Kia Sportage Enters 2025 Model Year With Minimal Changes Over 2024

5 months, 1 week ago - 9 July 2024, autoevolution

The 2025 Kia Sorento is coming to dealers nationwide with little in the way of changes from the 2024 model. Excluding the $1,375 destination charge, pricing kicks off at $27,190 for the LX trim level with front-wheel drive, whereas the all-wheel-drive sibling is $28,990 from the outset.

In other words, the South Korean automaker didn't make any pricing changes to said trim. However, a handful of grades did get pricier. The list opens with the front-drive EX, which is $100 more than before. This $100 addition to the retail price further applies to the X-Line, SX, SX Prestige, X-Pro, and the X-Pro Prestige trims.

Customers in the market for a hybrid are required to shell out $28,590 at the very least for the LX. As for the plug-in hybrid, whose lineup kicks off with the X-Line, that would be $39,690 before taxes and optional extras. In addition to minor pricing changes, Kia America has enhanced the EX, X-Line, and X-Pro for model year 2025.

The newly available Premium Package is an EX-only affair that improves the compact-sized crossover with a smart power liftgate and a panoramic sunroof. The X-Line and X-Pro, meanwhile, benefit from a dark-themed exterior design enhancement that comprises black badging plus gloss black for the front bumper, rear bumper, and side sills. The X-Line grade further stands out with gloss-black alloy wheels.

Kia says the 2025 Sportage offers "unrivaled roominess" in the segment, referring to best-in-class legroom for the rear passengers and cargo room. The specs on Kia's website reveal 41.3 inches (1,049 millimeters) of rear-seat legroom, 39.6 cubic feet (1,121 liters) behind the rear seats, and 74.1 cubic feet (2,098 liters) folded down.

Under the skin, you'll find a front-biased platform and two engine choices in the form of a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated I4 for the Sportage or a 1.6-liter turbocharged I4 for the Sportage Hybrid and Sportage Plug-In Hybrid. The larger engine combines MPI and GDI technologies. It makes a respectable 187 mechanical horsepower and 178 pound-feet (241 Nm) of torque, with most of those ponies and pound-feet reaching the wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Sportage Hybrid and Sportage Plug-In Hybrid feature two fewer gears. On the upside, both of them are punchier and more frugal to boot. Kia quotes 227 horsepower and 258 pound-feet (350 Nm) combined for the HEV, which nets 43 mpg (5.5 l/100 km) on the combined test cycle. Stepping up to the PHEV results in 261 ponies, 258 pound-feet, and 35 mpg (6.7 l/100 km).

The 2.5-liter powerplant of the regular Sportage, meanwhile, is listed by the EPA with combined ratings of 28 miles per gallon (8.4 liters per 100 kilometers) with front-wheel drive or 26 – 25 with all-wheel drive. All-electric range for the Sportage Plug-In Hybrid? That would be no more than 34 miles (55 kilometers).

Sportage remains the best-selling Kia in the US market, where it moved 79,853 units in the first half of 2024 as opposed to 71,889 in the first six months of 2023. Last year, Kia America reported a grand total of 140,780 deliveries compared to 123,953 for the soon-to-be-replaced Forte and 110,765 units for the family-sized Telluride.