Well here it is!!
After 1,500km, here are some of my intial pros/cons.
Pros
- Very quiet at high speed, probably even a little better than the Jetta was.
- Turning radius is excellent (identical to Jetta)
- Engine extremely quiet once you're up at speed... from what I can remember, it does only 2800rpm at 130kph.
- Direction is precise and quick.
- Handling is great! I would even say that it has less body-roll in corners than the Jetta had! It definitely is the best handling vehicle I have ever owned, not that this is saying much considering I only owned an old Passat, older CR-V, and non-sport versions of the Golf and Jetta... but still, I'm VERY impressed by the handling characteristics of the Sportage.
- Love the seats! Very comfortable, leg support is impreccable, and side boulsters on the backrest are just big enough to support you when cornering, but you do not feel 'sucked in'. And there is almost no side-boulstering on the seat itself, so that is perfect. The seats are not as hard as the ones in the Jetta, but side-boulstering is definitely a lot better. This contributes a lot to the feeling of better handling, you're not sliding everywhere when cornering.
Cons
- Dash plastic is VERY easy to scratch. I forgot to take a picture, but there are already a few scratches around the ignition switch...
- The suspension is very noisy... you hear it 'work'...
- Slight hesitation when transmission goes from 1st to 2nd.
- Geared very conservatively... it is geared so low that it has no power at all when in 4th gear... as soon as you press the accelerator, it has to downshift in 3rd or even 2nd to have enough power to pass someone. This vehicle really would have benefitted greatly from a 5-speed transmission.
- Initial fuel consumption is slightly disapointing, averaging 14.2L/100km over the first 2 tanks, with about 85% of the driving done in city. Hopefully, the average will drop closer to 12.5 or 13 once it is fully broken in.
And now, to the pictures!
