Faults:

Clutch (expensive)

Oil leak, difficult to find location.

Various electronics. The car sometimes won't recognise the key and won't start.

Alternator.

No rust, but paintwork peeling here and there.

General Comments:

A typical modern crossover SUV, this Sportage is nothing special. It's not the worst vehicle in the world, but my God is it dull and boring and average at best in reliability. Very cheap and nasty interior plastic also.

Only purchased as I needed a cheap modern run about that had high ground clearance (rough roads where I live) but did not need a hardcore 4x4. So I thought this would be ideal.

But do yourself a favor and avoid modern crossovers, especially this one. Ones of this age are cheap on auto-trader right now for a reason. OK so it's a decade old and approaching the infamous 100,000 miles point, but I have had much older and higher mileage cars last longer than this, this KIA feels ready for the scrapheap, waste of money, been nothing but trouble the last couple of years. And it had full dealer history and appeared looked after well.

On the plus side, it's reasonably comfortable, not bad looking, and drives OK and can be economical for its size. But the positive points end there.

Faults:

Intermittent steering wheel shake from 70-80mph.

Very occasional poor starting after very heavy rain overnight.

Occasionally, the rear tailgate wouldn't lock on the central locking loop.

General Comments:

I bought this car in a fit of madness to get a 4x4 for the winter, as it was a couple grand less than an equivalent diesel version.

One thing has dominated my ownership of this car -- FUEL ECONOMY.

I guess it's also partially because fuel costs in the UK are ridiculous and carry on rising, but even so, this car was awful on petrol. The HIGHEST figure I ever got was 23.6 mpg on one tank, the lowest, 20.6 mpg; range was anywhere from 260-290 miles.

I suppose expecting much more from a 2.7 V6, 1.8 ton, auto 4x4 with brick like aerodynamics is too much, but even so...

Anyway, leaving aside the reason I just got rid of it after only 4 months of ownership, I actually liked the car itself.

Big, comfy heated seats, really good kit level (could've done with parking sensors though), a smooth engine and torque sensing 4x4 with a diff lock (great in the snow we just had, took me straight past about 3 stranded cars one day) were all highlights, along with good grip and a very effective cruise control set up.

Criticisms -- Too much body roll, and a crap auto gearbox (responsible in part for terrible fuel economy I suspect), only 4 speed, and so eager to kick down a gear whenever you went anywhere near the loud pedal, that I usually locked it in top gear as soon as I could.

The other annoying thing was I bought 4 new Avon Ranger 85% on road, 15% off road tyres for it, and straight from when they were fitted, got a vibration through the car at around 50mph, and then steering wheel shake between 70-80mph, some days worse than others. It seemed totally tyre related, as it wasn't doing it when I bought it, and I think the problem was getting less the more miles I did on the tyres.

I got the wheels balanced about 4 times, but the problem never really went away, so, don't buy Avon Rangers.

I've now got a Fiat Panda diesel that does 60mpg, and costs me £30 a year road tax, rather than 22mpg on average, and over £400 a year road tax, not to mention insurance, service costs...