Kia Sportage VS Holden Equinox
Kia Sportage
Likes
- Great fuel efficiency
- Comfortable and easy to drive
- Interesting design
Dislikes
- Pricey compared to petrol SX
- Capped price servicing costs can be high
- Blank panels for missing features in the cabin
Holden Equinox
Likes
Dislikes
Summary
Kia Sportage
So, I accidentally climbed into the wrong Kia Sportage in the supermarket car park on Thursday. That’s never happened to me before. You know, actually opening the door of a completely random car and getting into it and putting my seat belt on.
But that’s how much the regular petrol version of the Sportage looks like this new hybrid version.
The owners had parked next to me in their Sportage, which was also silver, while I was in the supermarket. There are lots of questions: Why hadn’t they locked their doors? Why didn’t I notice their Sportage had big roof racks and a giant dent in the side of it? And, why am I telling you this?
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As intriguing as those questions are, we’re not here to answer them right now because this investigation is centred on Kia’s first hybrid version of its Sportage.
Yep, finally after what seems like way too long Kia has a rival to Toyota’s RAV4 hybrid mid-sized SUV.
The Sportage Hybrid on test is the SX grade which sits lower in the range but still costs quite a lot, we think.
So, the questions we’re answering today are ones like, is the Sportage SX Hybrid worth the expensive price compared to its petrol twin?
I’ve even worked out how far you’d have to drive and how long you’d probably have to own the hybrid before you break even on the extra money you’ve spent.
And there are other questions, like how fuel efficient is it? And even others like how safe is it and how practical is it? Oh, and what it’s like to drive? That’s important, too.
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 1.6L |
| Fuel Type | — |
| Fuel Efficiency | 4.9L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Holden Equinox
Make no bones about it; the new Holden Equinox is a very important car for the Holden brand going forward. The medium SUV is dropping into an ultra-competitive, an ultra-popular segment of the Australian marketplace, and it really needs to bring its A-game in order to compete on level terms with incumbents like Mazda's CX-5, the Volkswagen Tiguan and Nissan's X-Trail.
We're also interested to see how the car does in the day-to-day role as an adventure vehicle. Can it cut the mustard when it comes to competing with the best in the class?
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 2.0L turbo |
| Fuel Type | Premium Unleaded Petrol |
| Fuel Efficiency | 8.4L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Verdict
Kia Sportage8/10
Okay, this is pretty easy. That SX Hybrid is excellent - it’s fuel efficient, it drives really nicely, it’s practical, but it’s not great value when you consider it’s more than $8000 pricier than the SX petrol. If you want good value, get the GT-Line hybrid. It comes with more features for not that much more money compared to the petrol version.
Oh, and if you’re reading this in three years time and thinking about buying a second-hand Sportage SX Hybrid, then do it.
Holden Equinox6.5/10
The Equinox is a box jump in front of the old-school Captiva… but we wonder if it’s enough to stay up with current crop of medium SUVs. Its adventure chops, too, are restricted to light gravel and snow work, though its sheer capacity for luggage stands it in good stead.
Has the Holden Equinox made enough of a jump to get onto your consideration list? Let us know below.
Design
Kia Sportage
The Sportage Hybrid SX is almost identical in looks to the petrol Sportage, which is why I mistook somebody else's car for mine. There’s a small badge on the tailgate of the hybrid which says HEV for Hybrid Electric Vehicle, but that’s really the only giveaway.
The Sportage is a more interesting looking SUV compared to less avant-garde rivals like the RAV4. I love the arrow LED running lights, the wide, mesh grille, and the tail-lights.
The cabin is also differently good looking and premium, apart from the blank panels on the centre console - the ones that remind you didn’t get the Sportage with heated seats…
Still, even with the blank panels it’s a premium-looking cabin with the 12.3-inch screen and black materials. It would have been nice if the synthetic leather seats were standard on this SX Hybrid instead of the cloth.
Holden Equinox
While Holden was able to have some influence on the nose and tail treatment, you’re looking at a Detroit special that’s meant to do business in all four corners of the world. It’s inoffensive enough... but inoffensive may not be enough in such a hard-fought retail space.
Traces of GM’s dalliance with split grilles remain, but thankfully it’s underplayed, while the side profile still allows for plenty of light to get into the cabin.
Inside, it’s better than the long-serving Captiva... but again, it’s a tough space, and the Equinox needs to able to compete against resolved, confident interior spaces from the likes of Mazda and Volkswagen. It’s more shapely and stylish, sure, but it already feels a couple of years old... and the Equinox will be with us for some time yet.
Read More: Holden Equinox reviews
Practicality
Kia Sportage
The Sportage is a mid-sized SUV - it’s not as big as a Kia Sorento, but it is larger than a Kia Seltos.
There’s plenty of room up front with storage in the centre console, cupholders and door pockets.
The second row has directional air vents and great legroom and headroom even for me at 189cm tall. My nine-year old son reckons the window sill is too high to see out of.
He’s out of his booster seat now but he’s a tall kid and doesn’t have this visibility issue very often as we move from test car to test car.
The boot is also big at 586 litres (VDA) behind the second row. It’ll fit the three-piece CarsGuide luggage set with room to spare.
Holden Equinox
You'll find five seats aboard the medium-sized Equinox SUV, and there’s no third-row option available in this particular shape. The US-designed and Mexican-built Equinox presents well enough when you jump aboard, with plenty of subtle and not so subtle curves, creases and folds adorning the front of the cabin.
The ergonomics in current Holdens aren’t quite as resolved as they once were, given that its cars are now plucked from other markets rather than being designed from the wheels up for local use. The Equinox, for example, is sold in several other markets and this does lead to knock-on ergonomic differences as GM attempts to create a one-size-fits-most profile.
For example, the indicator and wiper stalks are awkwardly positioned behind the steering wheel. The steering wheel itself is oddly parallelogrammed in its profile, and its very thick rim makes it more difficult for small hands to get comfortable with it.
The seats themselves are very short in the base, too, and don't offer a lot in the way of lateral support. They’re also mounted high in the Equinox, pushing drivers and passengers towards the roof, while the sunroof that's fitted to the LTZ-V drops the headlining down to uncomfortably low levels, both front and rear, for taller occupants.
Luggage space is an excellent 846 litres, which beats the CX-5, Tiguan, Nissan’s X-Trail and Mitsubishi’s Outlander.
Both front and rear seaters are treated to heated and vented seats, while the second row can be dropped with the tug on the lever in the boot area. However, we found it necessary to pull out the weirdly large centre seat headrest in order to get an almost-flat cargo area of some 1798 litres (or one large mountain bike with wheels on) to work with.
Second rowers get a pair of USB ports and a 12-volt charging point, and even though there’s a 230v household socket in the rear of centre console, we couldn't actually make it work with an Australian-spec plug.
The door pockets are very small, and the front doors can only hold bottles in reality. It’s a similar story for the rear. There's a map pocket behind the passenger seat, but not behind the driver. There are two cupholders in a centre fold-down armrest, and there are also ISOFIX baby seat mounts on the outside seats.
A space-saver spare wheel resides under the boot floor, under what has to be noted as quite poorly executed plastic trimming.
When it comes to rear seat occupants, three can sit across the second row quite comfortably, although as mentioned, rear headroom is a little compromised for taller passengers thanks to the sunroof.
Price and features
Kia Sportage
Let’s get straight to the price because this could be a deal breaker if you’re on a budget and the only reason you’re thinking of buying the hybrid is to save lots of money on your petrol bills.
The Sportage SX Hybrid lists for $45,950. That’s $8400 more than the list price of the same car with a petrol engine.
When I say “same car”, I mean the same SX grade, in front-wheel drive, like the hybrid. The petrol engine in the hybrid is better in every way than the engine in the petrol SX, and that’s probably part of the reason why you’re paying so much more.
Toyota’s pricing on the RAV4 appears more reasonable with hybrid versions costing about $2000 more than the petrol versions of the grade they’re based on.
Do you get more features than the petrol SX? Nope. Same equipment, but there's plenty of it.
Coming standard on the SX Hybrid are 18-inch alloys wheels, LED headlights, and LED running lights. The silver roof rails are standard, too.
Inside the SX Hybrid the seats are cloth and the 12.3-inch media display is standard. So is sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and there’s dual-zone climate control.
That’s not bad if this car was $35K like the petrol version but the hybrid SX is more than $45K and you’re not getting proximity unlocking or push-button start, nor power-adjustable driver’s seat nor power tailgate.
Really, you could buy the SX+ petrol variant for $42 grand and get all of those things, plus a Harman Kardon sound system and synthetic leather seats.
Sure, petrol is expensive these days and a hybrid uses far less, so you’ll make the money back, right? Well, if that’s the reason you’re buying the Sportage Hybrid SX brand new, then don’t. I’ve worked out how far you’d have to drive the hybrid to save $8400 in fuel below.
The only hybrid grade offered is the GT-Line, which is the top of the range and the most expensive Sportage at $55,420. But that’s only $5500 more than the petrol GT-Line and therefore better value in comparison to the SX Hybrid and its petrol twin.
Holden Equinox
The Equinox LTZ-V is offered here with a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine and part-time AWD transmission, along with GM’s excellent nine-speed automatic gearbox.
The LTZ-Z tops the tree for the Equinox range, and sells from $46,290 plus on-roads. Compare that to the CX-5 Akera at $46,290 and the VW Tiguan 162TSI Sportline at $45,990, and you get the idea of how competitive the space is.
There’s plenty of gear aboard the LTZ-V, including Holden’s MyLink infotainment system with Apple Carplay and Android Auto mirroring and sat nav, automatic lights and wipers, LED headlight, DRLs and taillights, leatherette seats that are vented and heated front and rear, an inductive phone charger, Bose six-speaker audio, active cabin noise equalisation, dual-zone climate control with rear vents and four USB ports.
Standard safety kit includes AEB with forward collision alert, rear cross-traffic alert, lane keep assist, roll over mitigation, front and rear parking sensors and auto high beam.
The LTZ-V rides on 19-inch alloys.
Under the bonnet
Kia Sportage
Normally we cover the design and practicality before we get under the bonnet but you’re on a fact-finding mission and I’m your guide, your guide to cars. That would be a good website name.
Okay, the Sportage SX Hybrid has a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol sporty and fuel-efficient engine making 132kW and 265Nm. There’s also an electric motor producing 44kW and 264Nm. Their combined output is 169kW/350Nm.
The hybrid variants are front-wheel drive only and have a six-speed automatic transmission.
It’s a great engine, smooth transmission and the way the motor interacts is almost seamless.
This isn’t a plug-in hybrid, either. The batteries recharge automatically through regenerative braking. Really, for Australia, this type of hybrid is the way to go, offering superb range and no anxiety about charging.
Holden Equinox
The 2.0-litre turbocharged four-potter is good for 188kW at 5500rpm, and a healthy 353Nm of torque from 2500-4500rpm. It’s actually the same engine Holden uses in the new Commodore – and like its sedan cousin, the Equinox also uses GM’s truly excellent nine-speed auto ’box.
It’s sold as an AWD, but unless you press the button on the dash, it’s a true front-driver; the rear axle is completely disconnected from the rest of the system in the interests of fuel saving.
Speaking of which, the Equinox demands a diet of 95 RON premium fuel, wich will add to running costs compared to some rivals which will happily accept cheaper 91 RON.
Efficiency
Kia Sportage
Kia says that after a combination of open and urban roads the Sportage SX Hybrid will use 4.9L/100km. The petrol SX with the 2.0-litre engine and front-wheel drive uses 8.1L/100km.
In our own fuel test we recorded 6.9L/100km which was mostly urban with a couple of motorway trips during the week.
Getting back to our earlier question regarding the money you’ll save in fuel. I’ve worked it out using actual maths.
So, using Kia’s official fuel economy of 4.9L/00km, that’s 3.2L/100km less than the 2.0-litre petrol SX and if fuel is $2 per litre you’re saving $6.40 for every 100km you drive in comparison.
Now, $6.40 goes into $8400 (the extra you’ve paid for the hybrid) 1312.5 times. Multiply that by 100 to get the number of kilometres you’ll need to travel. So, that’s 131,250km you’ll need to go to save the $8400 in fuel.
Most Aussies do 10,000 kays a years on average. That means you’re looking at over 13 years. Tell you what, the person who buys it second hand will get the best deal because they really will save money on fuel.
It’s true the Sportage Hybrid is fuel efficient and I’ve scored it very well for that, but if it was me I’d be looking to buy one second hand so I wasn’t getting hit hard with the new car hybrid price premium.
Holden Equinox
Over a brief stretch of 210km of on-road driving, we logged a dash-indicated figure of 12.8 litres per 100km, against a combined fuel economy claim of 8.4L/100km.
Its 55-litre fuel tank needs premium unleaded fuel, and it has a theoretical range of just over 650km.
Driving
Kia Sportage
The Sportage SX Hybrid is better to drive than the petrol SX with the 2.0-litre naturally aspirated engine. It starts silently thanks to the electric motor and will coast away serenely until you need to move faster and come to a hill where you need the power of the engine.
The brake pedal feel is better than I’ve experienced in many hybrid cars and the transition from engine to motor is almost seamless.
The ride is comfortable, there’s no jiggle over potholes and handling isn’t bad for this type of family SUV.
The only negative point to report is that because the hybrid Sportage is front-wheel drive, there can be a loss of traction if you accelerate hard from a standstill on a wet road or while climbing a steep hill.
If you’ve never driven a hybrid before, you’ll be absolutely fine - the only thing you'll need to get used to is turning the key and not detecting any engine noise.
Holden Equinox
People are voting with their wallets and snapping up medium-sized SUVs in droves, in part because of the wagon shape, and also because of ease of use. The Equinox, unfortunately, lets itself down in this regard, thanks mainly to a turning circle that is frankly ludicrously big.
We initially suspected that perhaps the 11.4m turning circle was a result of fitting the vehicle with all-wheel drive, but every Equinox suffers from the same malady. It's a frustrating experience to turn into your regular carpark spot and find that you've missed it by a metre or more.
Holden's engineers have localised the feel and the ride of the Equinox, and they’ve done a very good job considering that the LTZ-V rides on 19-inch alloys. Well-tuned and matched shocks really soak up the small around-town bumps that are so common in urban environments. On the open road as well, the 1735kg Equinox is controlled, comfortable, and reasonably quiet, though it can wander at the helm a little unless you're keeping an eye on it, thanks to an overly light steering feel.
Safety
Kia Sportage
In terms of safety the Sportage was awarded the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in 2022. The SX Hybrid has pretty much the same safety tech as the GT-Line. So there’s AEB, lane keeping assistance and a rear cross-traffic alert. There are also front and rear parking sensors
For child seats there are two ISOFIX points and three top tether anchor mounts across the second row.
Disappointingly Kia has swapped the full-sized spare alloy wheel you’d get in the petrol and diesel variants for a space saver spare in the hybrid.
Holden Equinox
Standard safety in the Equinox is commendably high, and it has held a maximum five-star rating from ANCAP since December 2017. Six airbags, AEB with frontal collision and rear cross traffic alert are fitted as standard, while a haptic seat alert vibrates under your butt should you stray over a centre line or attempt to back into traffic, among other warnings.