10 THINGS WE WANT FROM A NEW KIA STINGER

Kia recently filed a trademark application for the name Stinger. It may just be a case of Kia wanting to protect the name, but the application reportedly includes a new typeface, which suggests that an all-new version of Kia's criminally underrated Stinger is in the works. We're big fans of the Stinger, and found it to be an interesting alternative to the establishment. Unfortunately, people weren't willing to pay $50k for what is wrongly perceived as a lesser brand, so the car failed. The good news is that you can now purchase a mint used Stinger for half its original price, and Kia has since proven that it's actually quite good at building premium vehicles like the Sorento, Telluride, and EV9. Perhaps it is a good time to bring the Stinger back.

Keep The Price Down

The 2023 edition Stinger GT-Line cranked out 300 horses from a 2.5-liter turbocharge four-cylinder for under forty thousand bucks. A big part of this car's appeal is that it was one of the best performers for the price. The 2023 Stinger started out at a base MSRP of just $37,135. We'll be happy if they can at least keep a new model in the $40,000 range for the entry level trim. Just deliver some solid bang-for-buck.

Don't Lose The V6

When Kia first announced that they were retiring the Stinger, we lamented the fact that this could very well be the end of an era for the V6. When an automaker wants to squeeze a few more horses out of a car these days, they usually take a 4-cylinder and add some turbos or an electric motor to the package. The size and fuel demands of a V6 make them harder to come by in newer vehicles, especially in the Stinger's price range. We're not against the idea of a hybrid Stinger, but the 368-hp 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 is a big part of what made the GT special, so let's keep that available as an option.

Keep The Redesign Within Reason

What we'd like to see is for Kia to treat the new Stinger like a second-gen relaunch, and not a brand-new model altogether. The Stinger already has a nice profile, being sporty, but not aggressively so. This is a car that manages to look mean, but also perfectly fine parked on the street in a wealthy suburb. If anything, we wouldn't mind for the body design to lean a little more conservative, giving the car more sleeper vibes as you hit 60 mph in 4.6 seconds in a four-door grocery-getter.

More Cool, Sporty Add-Ons

Keep the base look simple, but give us the option to jazz it up. Some drivers love the Stinger because it's a practical daily-driver with a sporty side, while others are specifically looking for something less obvious than a BMW 340i. Kia offered some nice exterior hues, like Micro Blue, Sunset Yellow, and Ascot Green, and we'd like to see more of that. Kia can also copy the Germans by offering multiple wheel options, and even a blackout package or two.

Some Sweet Special Editions Would Be Nice

Special Edition models are a great way to make a few extra bucks while making some customers feel extra special. Kia didn't bother too much with the Stinger, which is the perfect car for this kind of treatment. There was the Stinger Scorpion, which had a lot in common with the Tribute Edition, rolled out to say goodbye to the car.

The Stinger's design lends itself perfectly to special edition treatment. Kia could come up with limited edition colors with contrasting black wheels and model-specific interior stitching.

A Little More Legroom In The Back

It's a minor quibble, but as long as you're redesigning the Stinger, we'd happily give up a little bit of cargo space in the back for a few more inches of legroom for our rear passengers. Half the fun of driving a Stinger is packing your friends into the car, hitting the gas, and proving to them that Kia is one of the most slept-on automakers on the market today, and that's a lot easier to do when your friends will actually fit in the backseat.

Bring The Pursuit-Spec Stingers Stateside

The original Kia Stinger never made the force here in the US, but down in Australia, a fleet of pursuit-spec V6 GT models were put to work for the Queensland Police Service. Shopping police auctions and used auto pages for cop-spec vehicles is one of the easiest ways to land a great deal on a custom-tuned, upgraded-everything model with improved brakes, tires, and suspension, but American buyers were left out on this one. Whatever deal Kia worked out with the QPS down under, we hope they'll try that same sales pitch in North America. Unfortunately, the US police are currently in the process of electrifying their fleets.

All-Digital Instrument Cluster

Imagine how sleek a new Stinger interface would look with the soft red glow of an LCD instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. We love analog dials and gauges, but the forward-thinking design of the Kia Stinger always called out for an all-digital instrument cluster like you'd find in, say, a Honda Civic Si. The analog gauges on the left and right with the digital readout in the center is just an odd appearance, and we'd rather see the Stinger pick one direction and go with it.

Is It Too Late To Ask For A Manual Transmission?

The Kia Stinger never came with a manual transmission, so maybe the time to bring this up was way back in the mid 2010s when the car was still in development. But we'll pitch a manual transmission on a refrigerator if you let us, so we'd be remiss in our duties if we didn't take every opportunity to ask: is there any way we can get one for this thing?

No CVT

If we can't have a stick-shift, we hope Kia will at least stick with the eight-speed automatic that made the earlier Stingers so much fun to drive, with paddle shifters allowing for a higher level of engagement than you'd get leaving the automatic on autopilot. CVTs are more reliable and more capable than they used to be, they can be a joy to drive, on some cars. But we don't think it's the right fit for the Stinger.

2024-09-01T01:00:31Z dg43tfdfdgfd