve the sight lines in a modern sedan is by raising the roofline and raising the seating. Lo and behold, a CUV. Which is ironic, considering the same “car guys” who complain about the visibility in modern cars will turn right around and complain about the proliferation of CUVs, as if one didn’t lead to the other and mainstream consumers weren’t acting rationally.
I can understand the complaints of not-so-great visibility. I appreciate that, I really do, but I’ve never decided not to buy a car because I couldn’t see every inch around it.
My current daily, a Challenger, is practically a pillbox. Hasn’t adversely affected me one bit. I just reverse slowly and carefully out of spaces in crowded lots. The cross traffic alert and backup cam help out quite a bit.
Of course you can lower the beltline. The windows do NOT have to be even with the top of the cowling. See a Volvo 945 for how to do this correctly – the beltline is lower than the cowling by the full height of the mirrors. This is nothing but a stupid fashion trend that has continued because it is a way to help side impact crash results a little on the cheap, and it clinics well with idiots who “feel safe” when they are sitting in a nearly windowless bunker. There is also no reason you can’t also raise the roof a couple inches and provide both more glass and decent headroom, without raising the ride height to CUV levels. But mostly it is fashion, just like nearly all sedans needing to be as swoopy in the rear as coupes.
Sweet looking design. Put a “panoramic” sunroof on and it’s a winner in my book.
The problem with the belt-line is the angle it rises at. I have sat in so many cars with a high belt-line which makes life mierable for small kids in the back as well as giving a bad view out. The belt-line can be unrelated to the cowl. One of the earlier posts about the Volvo 940 makes this point. All it will take is some designer to find another way to say “modern” and the style will go away.