So what we’ve been teased about over the past few weeks and months was not a Kia GT after all. It was the 2018 Kia Stinger sports sedan – a Korean Alfa Giulia if you like – with sleek design, top quality, great equipment, and, for the first time, decent performance. The Stinger is quite possibly the most intriguing thing ever to come out of the Korean peninsula with the exception of Kim Jong-un.  

So let’s dive straight into it and see what sort of specs we’re dealing with here with the 2018 Kia Stinger. Well. Looks-wise, the designers tells us they wanted a distinct grand tourer look, which is why it has a whiff of the Porsche Panamera about it. They also mention stuff like Mercedes CLS and Audi A5 as potential rivals for the Stinger. So that’s probably why it looks so determined on the front, what with the large air intakes, a large grille, and some cool hood scoops. Then we have the sort of four-door-coupe thing on the side, and around the back a typical high-performance sedan design with quad tailpipes and diffuser. Kia has used some innovative features here though in form of extended taillights that cover a good part of the rear fenders.

As for the performance, which is a big selling point for the 2018 Kia Stinger, the base model comes with a 255 horsepower and 260 lb-ft 2.0 liter turbo Theta II engine sitting on a sport-tuned chassis featuring MacPherson front and multi-link rear setups complemented with electronically adjustable suspension known as Dynamic Stability Damping Control with Personal, Eco, Sport, Comfort and Smart driving modes. There will also be available a 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 Lambda II engine from Hyundai with 365 horsepower and 367 lb-ft giving the Stinger a 0 to 60 time of 5.1 second and top speed of 167 mph. Mind you, those figures are probably for the AWD model since the standard version comes with rear-wheel-drive. An 8-speed automatic is standard across the range.

Last but not least, we should mention all the amazing features and equipment 2018 Kia Stinger come with. While market-specific specs haven’t been revealed yet, the list of standard and available features will look something like this: Forward Collision Assistance, Autonomous Emergency Braking, Advanced Smart Cruise Control, Lane Keep Assist, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, height-adjustable color Head-Up Display, wireless Smartphone charging pad and Bluetooth, six-speakers and a seven-inch haptic touchscreen with the latest version of UVO, available premium Harman/Kardon system, and…