2014 Kia Sorento Lx Sport Utility 4-door 2.4l Silver on 2040-cars

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2014 Kia Sportage facelift arrives with updated 2.4L, new grille

The third-generation Sportage has been around for a few years now, but Kia is making some minor changes to its compact crossover for 2014. As expected with a small, mid-cycle refresh, there isn't anything too major to report here, but the important news for the 2014 Sportage involves what's behind that modestly updated fascia.
Kia has revamped the Sportage's base 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder engine to add direct injection, which is said to improve efficiency, although no fuel economy numbers have been released yet. Switching to DI has also increased the engine's output, up slightly from 176 horsepower and 168 pound-feet of torque in 2013 to 182 hp and 178 lb-ft for 2014. Additionally, LX models now receive the sportier shock setup previously available only on EX and SX trims.
More importantly, the base trim level has been dropped from the 2014 Sportage lineup, meaning the car's manual transmission has been axed, as well. Pricing hasn't been released yet, but the 2013 Sportage already undercut competitors like the Chevy Equinox and Toyota RAV4 by thousands of dollars, so even a modest increase for 2014 would still position the Kia rather nicely in the segment.

Autoblog Podcast #344

Doug DeMuro from Plays With Cars, Infiniti Q50, Subaru BRZ STI, Porsche Macan
Episode #344 of the Autoblog podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth and Executive Editor Chris Paukert are joined by Doug DeMuro, author of Plays With Cars and prolific internet autowriting presence. Topics include the latest spy shots of the Porsche Macan, the 2014 Infiniti Q50, and the teaser images we've recently seen of a Subaru BRZ wearing STI badges. As always, we start with what's in the garage and finish up with some of your questions. For those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. You can follow along after the jump with our Q&A. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #344:

Kia and CarMax pull LA Clipper sponsorships in wake of alleged Sterling comments

There's fallout across the automotive advertising world today as companies react to alarming, racially insensitive statements alleged to have been made Donald Sterling, owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers franchise. Last Friday, entertainment website TMZ published excerpts from an audio recording, allegedly between Sterling and his girlfriend V. Stiviano, in which the Clippers owner said, among other things, that he didn't want her to bring black people to his games, including LA Lakers legend Magic Johnson. Sterling has yet to respond publicly to the allegations.
The story quickly gained steam over the weekend, and this Monday it has seen Kia Motors, auto sales website CarMax and insurance giant State Farm all pull sponsorship activities with the Clippers.
In a statement Kia said the alleged statements by Sterling were, "offensive and reprehensible," calling them "inconsistent with our views and values." Kia says it is "suspending" its advertising and sponsorship activities with the team, though has yet to clarify if that suspension includes commercials featuring NBA star and Clippers power forward Blake Griffin.