A halo car is a car that has a specific purpose that's so much bigger than just selling. It’s supposed to show to the world what a carmaker is capable of when given a bigger budget to play with. For Toyota, the last great halo car was arguably the Supra from the 90s. For Kia, their halo car, the 2018 Stinger GT-S, is probably set for the legendary aura that now surrounds the Mk3 twin-turbo Supra.
For one, the Stinger is also twin-turbocharged but that has little to do with why it’s so great. It also has 375hp and 510nm of torque and goes from 0-62mph in 4.7 seconds but the numbers mean nothing when the whole car is so characterful.
One of the main reasons why the Stinger is sublime to drive is the involvement of a certain Mr. Albert Biermann of BMW M Division fame. He and his team of engineers seem to be my kind of people because they insisted that the Stinger had a mode in which it could be completely unshackled from the stability and traction control systems - something no Kia had had before. I reckon Albert drove it only in that mode.
You engage it by flicking the drive-mode selector into Sport+ mode then holding a button on the central console for several seconds. You then get your left foot on the brake and right one on the gas. Let the revs build and wait for a message “Launch mode engaged!”.
By that point, the lights have changed several times and whomever you wanted to race is long gone, but lift your left foot and all hell breaks loose. Despite the rear-wheel drive, the Stinger digs in hard shooting you up to about 35mph. At this point, you realise that in this hardcore drive mode, the 8-speed automatic gearbox won’t ever change gear for you and you have to do it via the paddles mounted behind the steering wheel. At the same instant you realise that, you hit the rev limiter and the whole car dips down along your smile. You then flick the drive mode back to Smart, which juggles between Eco, Comfort and Sport and carry on with your journey with an embarrassed face.
That isn’t to say the Stinger is not an absolute joy to drive. The simple fact is that I felt comfortable and familiar with the car after a mere few hours behind the wheel. There are few cars that feel as welcoming as the Stinger and most are far more expensive than it’s £40,000 price.
What you see is also what you’ll get - everything in these pictures is standard and you only need to pick the paint. Heated and ventilated leather-upholstered seats are standard and so is a 15-speaker Harman Kardon stereo that's better than the Burmester in the Mercedes E-Class. To my ears at least.
However, the main reason I think this will become a legendary car for Kia is that it’s brimming with character. At a time of platform-shared cookie-cutter German cars seemingly thought of by machines, the Stinger feels like a car conceived by people who are really into cars and have finally sold enough Picantos and Sorentos to allow themselves some fun with a car. Kia needs to sell around 1,750 Stingers in the UK in order to guarantee we will see more passionate cars from the Korean automaker. So, if you have the available funds, please go and buy one so I can then buy it used in about 10 years. Or keep it and wait 20 years to sell it when it has achieved legendary status.
and you can begin to understand where KIA comes from. Now though they are a huge seller of fleet cars and go-to choice for taxi drivers all around the world. And during that time KIA became more and more European in its design and much more appealable. The sales results speak for themselves. Nowadays having a KIA is not an embarrassment you hide even from your closest relatives but rather a very smart choice in the congested reasonably priced car market. Not only that but with the help of some talented designers KIA have been lately making cars that anyone would give a limb to own. They are utterly gorgeous to look at and pack technology equal to any German or Japanese rival. I also like the new design direction set by the beautiful SPORTSPACE concept that is set to be fully unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. It is practical and sporty and is a lot of cars packed into one. Something every motorist wants but few car makers can provide a viable proposition. Let's see in more detail just how beautiful the SPORTSPACE concept is:
Nowadays every racing team that wants to be considered as one of the pros has a simulator. A simulator is the next best thing after a race car when it's snowing outside. The cost of such a contraption can easily pass the £100,000 mark and each year more advanced simulator are developed. CoventryTV got invited to test out the newest addition to the Serious Games Institute that is situated in the heart of Coventry, just behind the University. The simulator was truly a piece of technological art with a huge amount of hardware and a sleek design reminiscent of a futuristic spaceship. Let's see in more detail what the F1 simulator is about.
Going in, you get the strange feeling you gt when entering a ride at an amusement park for the first time. You don't know what to expect. The driving position is equivalent to that of a F1 car and the pedals are annoyingly realistic as well- meaning the throttle is extremely long and the brake extremely hard to press and locks up the wheels in a matter of milliseconds. One you get used to it though, your motor memory from driving a real car takes over and suddenly driving the simulator becomes effortless. The wide screen effect perfectly occupies your whole field of view and your brain is tricked into thinking it is actually moving. The feeling of speed you get is amazing and can not be justified by a video. Nevertheless I believe this POV short video can give you just a glimpse of the amazing experience of driving such an advanced simulator. Apologies in advance for my driving skills, but having your brain believe it is travelling at 120 Mph five inches close to the wall makes you not that good of a driver. Here is James introducing and me driving:
Going in, you get the strange feeling you gt when entering a ride at an amusement park for the first time. You don't know what to expect. The driving position is equivalent to that of a F1 car and the pedals are annoyingly realistic as well- meaning the throttle is extremely long and the brake extremely hard to press and locks up the wheels in a matter of milliseconds. One you get used to it though, your motor memory from driving a real car takes over and suddenly driving the simulator becomes effortless. The wide screen effect perfectly occupies your whole field of view and your brain is tricked into thinking it is actually moving. The feeling of speed you get is amazing and can not be justified by a video. Nevertheless I believe this POV short video can give you just a glimpse of the amazing experience of driving such an advanced simulator. Apologies in advance for my driving skills, but having your brain believe it is travelling at 120 Mph five inches close to the wall makes you not that good of a driver. Here is James introducing and me driving:
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The old DS was a car that turned the world upside down upon it's introduction to the market back in 1955. It was the time of recovery after the second World War and the time of the space race, so every country had to develop it's image in the post-colonial world. In the 1950s Citroen was a company famed for technological advances, striking design and unconventional for the time engineering. The predecessor of the DS was the Traction Avant which was the first unibody front wheel drive mass produced car. So the old DS had quite a pedigree of innovation to live up to. When it was unveiled at the 1955 Paris Auto Show, the DS was such a success that there were over 750 orders in just the first 15 minutes rising up to 12,000 until the end of the day. You can say people quite liked the car and contemporary motoring journalists were in awe. They compared it to fallen from the sky - it was that beautiful. And it was not only beauty that won the hearts of reviewers and potential customers, it was the technical innovations as well. Hydraulic suspension, transmission, brakes and power steering all helped achieve that "Magic carpet" ride quality that arguably is not surpassed even today. Not to mention the futuristic interior with steering column mounted shifter, "mushroom" brake pedal and the headlights that follow the road. You can begin to see what the new DS 5 has to live up to. So let's see if the new DS 5 has as much technical innovations as the original "Goddess".
Have BMW lost their minds? The company that made rear wheel drive it's most important selling point. The ultimate driving machine, as BMW refer to any of it's cars, has a simple formula: engine in the front and power to the back. It was this weight distribution and the fact that the front wheels only have to do the steering that made BMW so great to drive. The feeling you get when driving a rear wheel drive car can only be described as perfect synchronization between car and driver. It gives you all the control your driving ability can provide and if you know your way around a steering wheel, some very impressive drifts can be achieved. Now, however, BMW are trying to make us like their new model - the 2 Series Gran Tourer that is even more van-like than the 2 series Active Tourer. So is the new 2 series Gran Tourer the worst BMW in the history of time? Far from it. It is actually a car that has been missing from BMW's line up and many customers have been jumping to other manufacturers when needing a premium compact seven seater. If you already have an M3 and the wife is constantly nagging to buy her "that spacious Mercedes B-class" the choice becomes simple. According to BMW, after the transition to FWD, the 2 series Gran Tourer still remains the most exhilarating car to drive in it's class. I haven't driven one yet to confirm but I am confident that BMW can make great handling cars. Here is a more detailed look at what the 2 Series Gran Tourer will be offering.
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