The best of both worlds?

The best of both worlds?

Can you remember the days when you didn’t have to charge a piece of electrical equipment? Depending on your age, the answer is probably no. At night, our house is ablaze with red, green, blue and orange lights signifying the state of charge of a whole raft of electrical gadgets.

I got my first mobile phone in the mid-90s and since then I’ve been hunting for spare electrical sockets to charge anything and everything. I can no longer clean my teeth if I haven’t got access to a 3-pin socket.

And don’t get me started on why manufacturers (Apple, we’re watching you) keep changing the plugs and cables.

Cars are going that way. USB-A sockets are disappearing. USB-C sockets are arriving in most new cars. You’ll need to buy an adaptor or, yup, another cable.

We’ve got until 2035 before we can’t buy anything other than an electrified new car. Consequently, wouldn’t it be a good idea if all new houses were built with some sort of charging facility. Mind you, rumours are rife that the kind of sockets we currently use will change. Yikes.

Anyway, for a lot of people, the idea of a 100 per cent battery powered car is something they’re not keen on - or not feasible. Well, how about a halfway house? Like this Kia Sportage PHEV.

What is a PHEV?

Just in case you don’t know PHEV stands for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle. In other words, you have a car with an engine and a battery. The battery charges both by itself, as in a typical hybrid, and via a plug.

Tax Benefits

And, unless the Chancellor decides to change the rules when the next Budget comes along, any form of electric car (fully electric or hybrid) makes it seriously attractive to company drivers due to reduced emissions and reduced BIK (Benefit In Kind).

Performance and Efficiency

In the case of the Kia Sportage PHEV, the 1.6-litre petrol engine is helped by a battery powered electric motor. Add the engine and motor together, and you end up with a healthy 260bhp. 0-60 can be achieved in a decently brisk 8.6 seconds. If you have access to a charger at work or have a charger at home and you can keep the battery topped up, then you can cover what Kia reckon is 43 miles without using juice in the engine. In other words, if your daily commute is a round journey of, say, 30 miles, you’ll be able to leave home, go to work, and return on battery power alone. Plug it in when you arrive and, bingo, it’ll be ready again for the next morning. You can select EV mode as well as Eco, Sport and Automatic where the car sorts out everything for you. 25g/km emissions make this a seriously interesting proposition if a Kia Sportage PHEV could be your company wheels. Your top speed is 112mph.

Long Journeys and Handling

On longer journeys, Kia reckons you can crack the 200mpg mark if you use the plug-in hybrid system to its full extent, but even if you can’t you should still get over 70mpg on a long journey without too many problems. The car switches seamlessly between battery and engine power. On the motorway, it’s a seriously relaxed, quiet cruiser and great for family trips.

The handling is precise and nicely controlled. All-wheel drive is standard in the PHEV version of the Sportage and you even get various terrain settings which means you can do some light off-roading. You’d never call the car sporty but to be honest the sort of person who buys this car will be more interested in comfort, economy and reliability. A 7 year warranty also comes as standard.

Comfort and Interior

Another plus is that the Sportage is its comfortable. There’s room for 5 adults and the boot is large enough to cope with a family holiday trip. Refinement is good because you do spend a fair amount of time without the engine running. Even when it does cut in, it’s seamless and only gets flustered if you floor the throttle but, to be fair, it quickly settles back to quiet running.

Trim and Features

In terms of trim, the Sportage PHEV enters the trim range with GT-Line which means it comes heavily loaded with stuff like leather upholstery, a reversing camera, LED headlights, DAB radio, sat nav, front and rear parking sensors, 19-inch alloys, and lumber support for the driver’s seat. It looks good too.

I’d recommend adding an extra grand to the purchase price and go for level 3 trim (£41,575) because this gets you a really smart and easy to use 12.3-inch central infotainment screen, plus wireless phone charging, smart cruise control and heating to seats and steering wheel.  

Future Prospects

Kia is a company to watch, especially when it comes to their fully electric models. The Niro, EV6 and EV9 are all excellent cars.

However when it comes to the best of both worlds - petrol power and battery driven motor - the Kia Sportage PHEV is one of the best. It’s well equipped, good to drive, should be really economical and makes sense as a company car. When it comes to real world motoring without range anxiety, the Sportage PHEV ticks a lot of boxes.

words: Graham Courtney
pictures: Kia