Has Anyone Driven a Stinger Yet?

Rodan said:

I'm amazed by all the interior complaints.... I thought it was pretty nice, and actually liked it better in person than in pics. 

It looks like it is only me "complaining" about the interior.  After a whole day of trying out BMW, Inifinity, Cadillac, MB AMG, Audi, VW etc.  I sat in the Stinger near the end of the day.  The dash and knobs looked cheap in comparison to even the Kia Niro and the Accent Touring.  Just an observation people.  I predict that the depreciation will be unkind to this car making it a great buy for GRM types who don't give a hoot about anything other than performance.

Silly me .....

Bob the REAL oil guy. said:

In reply to Ian F :

I designed our house from the garage forward. might be why when you pull up all you see is garage..... 

All the cookie-cutter houses are built that way in southern california. 

I've been eyballing the one out front at the local dealer. It appears to have been sold.  It was red and pretty. 

I find these to be very enticing , even though it finished 'second' last to a BMW......IMHO, it is way more attractive than either of the entries from deutschland .......so says  a 2gen 'V' owner

I very much prefer the Hyundai styling.  Count me as "not a fan" of Kia's adopted corporate front end treatment.  I hate the way the grill gets narrower in the center.  it reminds me of a Peanut, and then all I can think of is this:

Lose the dumb grille, or give the aftermarket something attractive to bolt in it's place.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Wow, that's like my favorite part of the Optima

Yeah, I always liked that grille design. 

yupididit said:

Do some of you only buy a house because it has a large garage?

I know you meant it a bit tongue in cheek, but I'd actually say our home purchase and reasoning was directly applicable to this discussion.  We bought a great best bang-for-the-buck house we could find in the nicest location we could afford.  We were not concerned with it having somewhat lower grade cosmetic finishes and appliances than other appreciably more expensive but otherwise equivalent properties in the neighborhood.  It's not that there is anything particularly unappealing about these aspects of our house, they're just not quite as nice as what some other people are willing and able to pay a premium for...But honestly, for all the time we spend looking at and touching these parts of our house on a daily basis, we still barely notice the difference.

Then again, we also bought a 6 month old CPO Kia Sedona with ~10k miles for a very substantial deal vs new, and a huge bargain compared to an equivalent Odyssey. 

In reply to Driven5 :

I get what you're saying. But, you didn't pay the premium for those certain aspects of your house. $50k+ car is a premium price and should have interior on par with its competition. BUT, that is up to the buyer.

 I know GRM is more performance minded with purchases, but there are a lot of people who want the quality that's built around the motor too. One may find the 365hp not being enough for the price but be okay with the interior. Although, increasing the power of this car will probably be a tune away very soon, you cant perform such an easy upgrade of interior quality. I don't know if I'm getting old (about to be 29) but I appreciate interior and amenities more than most things about a car. I've always hated the interior of BMW's though, feels good but looks dated even while new. I prefer the interior of Audi and Jags but I'd rather drive a Benz or BMW LoL. 

I wonder who are the direct competitors for the top-spec version of the stinger. BMW m2/m3 and cla45/c43 AMG? If so, it's slightly more affordable compared to what it takes to get into an entry level M or AMG car. 

yupididit said:

In reply to Driven5 :

I get what you're saying. But, you didn't pay the premium for those certain aspects of your house. $50k+ car is a premium price and should have interior on par with its competition.

I live in the Seattle area...So yes I did. If you want to be in the Seattle area market, you've got to pay a premium just to get in the door.  In other markets we could have gotten more house for less money.  Again, strikingly similar to the specific automotive market class in question. 

It's also not a $50k car in my mind either.  It's a $30k car that can be optioned up to $50k....Its direct competition is $40k cars that would be optioned up to $60+k in equivalent configurations.  Can you really fault a car (or any product really) for sacrificing some minor cosmetics in order to be functionally competitive at ~3/4 the price?

In reply to yupididit :

I'm not in the market for this, so haven't looked into it, but Hyundai/Kia have a reputation for offering more features/tech for the $ than other brands. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to see a $50k stinger come with lots of stuff that would be left out of a $50k competitor from a "Premium" brand.

In reply to Driven5 :

I'm not faulting the car for anything I understand comprimise. I just understand why people are mentioning the interior quality as a negative. 

STM317 said:

In reply to yupididit :

I'm not in the market for this, so haven't looked into it, but Hyundai/Kia have a reputation for offering more features/tech for the $ than other brands. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to see a $50k stinger come with lots of stuff that would be left out of a $50k competitor from a "Premium" brand.

That's why I said, " wonder who are the direct competitors for the top-spec version of the stinger.". Because, you can option a 3 series from 34k to 70k. The C class starts out pretty high MSRP for a basic model but the rest of the competitors, jaguar, bmw, audi, infiniti all start in the mids 30s.

I just wanted to know where this car falls in line. What cars to cross shop it with? I ask to give it a fair comparison. 

I personally like the car (besides the name) and have been looking forward to its release for awhile. 

volvoclearinghouse said:

I very much prefer the Hyundai styling.  Count me as "not a fan" of Kia's adopted corporate front end treatment.  I hate the way the grill gets narrower in the center.  it reminds me of a Peanut, and then all I can think of is this:

Lose the dumb grille, or give the aftermarket something attractive to bolt in it's place.  

no,no,no you've got it all wrong. It's a bottle opener.

But I'd still drive the stinger.

In reply to yupididit :

That depends on the features that you're interested in doesn't it? The competition changes depending on the search criteria. If we're just going off of performance numbers, or drivetrain layout, or bodystyle, there are different competitors than if we're looking at interior quality or tech features.

If you look at the interior, it may be most similar to something like a Taurus SHO, which would also be an AWD sedan with a 350+hp turbo 6. But if you look for max performance for $50k that pack of competitors is very different. If you want max interior quality, and you're willing to sacrifice a bit in the performance area, maybe a 3 Series on the lower end of the scale would be a strong competitor, etc.

Maybe there are no other AWD/RWD, liftback sedans with 350+hp engines, for the price they're charging. That undercutting in price probably comes at the cost of things like overall refinement, interior quality, and "brand prestige". But those "Premium" brands don't offer 100k mile warranties either, and that adds some value back IMO. It's just going to depend on a buyer's priorities.

In reply to STM317 :

So basically, this isn't a car that can be placed with direct competitors. Makes it hard to compare since it's all situational. 

I keep forgetting the SHO still exist. 

In reply to yupididit :

I think it has a lot going on, and that makes it a bit of a unique package. Of course comparisons can be made, but the results will be subjective. It seems like this car is designed to do quite a lot, but maybe not do any one thing as well as some other vehicles out there.

It seems to straddle a bunch of lines. It's somewhere between a sedan and wagon. It's somewhere between corner carver and highway cruiser. It's somewhere between an base Elantra and a $60k Genesis. It can be RWD or AWD.

yupididit said:

That's why I said, " wonder who are the direct competitors for the top-spec version of the stinger.".

The BMW 440i Gran Coupe and the Audi S5 Sportback.

yupididit said:

In reply to Driven5 :

I'm not faulting the car for anything I understand comprimise. I just understand why people are mentioning the interior quality as a negative. 

Fair enough.  I too have no issue with relative weaknesses being brought up...I just felt it was also beneficial to put them into perspective with some additional context.

In reply to STM317 :

I can get with that description of it.

I drove one over the weekend granted a sponsored autoshow test drive with a bemused at best manufacturer rep in the right seat. 

Notes: 

God it's pretty

Nobody told me it was a hatch 

My 5'6 150lb friend and my 6'6 300lb friend both whacked their heads getting in the back neither of them fit well when they got there.  

The interior is like the Japanese misunderstanding of what a luxury car interior SHOULD be that everybody expected the original LS400 to be. Nothing feels "nice" nor durable. Gadgets everywhere but none are simple. 

It still auto-stops in sport mode not a fault but odd to me

The traction control will not turn off

It doesn't feel like 365hp

The worst part by far? Listening to a car salesman tell me how good it was because it was still front wheel drive. Kia is like 95% of the way to building a really fantastic sport sedan I'm worried that their sales staff isn't there yet. 

I have a standing appointment at my local Kia dealer to drive the first V6 turbo they have if it's black who knows what might happen. 

I have a sneaky suspicion that 450whp will be the number with a tune and exhaust. Considering a tune and exhaust on the 1.6T is 40+ hp (25% increase over stock), and the 2.0T gains 80hp.... this should be easy peasy.

nocones said:

I drove an AWD GT2.  It was amazing.  The car feels much smaller/lighter on the road then it is.   It's "only" 365 HP but it really feels like more.  Suspension tuning and body control is good and it feels playful.   It truly is more sports and less GT.

Interior quality is very good, it's conformable and the metal switchgear is very nice.  The trans is pretty good, not quite PDK/DSG good but a very quick shifting paddle controlled auto.   It's also a 5 door hatch.  Rear room is a bit cramped for fullsized adults.  

 

I did end up buying a turbo Korean car.  An Elantra GT Sport 6 speed.  It's also quite a lot of car for $24k and I got it out the door for $20.5k.  .

I drove a 2 wheel drive today & agree with nocones.  Very nice car and fun to drive. Not as fast as my f80 M3 but certainly more than adequate.  More comfortable ride than the M3

I picked up a GT2 RWD last week.  I don’t think some people get this car.  Technology packed in this car makes Dodge Challenger look sort of silly.  Refinement is far more like Euro cruiser without that heavy feeling.   Rwd with standard mechanical lsd puts power down like a champ too.  Some are focusing on the understated 365 hp.  Motor cranks out 378 ft lbs of torque at 1300 rpm.  It’s a freight train of torque.   For those who say it doesn’t feel like 365 hp wonder if car had premium gas and was warmed up?  I know my car when cool to Luke warm cuts power a bit but once up to temp running 91 plus octane it’s a beast.  

Again totally different car from Chevy SS as well.  I think Kia with variants of this car will turn out volume sales.

As someone who's approaching old guydom I'm struggling to wrap my head around complaints that the 200 CID V6 only makes 365HP and that a Korean import's interior might not be as nice as an Audi's.