2026 Kia Sportage First Drive: Comfy and Cool—But Quick Enough?

Motor Trend

a day ago

Kia messed with a good thing. Just three short years into its current form, the Sportage gets refreshed for 2026 with updated cosmetics and newer tech, among other changes. It's reliably been a strong contender in our Ultimate Car Rankings, so we drove the updated Sportage to see if it's still worthy—yes, but its main shortcoming remains.
The 2026 Kia Sportage refresh features updated styling, enhanced tech, and improved driver assists but its base engine is still a sluggish 2.5L four-cylinder. Despite its slow acceleration, the X-Pro we drove offers a smooth ride, impressive build quality, and good value.
This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article Read Next Updates to the 2026 Kia Sportage
This generation of Sportage went on sale for 2023 with weird but cool styling; sculpted bodywork and swoopy lighting shapes add visual personality that prosaic compact SUVs often lack.
That somewhat alien aesthetic is toned down for 2026, as the Sportage now wears LED-accented headlights with a vertical theme. These give it a relatively upright, SUV-ish appearance that better aligns with other Kia SUV models. Beyond new wheel styles and paint colors, other exterior design changes include subtle adjustments to the taillights and lower bumpers.
Inside, the 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen once reserved for higher trims becomes standard, but more important it runs a new user interface. Called CCNC ('Connected Car Navigation Cockpit' in Kia parlance), it has higher processing power, a revised menu structure, and greater over-the-air update capability. It's embedded in a restyled dashboard that, like the exterior, trades some funky shapes for relatively plain straight-line trim.
In the driver assist suite, front and rear parking sensors become standard, the adaptive cruise control is refined, and the lane keep system is paired with a capacitive touch sensor in the new two-spoke steering wheel.
Our review here focuses on the standard all-gas Sportage, which remains powered by the same engine as before. However, the Sportage Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid gain more power—you can read about updates to those models here. Still Slow
If Kia had changed anything about the Sportage for 2026, we wish it was that gas engine: a 2.5-liter I-4 producing 187 hp and 178 lb-ft of torque, joined to an eight-speed automatic with standard FWD or available AWD. It's slow—in MotorTrend testing, a 2023 Sportage X-Pro just like we have for 2026 needed 9.3 seconds to get to 60 mph from a stop.
But is it too slow? Usually not. In normal driving, the engine doesn't feel like it's working hard, simply getting on with its business and keeping pace with traffic just fine.
Ask for more, though, and it's gutless. Pedal down, the engine needs time to gather itself, eventually producing more noise than urgency. The Sportage isn't defined by its lethargy, but it's a factor—just forget about zipping around corners, jumping into gaps in traffic, or winning lane-merge drag races.
The transmission tries to help by readily downshifting to make power available, yet the general lack of power undermines that effort. Still, shifts are smooth, lending a fluid sensation to driving. The only transmission oddity is when it occasionally lurches pulling away from a stop, a quirk more common in dual-clutch gearboxes than the torque converter unit found here.
Fuel economy should come in at about 23–24/26–30 mpg city/highway with AWD, somewhat low among the Sportage's competitive set. Note as well that the Sportage Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid are not only more fuel efficient but also considerably quicker. Otherwise, Smooth
Beyond its lack of speed, the Sportage leaves very little to complain about—rather, it provides plenty to enjoy.
The ride quality is supremely comfortable, verging on luxurious. With tall, supple all-terrain tires adding cushion between the cabin and road, the high-end X-Pro model we evaluated likely rides the best of any Sportage. Still, it uses the same basic suspension as other versions, so every 2026 Sportage should have a similarly plush feel that soaks up road imperfections nicely.
Handling perhaps suffers due to the soft suspension, as the body rebounds and wobbles in reaction. The Sportage feels mostly stable, but it's clearly not meant to cut up a road, as if the meager power didn't make that obvious. How the steering and brakes are tuned aligns with this relaxed demeanor. Sporty the Sportage isn't, so just cruise and relish the smoothness. How's CCNC?
Kia's previous user interface left some to be desired, and CCNC makes improvements in key areas. This evolution of the previous menu structure remains mostly intuitive, but the entire system is finished with graphics that look more modern and improve clarity. Touch responsiveness is quicker, though still a blink behind newer smartphones. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard. More reconfigurability in the digital gauge cluster would be nice, which hopefully could arrive in a future over-the-air update among other improvements.
A 12.3-inch touchscreen isn't particularly big among today's affordable crossovers, but it's a good size: legible and useful but not so large that it seems shoved into the cabin. Below that, the slightly clumsy touch-sensitive multifunction climate and media control panel remains.
Kia's driver assist features continue to make highway driving easier, aiding collaboratively to keep things steady. Having a capacitive steering wheel sensor for the lane keep assist is a nice upgrade, even if that system needs a fair amount of human management. Might Be Underpriced
Fully loaded at about $42,000, this Sportage X-Pro comes across as a tremendously good deal. The amount of equipment—ventilated seats, panoramic sunroof, premium audio, 360-degree camera, and more—for that price is quite impressive. (As a point of reference, the 2026 Sportage starts a hair over $30,000.)
But more impressive still is the degree of quality throughout the Sportage, in this trim or any other. It feels remarkably well-made, every touchpoint actuating with nice tactility and all surfaces joined in a tight, solid way. Thick sealing around the doors and windows secures the cabin against outside sounds. It all feels substantial, not something that can be said about every compact SUV.
That shows up in how it drives, too. Its cushy ride is no accident, and even if the rest of the experience is a bit dull, there's refined cohesion in how it comes together. A humdrum engine is only one aspect of the Sportage, as its value, comfort, tech, and useful layout otherwise promote it as a good choice for an everyday SUV. The updated Sportage seems competent as ever as it enters 2026.