I’m currently driving around Iceland. I have seen a Renault Megane, a plethora of newer Yaris’, one Yaris Cross (I lost my damned mind) and a crap ton of Suzuki Jimnys. Now, I’ve driven in some awful conditions in the states. Blizzards in Montana, Tornadoes in Texas, hail storms in the South and ridiculous wind in Arizona. I have driven in all of that in this tiny country, all in a short wheel base Kia Sportage. I was also outpaced by a fucking Yaris today, absolutely bombing down the mountain in 1c weather. Mind you, it was not a GR so AWD was out of the question.
I am so impressed by this Kia and all of the insanely capable Jimnys I am seeing coming off of F-roads.
If a harsh place like Iceland can coexist with RAM 2500s and modern Yaris’, why can’t we?
Oh, and when I say around I don’t mean poking around Reykjavik, I am literally driving the Ring Road around an entire country. Coolest experience ever.
A Kia Sportage is a small crossover. That category is one of the most popular in America. There are already a huge number of them on the roads and the models like the Rav4 and CRV are often among the top 5 models in terms of new cars sold.
As a sidenote please do not buy a Kia. The company just simply isn’t committed to quality. Every few years it’s revealed a huge number of their models has some fatal flaw. The company always refuses to fix everything until they get their ass sued into oblivion.
Very true but we don’t have this Kia. The Sportage here is a shorter wheel base than what we have in the states. I want to say 6 inches shorter overall.
I drove that thing to a Glacier today. Was doing 45km/h on large river rocks. Handled it like a champ! I am thoroughly impressed.