The Kia Sportage was a nippy little SUV that felt nimble on the roads and more like a hatch than an SUV! Â Let's find out how it faired through our BabyDrive testing!
The boot of the Sportage would hold 12 shopping bags, that's of equal capacity to its competitor, the VW Tiguan, and one less bag than the Mazda CX-5 and Honda CR-V.
The boot isn't very deep but the strollers all fitted Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller fitted with three shopping bags, the Britax Flexx tandem stroller with five, the Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle with six and the Mountain Buggy Nano compact stroller with ten.
When installing child seats in the back, there are ISOFix in the two outer rear seats, they are not within plastic guides but I found they were still easy to connect too.
There are three top tether anchor points situated in the seatbacks that are accessible through the boot, although I did find the retractable roller blind sat so close to the seat backs I couldn't post the top tether clip through without bringing the seatbacks forward. Surprisingly I could just fit three child seats into the rear f the Sportage! I had to use the seatbelts rather than the ISOFix for the Britax Maxi Guard Pro and Graphene in the outer seats as well as for the Britax Kid Guard Pro in the central seat.
It was much more spacious with just the two outer child seats installed and I could then use the ISOFix for the Britax Graphene.
Legroom is surprisingly good in the cabin! In front of the rear facing child seat, there is 28cm of knee-room for the front passenger.
The media touch screen system in the Kia Sportage is very good, it’s so easy to use and the swipe and scroll method is easy to navigate the first time you use it. It also has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto which makes life so simple!
The air-conditioning in the Sportage is very effective and easy to control, it took no time to cool the cabin on a hot Queensland day. There are four air vents across the front dash and two in the back for rear passengers, I could reach the rear controls from the front to control them for little passengers in the back while I was driving. There are also two sockets in the back for charging while driving along.
Storage in the cabin of the Sportage is compact but adequate. The glove box, cup holders, phone tray etc were all of good, practical sizes.
The Sportage was a great car to drive around town and felt smaller on the road, nippy and more agile than some of its competitors!
The exterior looks stylish and has character however the interior has a more basic and practical feel. The woven seat fabric reminds me of school blazers and would be hard to keep child spills and stains out of.
As a family car and a BabyDrive, it is great, the higher ride made visibility while driving good and made loading the boot a little easier.
The Kia Sportage got a 5-star ANCAP safety rating in 2016 and has six airbags as standard.
BabyDrive Indepth - Storage
In the front of the Sportage are two cup-holders in the central console, they will hold a disposable coffee cup or my reusable Cheeki travel mug and the larger one at the rear will hold my large refillable water bottle. The central console storage box is quite compact and the lid doubles as your armrest.

The door pockets in the front would hold my large refillable water bottle and I could fit my wallet in too. There are also storage wells in the handles in all the doors, which I find great for popping the keys or whatever is my daughter's hands when I'm loading her in and out of her child seat.

There is a storage tray for a phone in front of the gear lever, there is a USB and two 12V sockets there too for connecting and charging your phone.

There is a single lined glasses case in the ceiling positioned with the interior lights and lit vanity mirrors in both visors.

The glove box is not very large but it did fit the iPad and wallet in with the manual.

In the back there are map pockets on the back of both seats, they are made of the seat fabric, they held an iPad but didn't fully conceal it.

The back door pockets are smaller than those in the front; they will hold a 600ml water bottle or Pigeon baby bottle however they were not big enough for a wallet or iPad.

In the central rear seat back is a fold-down armrest with two cup holders in it. The cup holders would hold a disposable or reusable coffee cup, but a Pigeon baby bottle or 600ml bottle moved around in them. M large refillable water bottle didn't fit.

The boot space in the Sportage is surprisingly good. Apparently, Kia has made this model slightly bigger than the previous to give it greater boot capacity. There are indents on either side behind the wheel arches which I found useful for separating the more delicate things in when I was loading up the boot.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres ia not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
Empty I can fit 12 shopping bags in the boot. That's of equal capacity to its competitor, the VW Tiguan, and one less bag than the Mazda CX-5 and Honda CR-V.

With the Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller, I can fit three shopping bags alongside it.

The Britax Flexx tandem stroller fitted with five shopping bags.

Our Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle stroller fitted widthways in the boot space, with six shopping bags in around it.

The Mountain Buggy Nano compact stroller fitted with ten shopping bags.

Loading things in an out of the boot is good, the boot opening is nice and large and the floor space is smooth and flat and higher because it's an SUV so I found it easier for loading and unloading and for emergency nappy changes!
BabyDrive Indepth - Noise
The Sportage is quite vocal, it announces school zones, ding dongs for speeding cameras and all when I was least expecting it! Which I found a bit much with a sleeping toddler in the back. There are some adjustments you can do within the screen settings which make it less vocal!

The reversing camera image is nice and clear and takes up the whole media screen.

The parking sensor visuals are displayed in front of the steering wheel. I find this very difficult as while you are turning the steering wheel, its spokes and your hands get in the way of the display that is alerting you where an obstacle is. When reversing you have to stop, peer around the wheel or your hands and it can be really off-putting.

The parking sensor volume cannot be turned down or muted easily on the media screen. You can turn the parking sensors off with a button, down in the central console.

I can understand that this has been done as a safety feature so that the parking sensors will come on with each manoeuver you do. However, from a BabyDrive perspective, I want to be able to select to turn the sensors off for the entire journey if I have my child asleep in the car.
Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.
Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!
I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.
There is a button by your right knee that allows you to turn on and off the lane departure warning.

I didn't find that the indicator volume affected sleeping children on board, which is just as well because the volume cannot be altered.
The sat nav volume controls are easily adjusted on the touchscreen when in the map screen or by selecting to use the volume knob. This is a fantastic BabyDrive feature as you can easily adjust the sat nav volume while driving so you only have to have the volume on when you want it, so you don't disturb sleeping, little passengers!

You can turn the media screen touch beeping off in this screen also.
It was really easy to connect my phone to the Sportage; it has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which makes things nice and easy. I had my nursery rhymes already playing on my phone and soon as I plugged in the USB the song played out of the car speakers.
The doors and windows both open and close with a bit of a thump which could disturb a sleeping baby.
The doors and windows can be locked from the driver's door control panel.

The Sportage does not have auto engine cut out to save fuel when you are stopped at lights.
An alarm did not sound when I came to a stop, took off my seatbelt and opened the door with the engine still running.
Since becoming a mum I spend A LOT of time parked up somewhere with a nice view while my daughter is asleep in the back! If it's hot I need to leave the engine running and the aircon on but I do like to get out and drink my cuppa tea in the fresh air while enjoying the fact my limbs are free from said dangling child!!
SO this is a very important test as I have found that sometimes I have been held hostage by a cars BEEEEPING alarms when I have taken off my seatbelt or opened the door while the engine is still running!! (I only stand outside the car, I am not a bad mother!!)
BabyDrive Indepth - Car Seats
The Sportage is a mid-sized five-seater SUV. There is ISOFix in the two outer rear seats, they are not within plastic guides, they are hidden within the join of seat fabric but I found them eay to connect to.

There is top tether for all three of the rear seats, situated in the back of their backrests, in the boot. I did find when accessing them that the retractable roller blind was so close to the seat backs I couldn't post the top tether clip through and had to bring the seat back forward slightly to post it through.

I could easily install two child seats in the back, one in each outer seat. The rear-facing Britax Graphene using ISO Fix and the forward facing Maxi Guard Pro using the seatbelt as it doesn't have ISOFix.

When I used the seatbelt for both the outer rear child seats I found I could move them out far enough to install a third child seat, the Kid Guard Pro in the central seat. It was a squeeze but they did all fit.

Posting baby into their child seat from inside and outside the vehicle is fine, the door openings were wide and the ceiling tall enough. There is room to feed Bub in the back seat if you only have one child seat installed.

Australia being a country of weather extremes- blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!
All seats are made from woven fabric, so keeping them clean is difficult as all spills and crumbs will get rubbed into the weave.

The back seats are not too sculpted. However, you may need to put a wedge under a baby capsule in order to level out the base.
There is a good amount of knee room, 28cm, in the front passenger's seat when the rear-facing Britax Graphene is installed behind it.
BabyDrive Indepth - Drive & Comfort
The legroom in the Sportage is surprisingly good. There is a good amount of knee room, 28cm, in the front passenger's seat when the rear-facing Britax Graphene is installed behind it.
I found the front and rear seats in the Sportage comfortable and well padded. I wasn't a fan of the upholstery fabric, it reminds me of cheap suit or school uniform fabric! The shape of the headrests meant attaching a baby mirror was not as easy.

The rear seats do not slide to adjust the legroom but the backrest can be moved to change the reclining angle using a handle down the side of the seat bases.

For the first year of Tulsi's life when we would go out as a family, if I wasn’t driving, I would travel in the back with Tulsi so it’s important to check the back seat comfort as you may be spending a lot of time in them! They were never something I gave any thought to before but I definitely notice a good or bad back seat now!
In the back of the central console box, there is a 12V socket and a USB socket for charging. These are situated below the two air conditioning vents.

Visibility in the Sportage is not too bad, with rear-facing child seats installed I found manoeuvring and parking okay because the car didn't feel big and the reversing camera image is big and clear. For forward-facing passengers, visibility is good because of the higher seating position of an SUV. The central seatbelt does come from the ceiling though so that would obscure visibility out he back when in use.
One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we get the big cars and utes as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, the visibility and size of the Sportage meant it was quick to park and the excellent camera and parking guides made it easier too!
The front headrests I found you could not make them very comfortable while wearing a ponytail!!
I spent hours doing my hair this morning, said no new mum ever!!!
The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down.

The cruise control buttons are located on the right on the steering wheel and were simple to use and quite accurate at 60km/h on undulating roads.
The Aircon in the Sportage is good. In the front, there are four vents. Two in the middle of the dashboard and one at either end.

I found the air conditioning very effective and strong enough in the hot Queensland sun. The controls are very easy to use and well located in the centre of the dashboard. The clean air filter is supposed to stop outside smells and allergens such as pollen coming in.

The rear vents are well-positioned on the back of the central console, easy for mum to be able to change them whilst driving if you have small infants in the back.

The rear headrest shape is not conducive to holding a mirror very effectively, so it falls to the side all the time and this also adds to the lack of visibility for the rear facing child.

There is just one interior light in the ceiling, in the back, above the central seat. This is positioned too far back for me to reach while driving.

I find it important to reach the interior rear lights so that when I am driving bub at night I can turn the lights on while she is awake so that she is not scared in the dark and then I can switch them off once she is asleep.
There is a handle above the back doors, which I use to hang a child’s toy from.
In the front are two press on lights positioned in the ceiling by the glasses case.

The Sportage had a nice smooth drive and felt nippy, fun and agile around town and out on the open roads, more like a hatch than an SUV!
My opinion of the general aesthetics of the Sportage is that it is really great looking car on the outside!

The interior I felt really let down by the seat upholstery and it all felt quite practical rather than stylish, which is no bad thing for a family car that is going to get well worn!!
Most surfaces are all easy for wiping clean, but the seats in the front and back are woven fabric covered which would be hard to wipe clean. The floor mats throughout the Sportage too.
The tailgate is not powered it is manual opening and closing.
BabyDrive Indepth - Safety
The Kia Sportage got a 5-star ANCAP safety rating in 2016. It was awarded a total score of 34.62 out of 37. For the frontal offset test, it scored 13.62 out of 16 and for the side impact test it got the maximum 16/16 and 2/2 for pole test and pedestrian detection was rated acceptable.
The Sportage has six airbags as standard. Driver and front passenger frontal airbags, front side airbags and side head curtain airbags.
The Kia Sportage comes with anti-lock braking system (ABS) with brake assist system (BA) and electronic brake force distribution (EBD) with traction control system (TCS), hill-start assist (HSA), auto dimming rear view mirror, lane keeping assist system (LKAS), autonomous emergency braking (AEB), forward collision warning (FCW), driver attention alert, high mounted rear stop light, high beam assist (HBA), dusk-sensing automatic headlights, projector front fog lights, door open warning and speed sensing auto door lock as standard.
Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound.
I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!
I got my Sportage near the end of 2018, every one says how nice it is both on the inside an outside. The seats are very comfortable, The only thing that I can pick wrong with the 2 litre petrol is that at times, I would like a little bit more power. But that is just being picky.
That’s great Glenn 🙂
I got a 2019 one in July (1 year old) and I love it, only issue front seat head rests so uncomfortable. Don’t find the seat fabrics an issues to clean at all.
I have just been to check if I can fit my three car seats across the back of a 2017 sportage, it looks like I can fit 2x rear facing graphene seats and 1x Maxiguard! Tight but no tighter than my current car. I forgot to fully extend the seat RF so I am going back today to try! Otherwise I loved the sportage. I think just enough space for my little family!
That’s AWESOME Stephanie 🙂
Hi Trace, do you think you would fit 3 maxi guard pros in the back seat?
Thanks!
Sam