2022 Kia Ev6 Wind on 2040-cars

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The 2018 Stinger fulfills Kia's sport-sedan destiny

A little more than five years ago, Kia rolled out the GT Concept - a sheetmetal hypothetical musing on where the brand's sporting aspirations might go. Today on the eve of the Detroit Auto Show Kia unveiled the Stinger, the production version of that 2011 show car. While Kia Motors America says "the Stinger really is a dream car for us," enthusiasts anticipating something a lot racier have sobered up over the distance between the concept and the production reality. Nevertheless, the new Stinger will be the sportiest Kia ever, and not by a little. True, there's a lot of Optima in the body - it's too bad they couldn't have made the 2014 GT concept - but details everywhere separate the Stinger from the bread-and-butter sedan. The Stinger's wheelbase is four inches longer than the Optima's, yet overall length is an inch shorter. The brand's corporate face looks to have dabbled in CrossFit, the wide, narrow "tiger-nose" grille jutting out ahead of plenty of black mesh, new LED headlamps, and a new hood with twin hood vents. Side vents and sharp sills carve up the flanks, and side mirrors mount on the bodywork instead of at the A-pillar. In back, the deck lid gently curves upward becoming an integrated spoiler above elongated LED taillights, and a full-length rear diffuser houses four oval tailpipes. Inside, the dual-zone instrument panel boasts a "large" color touchscreen for infotainment, metal-accented dash gauges with red needles, and a small, color TFT screen in the binnacle for displaying tidbits like G-forces and lap times. Luxury touches include a heads-up display, an optional 720-watt, 15-speaker Harmon/Kardon audio system with two subwoofers, a driver's seat that can be had with air-cell bladders for a snug fit, and lots of driver assistance systems. When the Stinger goes on sale late this year customers get a choice of two engines that are currently still in development. The base model employs a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with around 255 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. The upper trim, known as the Stinger GT, goes with the 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 found in the Genesis G90 and expected to put out the same numbers: 365 hp and 376 lb-ft. Both motors will shift through the eight-speed automatic shared with the Kia K900 but refined with a centrifugal pendulum absorber for reduced vibration. If all goes to plan, the dash from zero to 62 miles per hour will take 5.1 seconds with the 3.3-liter V6, with top speed capped at 167 mph.

BMW tops Consumer Reports 2023 Brand Report Card

Feels like we wrote about Consumer Reports' 2022 Brand Report Car and 10 Top Picks a few weeks ago, but it was last April. So the mag is back with a ranked roster of 32 brands and 10 vehicles in four categories for your debating pleasure. Starting with the brands, last year's top three were Subaru, Mazda and BMW. This year, the Munich crew climbed two spots to win the prize thanks to "Superb road test scores and solid results in CR’s reliability and owner satisfaction surveys." Subaru narrowly fell to second, maintaining its four-year run in the top three. Mini, eighth last year, jumped five spots to get the last step on the podium. The rest of the top 10 were Lexus (up one spot from last year), Honda (down one spot from last year), Toyota (up three), Genesis (up 12), Mazda (down six), Audi (down three) and Kia (up eight). The magazine and testing outfit says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CRÂ’s independent testing and member surveys," and that "Brands that rise to the top tend to have the most consistent performance across their model lineups." Last year's top 10 had six automakers from Japan, three from Germany (giving Mini credit for England), none from the U.S. or South Korea, and five luxury brands. This year's list counts five makes from Japan, two from Germany because Porsche fell out of the top ten, two from South Korea, still none from the U.S., and four luxury brands. Buick again ranked as the best domestic, dropping to 12th after being 11th last year. The big mover was Lincoln, its 10-place jump up to 16th attributed to better reliability from the Corsair and Nautilus. Tesla's improved overall reliability saw it climb six spots to 17th. Dodge climbed one spot to 15th. Jeep got out of the penalty box in last to come second-to-last. Land Rover fell three places into the penalty spot.  CR's top 10 vehicle models The 10 Top Picks list is practically a new list. Only two holdovers made it to 2023, those being the Subaru Forester and Kia Telluride.

Kia previews its Super Bowl baby commercial, far cry from Adriana Lima

We're going to go ahead and give Kia the benefit of the doubt - the automaker brought us a bathing-suit-clad Adriana Lima in its Super Bowl spot from last year. That kind of thing doesn't go unappreciated.
But, if we're really honest, and judging solely on the "teaser" video below, the space suit-wearing, baby-star from Kia's commercial this year is really creeping us out.
In any event, the Kia ad (sorry, "mini-movie") called Space Babies will be set on the distant planet of "Babylandia," and will attempt to present some kind of lie about where babies come from in the ultimate service of selling the 2014 Kia Sorento. Don't let the panda, dog, pig, giraffe, rhino and unholy baby stare make you take your eye off the ball, folks - there's a car on sale here.