Kia Stinger GT 2022 Review

The 2022 Kia Stinger range opens at $51,250 plus on-road costs for the 182kW 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol 200S and tops out at $64,960 plus ORCs for the potent 274kW 3.3-litre V6 twin-turbo GT we’re testing here.

Standard gear for the Stinger GT includes 19-inch alloy wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4 rubber, dynamic LED headlights, Nappa leather seats and a heated leather sports steering wheel with electric adjustment.

Our tester’s Neon Orange exterior paint option has been discontinued globally, so if you’re partial to a loud colour like this, the closest you’ll get from Kia nowadays is a less-conspicuous Hichroma Red or Micro Blue.

As with the entire range, Kia covers the Stinger GT with a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.

Trips to the workshop are due a little more often than most – every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever comes first – and will cost $1374 or $2560 in the first three or five years respectively.

Inside the 2022 Kia Stinger GT, there’s little else you’ll want for in terms of safety or tech.

A comprehensive suite of safety and driver assistance aids are standard, including autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, junction assist AEB, lane following assist, blind spot monitoring (and view monitor), high beam assist, safe exit warning, rear occupant alert and rear cross traffic alert.

A 360-degree parking camera and front and rear parking sensors are also included, along with handy features such as lead vehicle departure alert and rain-sensing windscreen wipers.

At 4.8 metres long and almost 1.9 metres wide, the Stinger isn’t a small vehicle. But those driver aids make it easy to drive – and importantly, park – with confidence.

The swooping roofline can make vision out the rear window a little more challenging but, again, the Stinger’s safety suite makes light work of optical obstacles.

Other standard equipment found on GT (and lesser GT-Line) variants include a 7.0-inch driver’s instrument cluster and colour head-up display, 64-colour ambient interior lighting, a super-plush black suede headliner and aluminium dash inlays.

A 15-speaker Harman Kardon sound system comes standard, with a 10.25-inch central touch-screen also found in every Stinger model.

From a tech perspective, the Stinger’s kit is intuitive, responsive and a breeze to use.

Get behind the wheel of the 2022 Kia Stinger GT, and one word comes to mind: wicked.

Producing 274kW of power and 510Nm of torque, all the thrust from its twin-turbocharged V6 is sent directly to the rear wheels, through an eight-speed automatic.

As a regular daily, it’s comfortable, if not on the firmer side, but in Sport mode it shapes up to be very much a sports sedan. It becomes super-taut and almost too jarring over bumps or potholes.

For many, though, that’ll be a small price to pay for the athleticism on offer here.

A quick switch into Comfort mode and the Stinger GT seemingly shapeshifts into another car altogether, softening its dampers and dialling down the exhaust.

A decent amount of tyre noise still filters into the cabin, courtesy of its low-profile Michelin rubber on 19-inch rims, but that’ll be the least of your worries once you’re wrangling the big sedan around curvy roads.

It’s all-too-easy to make the rear-end step out, offering playful wiggles until the ESC gently interrupts. And acceleration is simply ferocious, with the Stinger GT hauling its 1.8-tonne mass with ease.

High-performance Brembo brakes at each corner (four-piston up front and twin-piston rear) give plenty of stopping confidence and those that like to switch up the driving experience will enjoy plenty of modes: Smart, Eco, Comfort, Sport and Custom.

We could live without the synthesised exhaust notes, which are a bit over the top in Sport mode but are admittedly welcome sometimes. Guess you need to be in the mood.

Over our seven-day test – which consisted of what can only be described as far from conservative driving – we averaged 11.5L/100km, a surprising achievement that’s not too far over Kia’s 10.2L/100km combined fuel consumption claim.

As fun as it is to whip around in, the 2022 Kia Stinger GT will unfortunately not be for everyone.

The driver’s seat borders on claustrophobic for larger people, with a large centre console and low roofline eating into space.

It’s clear that the Stinger’s main goal is to provide a low-slung, driver-focused layout, but in doing so it can feel a little cramped.

The steering wheel impressively brings electrical adjustments, along with electric-adjust sport seats up front – wrapped in silky Nappa leather for the GT – and a cool feature that automatically adjusts the driver’s seat side bolsters to hug you tighter.

All told, the Stinger GT will fare best as a four-seater for most families, as the second row’s middle seat is oddly shaped and a little too high. There’s also a bulky transmission tunnel that hinders legroom.

Overall, though, rear seat amenity for the outboard passengers is great, with air vents (including temperature control), one USB and one 12V outlet, and a centre arm rest with cup holders. There’s also ISOFIX points for two child restraints.

The 406-litre boot capacity isn’t a class-leading number but should be enough for most. A space-saver spare tyre is hidden under the boot floor.

The 2022 Kia Stinger GT isn’t the perfect performance sedan.

Its low roofline hinders headroom for taller passengers, it doesn’t have a huge boot and shorter service intervals will see you making more trips to the workshop.

But for Kia’s first – and hopefully not last – attempt at a conventional rear-drive sports sedan, it’s a pretty bloody good one.

Bolstering its position as an affordable grand tourer, the Stinger GT impresses with its high levels of safety and tech, luxe cabin appointment, brilliant performance and great dynamics.

There’s no denying that Kia’s performance car future might well be tied up with rear- and all-wheel drive electric cars, such as the incoming Kia EV6 GT.

But time will tell whether news of the Stinger’s death have been exaggerated.

In the meantime, if you’re after the last affordable rear-wheel drive sports sedan on sale in Australia, now might be the time to take the plunge.

How much does the 2022 Kia Stinger GT cost?
Price: $64,960 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.3-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol
Output: 274kW/510Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 10.2L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 239g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2017)