Is the Kia Tasman X-Pro any good on sand?

We are super excited to have the Kia Tasman X-Pro in our family garage for three months! In the car journo world this is called a ‘long-termer'. In our family's world it gives us a chance to really settle in with a car and find out what it's like for our family of four to really live with it.

While we parents are planning exciting adventures in the Tasman (we love off-roading and camping so will put it through all our favourite travels as well as the daily grind), our kids will of course be crushing crackers, spilling juice poppers, slinging school bags, sports and dancing gear all over the back, scuffing shoes on the upholstery and testing how the lovely interior of this top-spec Tasman stands up to family life.

Addressing the elephant in the room: I know people are very opinionated about the Tasman's looks. As I tell my daughters “if everyone and everything looked the same, life would be very boring” and “if you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all”. So let's move on!

First Adventure: Kia Tasman X-Pro on the beach

Our first test has to be driving up the beach! We LOVE driving up the beach – it's our family's happy place and so our first test has to see if the Tasman is any good for driving on the sand. Combining all the things I love in life; driving off-road, exploring, nature, being outdoors, blue sky, the ocean, swimming, spending the day with my family etc.

Always a little nervous with a new vehicle in case it's not very capable and we get bogged… Let's see how the Tasman handles it!

Driving to the beach, is super comfortable. There's lots of interior space in the Tasman, so when the kids want me to ride in the back with them on the way there, I don't panic! The rear seats are spacious and comfy for us all. See our full review of child seat testing and rear seat comfort in our full family review of the Tasman here (and video below).

Before entering the beach I switch to the driver's seat. Letting down the tyres is easy and the kids all find a stick and get to it, while I have the important job of keeping an eye on the tyre-pressure-monitoring-system on the driver's display screen.

Satisfied that all tyres are let down correctly we hit the sand! The entrance to the beach is always soft sand and I've seen so many people bogged here over the years but the Kia Tasman X-Pro clears it with ease. It's a bit of fun and the comfort of the drive on the road is still there on the sand too.

I realise I've not experienced this level of interior comfort, in a ute, off-road before. Most utes are pretty similar inside, hard black elephant skin plastic dash and you're lucky some now have dash cup holders, grab handles etc.

But the Kia Tasman X-Pro is next level, it's like a top spec SUV interior with great design details like the speaker honeycomb that takes my brain a little while to get used to seeing it with the sand and beach backdrop! You can browse the full Tasman spec list at Kia Australia.

The beach drive switches between patches of corrugated soft sand and flat sections of hard-packed beach on the long flat stretches I can imagine some might be tempted to switch to cruise control (NEVER do this, beaches can change in a split second).

We search out some deeper sand and explore the dunes to really test the Tasman's ability and it's more than capable. Taking the dunes entries and exits in it's stride it's a lot of fun!

Different beach cut-ins take us zig zagging across the top of the peninsula where we take it through a bit of fresh water.

Stopping for lunch the back of the tray makes for a perfect picnic spot!

The more we use the Kia Tasman X-Pro the more we notice small things that make a big difference… The plastic panelling on top of the tray walls make a great resting place for paddleboards and surfboards without scratching the paintwork. No doubt the all-terrain tyres and higher ground clearance of this X-Pro version make a difference on soft sand too.

The handy step up to the tray is helpful for me and the kids to climb up into the tray.

And the side storage cupboard with central locking is perfect for holding the tie down straps and brush to get all the sand off everyone's feet before they hop in!

It also makes a great spot to rest your coffee!

The Kia Tasman X-Pro looks very cool in this environment and we really want to add a roof tent on top and go further afield exploring!

It's great that a vehicle with such a family friendly interior can do the school run so comfortably and take you to these beautiful locations at the weekend.

As the sun starts to lower in the sky…

… we gather all the beach gear and tie it down using the super flexible and easy to use tie downs in the tray.

Heading back down the beach, the sun lowering, and two sleepy salt, sand and sun kissed kids in the back it's been a great first test of the Kia Tasman X-Pro. We agree unanimously the Tasman has passed our family's first initiation test with a BIG tick!

So the simple answer to “is the Kia Tasman X-Pro any good on the sand?” is: Yes! If you want to spec one out for your family, check out Kia's build and price tool.