2026 Kia Sportage PHEV EX – A New Value Trim!
Again, I hope we have audio, and if we don’t, I trust you’ll let us know. Now, in today’s live stream car review, we’re going over everything you need to know about the 2026 refreshed Kia Sportage plug-in hybrid with the brand new EX trim level. So, EX is historically our most volume or value focused trim level. It’s going to offer a ton of creature comforts, and it’s not truly a base model, even though in the PHEV lineup, it is the entry trim. So, we’re going to do a full walk around of the exterior, talk powertrain, fuel efficiency, total specs, everything you need. And then we’ll hop on the inside, go over the comfort functions, and the overall layout of the vehicle. At the end of this video, I’ll take some time to answer your questions, and we’ll also have a bit of a discussion where we’ll talk about who does this vehicle make sense for, would you get this over the hybrid, and anything that you may ask as a question. Now, Adam’s going to take over on the camera. We’ll I’ll give you the MSRP right off the top. It is 46,295 Canadian and it’s about $4,900 more expensive than the regular hybrid variation of this trim. So, there is a price premium for sure to get a plug-in hybrid, but is it worth it? We’ll talk about it. Now, today’s vehicle is showcased in fusion black. This is our complimentary paint. However, it still has a beautiful metallic finish to it, so it’s not dull or boring and it complements the car beautifully. Your headlamps are finished with an amber daytime running light. So that would be surrounding the headlamp unit. And there is a lot of gloss black in the housing itself. So it almost gives that tinted like look without of course sacrificing visibility. Now for visibility, the main headlamp unit itself is a projector style lamp. So instead of a reflector style, this light beam will be more focused on where you need it most. So if you do a lot of rural driving in dark roads, you can see far and you can see clear without using your high beams. If you want to use your high beams though, we do have automatic or intelligent highbeam assist. Once it senses another car, it’ll shut off your high beams and turn them right back on when it’s safe to do so. No fog lamps on the EX trim level that is added on on the EX Premium, but we still have perfectly good visibility. And of course, those projector light projection lights are standard on the PHEV. Your grill is finished in a gloss black tone, so a very premium approach to the styling. And then right up at the top, we have a silver accent, too. Silver goes nicely with the brushed aluminum of your Kia emblem. And then we also have forward- facing parking sensors. So, if you are plugging this vehicle in in a garage, it allows you to get as close or as far away from wherever things you keep in your garage. It’ll give you a little bit of a visual map. And then, of course, the audible alert from the sensors. So, it’ll beep beep beep beep. But you’ll also see a green zone, a yellow zone, and a red zone with the red zone getting closer and closer, of course, to that obstacle. As far as safety functions go, you’ll notice more towards the passenger side, there is a rectangular radar plate. Now, that plate will be used for your highway driving assist as well as your smart cruise control. So radar based cruise control essentially will use that function as well as your vehicle’s camera in the windshield to watch what’s happening on the road ahead of you and keep you always at a safe distance from the cart in front. There’s four preset options, so one car length, two car lengths, three, four that you can select as a driver, and of course, you’ll set your speed, too. The car does the rest, though. So if you hit stop and go traffic, your car will stop and then go in the traffic. Highway driving assist is a very similar function, except it incorporates highway data, so it knows speed limit changes. if there’s bends in the road and it’s just a little bit more intuitive. It’s a bit of a smarter version of smart cruise control and you have both on the entry trim. I want to talk about the windshield next and then we’ll pop the hood and talk powertrain. There’s a lot going on on this windshield. May not look like it, but it is rain sensing. So, rain sensing wipers that it is. But the sensor itself is placed within the windshield right next to the camera that monitors the lanes ahead of you. So once it detects a little bit of moisture, it’ll trigger the sensors and your wipers will start moving, of course, with the intensity that you’ve set. It’s also an acoustic laminated windshield, so that kind of deflects road and wind noise, giving you an overall quieter cabin. Because, of course, this is a plug-in hybrid vehicle, it’ll spend a good amount of time in EV mode, provided you charge it. So, there’s already going to be a lot less vehicle or engine noise coming into the cabin. So, it’s an overall very quiet ride. Another mention of the windshield, and I can’t exactly show you this, but it is heated. So, there are small burners running throughout the glass that’ll melt snow and ice off your car. A lot of people are familiar with this on their rear window, but now we have it on the rear and the front. So, a whole lot less scraping on this vehicle, and that is a standard function in the plug-in hybrid. I’m going to pop the hood next so we can talk powertrain. Now, all models of the PHEV, they share the same engine displacement as the hybrid. So, it’s a 1.6 6 L turbocharged 4-cylinder. This engine uses gasoline direct injection as its fuel delivery system. And that is not a bad thing because GTI is fantastic under heavy or high load driving. And at lower load, a lot of the time this vehicle will be in EV mode. So you don’t have to worry about the carbon buildup issues that a lot of people kind of associate GTI with. Our horsepower and torque output is 268 horse with 271 pound- feet of torque. And what makes a plug-in hybrid very different than a regular hybrid is the fact that we have a larger capacity battery. So the battery in this vehicle, and I’m not talking about the 12vt that powers your lights and accessories, is 13.8 kwatt hours. It’s a lithium ion battery. Lithium ion. I can’t even try saying it again. It’s a larger battery than what we’ll see in a regular hybrid. and we can charge it. Now, we charge it by plugging it in. And I’ll talk about the charge times and what you need for charging later on once we get over there. But with this powertrain, of course, you’ll also get 53 km of all electric range. So, if you have a commute that is under 53 km, hypothetically, if you plugged your vehicle in, you could do all of that on electric. Now, if you’re very heavy on the throttle, every once in a while, it’ll kick over the gas engine. or if you’re in the extreme cold and you’re turning on the heat full blast, it’ll need to supply a little bit of power from the engine, but overall it’ll be more efficient than a regular hybrid and certainly more efficient than a regular gasportage. Our total combined fuel efficiency for regular hybrid mode is about 6.6 L per 100 km. That is what it’s rated at. But of course, real world situations will vary. How do you drive? How often are you charging it? Of course, and of what’s the temperature like where you drive? what are your, you know, climate control needs, that kind of thing. But overall, the output is fantastic. The electric motor alone produces 98 horsepower. And the torque is very, very punchy. Overall, you will get a little bit more of a powerful driving experience with the plug-in hybrid over the regular hybrid. And if you’re comparing a regular gas to a plug-in hybrid, the difference is insane. It is truly night and day. There’s a very, very big performance difference. Now, as far as styling goes for wheels, we have a 19-in alloy. And this design is actually shared across all three trim levels of the plug-in hybrid. So, whether you’re getting the entry EX or the top of the line, you’re getting this wheel design, and it’s a good one. She she looks really good. It’s machine finish, so we have these bright contrasts and then a ton of gloss black along your main spoke. And then your center cap is completely covered, too, so you don’t see your lugs. Your front brakes are going to be quite large, and they’re also ventilated discs. And then in the rear, we have solid disc brakes. All models of the Sportage Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid come with all-wheel drive standard. However, it does have a front-wheel drive bias. So, if you’re driving on, you know, a regular dry road, nice sunny day, no inclement weather, it’s largely front-wheel drive, and that’ll give you fantastic fuel efficiency. However, if you turn onto a gravel road, start snowing, you lose a little bit of traction, the vehicle has computers and sensors that will automatically redistribute torque to where you need it. So, it’ll move it between the front and the rear, sometimes even a full 50/50 split if necessary. You also have the option as a driver to select between snow, mud, and sand mode, which are all predetermined measures of a torque split to give you optimal traction in those conditions. Now, for more design surrounding your wheel, your arches are finished in a matte black finish. So overall, if you are planning on keeping this vehicle for a long time, this is actually a huge win because if you think about it, your wheels are going to kick up road debris, whether that be salt, sand, could be anything. If this was painted black, you’ll notice those scratches a heck of a lot easier. So this looks better in the long run for sure. Your mirrors, regular body color, turn signal indicator, and then we do have blind spot detection on the reflective portion. There are are also heated and power controlled, but not power folding on this trim. One thing I do really appreciate and I recently have back in my life is the addition of proximity entry. So, this is such a small feature that so many people overlook, but it is so nice to have. As long as the key is somewhere on you, could be in your pocket or in your bag, you walk up to either the driver or passenger door, press this button here, it unlocks the car for you, and then when you’re done driving, press on that to lock it. So you’re not digging for that key every time you need to access your vehicle. Lifesaver. No one talks about it, but it’s so so nice to have. The belt line of the vehicle is finished in satin chrome, expands all the way towards our front, and it perfectly matches our roof rails, so you can utilize rooftop storage with this vehicle if you would like to. On the topic of the roof, let’s talk about the bottom of the car. You know, that’s always natural. The minimum ground clearance of the Sportage PHV is 210 mm, which roughly translates to about 8 and a/4 in. I think it’s 8.24 in. So, it’s 8 and 1/4 in. Now, let’s work our way over towards the charger where we can talk about charge times. So, with plug-in hybrid vehicles, they are not capable of DC fast charging like EVs. So, with EVs, you might hear, “Oh, it can go from 10 to 80% in, you know, 20 minutes.” That’s not the case here, but it can go to a full charge in about 2 and 1/2 hours, depending on the output, of course, of your level two charger. But with a typical 240 volt, that’s what we’re looking at for charge times. If you’re plugging this in at home and you don’t want to install a level two charger, you’re in luck because let me tell you everything you need. That little outlet over there, a little threeprong, what 120 volt outlet, that’s all that’s really necessary to plug in this vehicle and make a PHV worth it for you. If your garage has access to a plug, 15 amp circuit, the car already comes with a charger. So, with your vehicle purchase, you’ll have the cable. If you got the outlet at home or in your garage, you’re all good. That’s going to be a little bit longer. Usually about 9 to 10 hours is what we like to quote. But, let’s say you get home from work around 6:00 p.m. and you leave again the next day at 9:00. You got time, you guys. You definitely have time. And that is where you get your electric range from. From plugging in and charging your vehicle that is feeding the high voltage battery. That high voltage battery will power your vehicle and give you actual electric driving range. Where a regular hybrid will give you assistance with your gas engine. So instead of the gas engine doing all the work or an electric motor or battery doing all the work, they work together to alleviate some of the fuel consumption. This vehicle still does that, but only when the electric range is depleted. So, at the end of the day, if you’re not plugging in your car or you run out of electric range, you are not stranded because you still put gas in this vehicle and it’ll still be more efficient than a regular gas car because at the end, it’s a hybrid. If you’re not plugging it in, it’s just a hybrid. If you’re plugging it in, it’s a plug-in hybrid. Does that summarize it? Adam’s like, “No, I’m more confused now.” All right. Behind our rear seats, we have about 977 L of cargo space. So, a very, very spacious cabin. Mind you, the plug-in hybrid technically has a little bit less cargo area than the regular hybrid because our battery pack is stored here, but it’s not quite noticeable at all. Underneath the floorboard, however, here’s where the changes are. So, if it’s a brand new car, you will have your level one charger here, and then also your tire inflator kit. So, this car will have what’s called a mobility kit. And instead of having a donut or a spare, it’s an inflator with a sealant. So if you pick up a nail and you’re starting to lose pressure, it essentially plugs it until you can get it replaced. So if you have a full blowout, unfortunately there is no spare, but you do have roadside assistance complimentary for 5 years. The left and right hand sides of our sidewall are where you’ll find latches to pull down your rear seats. They’ll fold in a 60/40 split. So I’ve gone ahead and knocked down the 40 side. You can lock it into place so it sits flatter. As you can see, we have tethers along all three of our rear seats. Now, I’m going to close our lift gate here. It is manual on this trim level. That’s okay. Very easy to lift, very easy to close. Your tail lights are a mix of LEDs and regular bulbs with our high-mounted stop lamp being a full LED. Behind our highmounted stop lamp or underneath it, we have our rear wiper. This is so so handy because it actually prevents snow and ice from building up on it. So if you’re parking your car outside at work, maybe you’re even charging at work. Lucky you. Just like my mom over there. Like she’s stealing the company’s electricity. I’m about to do it, too. Anyway, um if that’s you, again, one less thing you have to pick snow and ice off. This is going to be heated, of course, or your rear window. And then we also have the front window on the Sportage. PH badging on the right hand side. And much like what we saw at the front of the vehicle, we’ll have rear parking sensors along our back bumper. And then this rectangular bar here is actually our reverse light. Underneath there’s a little bit of that satin chrome finish like what we saw up at the front. So design is cohesive throughout the car. What we see on the front mimics what we see on the back and everything just flows nicely. I’m trying to think if I missed anything as far as exterior specs and I don’t think I talked about the transmission. So, we have a six-speed automatic transmission, and it does have paddle shifters. Now, the paddle shifters on this vehicle serve two purposes. If you’re in sport mode, they’ll allow you to upshift or downshift. So, if you’d like to go up a gear, go down a gear, that’s on you. You can use them. However, if you’re in eco mode, it’ll actually change the amount of regenerative braking or the intensity of the regen braking. There’s multiple different levels to choose from. You can have it off, level one, level two, level three, or even the auto function, which essentially will watch for traffic ahead of you as well as road slope and determine what the best intensity of the regen is. The car does the work for you. So, it is a very smart vehicle. And then, of course, with regenerative braking, essentially it is going to change the function of your electric motor. So instead of propelling you forwards, it changes what it does and places that kinetic energy from the resistance of slowing down into your battery pack. So that is energy that you can later on use to propell your vehicle. It uh it’s the gift that keeps on giving. While it does that, it also minimizes the use of your friction brakes. So you know your mechanical brakes, you typically get brake service on your car. Well, you don’t use that if you’re using region braking quite often and if you’re using it at a high intensity. It’s why I recommend if you drive an EV, PHV, or even hybrid to give your vehicle a good brake mash, like a proper stomp on the brakes every once in a while to get some of that rust off the surface. All right, Adam will take a pan of the inside before I hop in. Also mention the fuel tank size. It’s a 42 L tank, so a much smaller fuel tank than what we’ll see on the regular hybrid or even the gas model. The interior is finished with a leatherrett. Both front seats will be heated and we also have a heated leather wrapped steering wheel for the driver aka the most important seat in the house. It is powered. So between the height of the seat, the angle as well as the back rest and the two-way lumbar supports, you can find a perfect the comfortable spot for you. Don’t know why there was such a big break between perfect and comfortable, but hey, it’s live. And then as far as convenience functions go, we have a six speakeraker audio system. It’s just our standard in-house. Sounds crystal clear to me. I’m not a big audio geek, but if you guys are Sportage, PHV, or even HV owners, let me know what you think about it. If you are a music person, I am a music person, but I don’t know much about audio systems. Anyway, back to the door card. This insert here is almost in a carbon fiberesque finish. It’s just a metal tone. I think it looks quite nice and it’s a dark dark metal so a little bit more forgiving as far as fingerprints go and dust. The dorp handles however are a bit more silver and then there’s only a little bit of gloss black and where the gloss black is isn’t in a very hightouch area cuz of course you’re reaching over here. That’s a big win. Now for our comfort controls we have or convenience controls our mirror adjustments are here. So between left and right are directional controls between left and right mirrors and then door locks and window controls. All of your windows are of course powered with the front two being express windows. So that means one quick press up or down and the V window will will do that. So it won’t stop unless you hit it again. There’s a bottle holder along the bottom of the door card. And then by my driver knee, we’ll have quick adjustment for the brightness of our screens, our traction control, as well as our fuel door release, and then our electronic parking brake. Your vents are finished with that same silver material we see on our door handle. And then our upper dash area here, or I guess mid dash, is that same striped almost gunmetal finish that we saw earlier on on the door cart itself. So realistically, when the doors are closed and you know you’re driving your vehicle, everything just flows nicely. Going to take the camera from Adam while I show you guys what we’re looking at as far as dash or gauge cluster. So this technically isn’t a fully digital gauge cluster, although it certainly does look like one. You always have your speedometer and your tachometer displayed. And then in the very center is where you can change what you would like to view. So, by pressing this notepad button here, I can cycle between our different options. This one over here will show you your projected range on the vehicle. So, we do not have a full tank of fuel, neither a full charge. So, it’s not quite impressive right now. I can also go ahead and see my navigation. If I had a route set, it would show me my turn by turn. This menu here shows our lane safety. And then last but not least, this one here shows your all-wheel drive torque distribution, your tire pressure, and then you can also view engine temp. So, whatever you like to view while driving, you can configure it nice and easy with the steering wheel. So, no menus involved. The left will give you your Trying to get it to focus. This button over here will allow you to turn on or off your smart cruise control, which automatically translates to highway driving assist if you’re on the highway. You’ll then set your speed with the plus and the minus, and then set your following distance with the bottom left icon here. Each time you press the bottom left button, it’ll cycle between the next available distance and you will get an icon on your dash. I can’t replicate it now because of course we can’t turn on cruise control while parked inside, but it’ll clearly demonstrate just how close you’ve selected. To the right, we have our steering assistance. So, this vehicle’s got quite a few advanced safety functions, and one of which is this button here. It’s going to utilize the camera that’s located in this big black box. So, within your windshield, that camera watches what’s happening on the road ahead of you as far as pedestrians go, traffic goes, even cyclists to give you collision avoidance. But it’ll also watch those lanes to see where your vehicle is at in relation to the road ahead of you. So, if it notices that there’s a bend upcoming on the road, it’ll give slight steering force to keep you centered throughout that bend. It’ll also see if you’re changing lanes without signaling. And when you do that, it will be bet you and it will give some gentle steering correction. However, at the end of the day, if there was something on the road that I had to avoid as a driver, let’s say a garbage can blew over. If I were to give steering force to avoid something, it still listens to me. So, all of this is just a gentle correction that can be overridden, of course, by the driver. It can also all be turned off. So, if you’re not a fan of it, it is not permanent. You can quickly shut it off with this button. All righty. Now, over here, we have our drive mode select. You can cycle between eco sport and a customizable my drive. And then on the right side, we have our terrain mode. So by pressing that, I can cycle between snow, mud, and sand. Also on the right hand side, this top right button will be our voice commands. So if your phone’s paired via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, this could instead be your Siri or your Google Assistant. But if I were to turn it on right now, turn on heated seat. Sorry, maybe I should have said driver heated seat. Anyway, we could also have our so sorry. Stop it, girl. We also have our volume controls here, our phone, and then a programmable favorites button. Up on mode, we can change between media, whether that be AM, FM, Sirius XM, you name it. Whatever you’d select, that button can be the shortcut to flip in between. And actually, the first time you press it, it takes you to select menu that lets you pick what it chooses. All right, now that we’ve impeccably segueed towards our center screen, this is a 12.3 in touchscreen with integrated navigation. You also have Sirius XM access and a dedicated PHEV menu. This will show your charging history as well as your current battery status. And if you were actively driving, this map is live and shows you where power is flowing to or from. So, if I was actively driving and I was using EV range, the battery or the power would flow from my battery to my electric motor and then of course to my wheels. If I was using primarily hybrid mode, which uses both battery of course and engine, you would see it flow both ways towards the wheels. So, it’s quite cool and especially if this is your first plug-in hybrid, it helps you learn a lot about how it’s really operating. Or you can watch the Kia Hyundai channel. Under our setup menu, here’s where you can go and change things, of course, regarding your safety settings. If you think something’s a bit too sensitive or a bit too noisy, you can change the alerts, set the volume, and also, of course, turn things off. So, back to what I said about our um uh lane safety. If I want to turn that off, it’s just a push of a button. Now, for bigger things like forward collision avoidance, you can shut that off using these toggles. I do, however, recommend leaving that on. Up above we have our home link mirror. So this is auto dimming with integrated home link controls. So if you have a garage door, you can save it into your rearview mirror. And then up above we have our lamps. Just press them individually to turn one on or you have your light settings and then our roadside assistance button and our SOS button. As far as the rest of the center area, we have a lot of not gloss black. So, in the previous genage, all of this was that shiny black material that shows every single fingerprint and every single scratch. That is not the case anymore. Thank goodness. Your gear shift is still a shift by wire. So, as long as your foot’s on the brake, you’ll tip it over to drive, tip it to the left for reverse, and pee in the center for park. And below that, we have some quick functions like our downhill braking assist, our auto hold braking, as well as our parking camera and our parking sensors. Essentially, if you don’t like the sensors, they’re too noisy or too annoying, you can press that to shut them off. This middle button here is exclusive to the plug-in hybrid, and this allows you to choose between automatic mode, electric mode, or hybrid mode. Now, hybrid mode will prioritize power from the gas engine with, of course, the assistance from your battery and your electric motors. So, it’s a blend, a true hybrid. Now, this is handy if you’re doing a lot of highway driving, places where maybe that electric range isn’t as efficient and maybe you want to save it for later on when you’re stop and go in the city. Automatic mode lets the car decide. So, based off whatever kind of driving you’re doing, the vehicle will switch in between both other modes. And then electric mode is exactly as it says. So, if you want to use your full 53 km of all electric range, put it in electric mode and it is going to prioritize power from its EV range. Now, if I were to absolutely slam on the gas and I’ve also got my heat cranked up, the engine’s going to turn over. Absolutely. The car needs to do that. And also, when the engine does turn over, it might run for a minute or two. It’s got to complete a full cycle. It can’t just stop at any point. You know what I mean? That’s not healthy for the vehicle. And this car is smart enough to sense when things need to run properly or run fully. So, that is one of the common questions we get with our PHBs. Why is the engine still on? I just put it in AV mode. It’s got to complete a full cycle, you guys. It’s got to get oil up to temp. It’s got to get itself up to temp. All right, back to what we have here, though. Heated seat controls and our heated steering wheel. Two different levels for the steering wheel, three different levels for the heat. And then hidden behind our sliding tray, we have two USBC’s and a wireless phone charger, too. Your climate controls are all done on this main panel here. But when it’s not in climate mode, it’s infotainment. So, you can jump into your home menu, your map, search, whatever you want. It’s all available here. Not a true button, but it is a screen style button. You can flip it, however, and everything becomes climate. So, I can set my driver temp, put it as driver only. And if I had a passenger and they wanted some climate control, they can have their own separate function. So, it is dual zone. Sync it up. This is your heated windshield button. And everything else is pretty straightforward. This is the directional controls of the airflow. Your fan speed, so larger fan to increase, smaller fan to decrease. Then to turn it all off, he’ll press this down like a button, a power button. All righty. Let’s take a look at the back. Before Adam gets into the back though, I want him to show what our seat controls are for the passenger. Now, it is a manual passenger seat. So, you have this lever over here to adjust the back rest. And then to bring it closer or further from the dash, there is the bar in between. So, there we go. Thank you, Adam. really easy to do when you’re sitting in the seat. Um, so easy to slide up, easy to recline, and there’s a lot of movement between the seat too. So, even if it was in its first position, which is relatively far back, when I go and demonstrate leg room, you’ll see there’s a lot of space back there. So, let’s do it. All right, I’m going to move my seat back up and we’ll hop in. All right, so our two main seats, they’re quite wide, so they’re adult friendly. They’re car seat friendly, too. If you’re sitting in the middle, it’s not a bad seat either. I mean, the hump in the very center is not too high to the point where your feet are extremely elevated and you’re hunched in on yourself, so you can relax in any seat in the house. You do have a very good amount of leg room, and I’ll move over to the right side or the passenger side in just a second, but let’s get the amenities out of the way first. So, both driver and passenger rear seats have a leather pocket. You’ve got this little hook here that is perfect for wrapping charging cords around, especially considering right to the side we have USBC chargers. So, USBC chargers are slightly faster. Also, most phones are kind of going towards them. So, plug your phone in or plug in your cord, wrap the cord around here, and drop your charged phone in the leather pockets. Very convenient. They thought about this. Now, another thing they thought about is incorporating the seat design to be a little bit more handy. So, you could always buy those aftermarket clips from Amazon that rattle around when you make a turn, or you can have a built-in clip to the headrest. This is great for your groceries, great for your bags, great for jackets that may not be worn while driving. Just hang it all up so it’s not sitting by your passengers or your rear passengers feet, and you free up a lot of more space. If no one’s sitting in the middle, you can drop down center armrest that has cup holders. And then you have your car seat anchors along the bottom for both our main seats. There are air vents right on the back of our center console. Adam, if you don’t mind grabbing the lights, we love motion sensor lights, you guys. All right, we have our air vents right on the back of the center console and just below a small storage pocket. Okie dokie. Now, I’m going to sit in the passenger side seat, and then I’m going to grab the camera and answer you guys’ questions live. All right, so I am seated back here. The seat is in its more reclined state, so I can put it upright. That’s got some recoil. There we go. If I’d like. And headroom wise, we have it’s more than a Gabby hand, and I got long hands. So, lots of space there. I mean, my knees are nowhere near touching the backing of the seat. I am wearing heels, so that’s kind of awkward, but I can put my feet underneath the seat as well, too. So, good amount of space regardless of where you’re sitting in the rear. If I were to sit in the very middle, like I mentioned earlier, my feet are not too elevated. Maybe because I’m wearing heels, but if I were in regular shoes or barefoot, which I’m not doing on camera, lots more space. All right, I’m going to grab the camera from Adam and answer some of y’all’s questions. See what you guys have to say. Um, I know that was kind of funny, me getting by the seat. Um, there goes that chiropractic adjustment for the day. Really? Yes. Um, how does it balance electric only range with overall fuel efficiency in real world driving? Trying to like really understand that question. Sorry guys, I got to find it. How does it balance electric only range with overall fuel efficiency in real world driving? Like how is it calculated? Is that what you’re looking at? So when you and right now I’m driving a PHB. I’ve only driven it home once now. It calculates my total drive. So when I look at my trip computer, it gives me my average efficiency and I rated about 1.3 or 1.4 last night and that was about a 47 km drive home on a full charge. So during my drive, I have a little bit of a heavy foot and it did kick over the engine a few times. So that’s why it’s a, you know, a little bit higher. But depending on what kind of commuting you’re doing, it will blend both variables together. So, one thing I want to point out with the plug-in hybrid, it is more expensive than a regular hybrid vehicle. It’s about $4,900 more expensive. That is that’s if you’re comparing Sportage EX hybrid to Sportage EX plug-in hybrid. Same equipment between the two vehicles, other than the powertrain, of course. So, if you’re not plugging in your plug-in hybrid every single day, essentially, you have a heavier hybrid. So, because the vehicle is more heavy, it is going to be slightly less efficient in regular hybrid mode. So, you’ve got to plug it in to really get the value out of this car. And even then, it’s going to really depend on your lifestyle. If you are commuting every single day within range of your electric charge or your electric driving range, then it could be worth it. But if you’re not really, you’re better off getting the hybrid. Um, we got a comment, I believe yesterday, about why would someone ever get a PHV when they can get the HV. And it’s kind of the same thing as why would someone ever get the EV if they can get a gas version of a similar sized car that’s way, way cheaper. And the reason is people are always going to want what they want. Of course, I know for me, a plug-in hybrid, especially if you’re smart about it and plugging it in every single day, like I have the opportunity of doing at work and at home, I can go a very long time without getting gas for my vehicle. My customer earlier today has a Nero PHV and did 2900 km not getting gas. So even though his vehicle was rated for 55 kilometers, he with charging every day and of course short commutes just running errands around town, not doing you know too too much long range driving or high speed driving. He really really extended it. So, I don’t recommend extending it too long and letting gas sit in your tank and get old, but it is kind of a fun game to play seeing how far you can get without using a full tank of fuel. And you can really stretch it. So, it really comes down to your lifestyle. That’s why it’s so important to do research while you are shopping for a vehicle. Why spend the extra $4,900 if you’re not going to reap the benefits of it? However, if you are going to get the benefits, then it might be worth it. But it’s not like that fuel saving or is just going to even itself out after a few months. It’s going to be a process. If you’re not planning on keeping your car for a long time, then it may not be worth it for you. Um, being you now have experience with this car, how comfortable are they on really long drives like 400 km or the highest trim have different seats or does the highest trim have different seats? So, I have I haven’t done a long-term test drive with the Sportage Plug-in Hybrid. However, I have done many long-term test drives with my mother’s Sarrento plug-in hybrid. She has the EX Plus trim level, which no longer exists, but it’ll be kind of right smack dab in the middle. And um that has synthetic leatherrett seats, so very slimmer, similar to what we see in this vehicle here. I will say I find these seats to be quite comfortable. They are a very supple leather. It feels buttery soft. It’s smooth. And the car itself is a very peaceful car to drive. It’s not very noisy. There’s a lot of sound editing, but there’s also not a giant engine in it. When you spend a good amount of time in EV mode, so as far as road noise goes, wind noise and vehicle noise, it’s pretty quiet. Um, I’ve driven to Maine with that vehicle. I’ve driven to oh my gosh, what Deep River, so that is almost 5 hours away. It’s um kind of by Al Gangquin. Done many, many road trips in that car. And it is a sweet car to do a road trip in. I’ll tell you that. You can also sleep in it. There’s enough space. Um, how does the updated 2026 EX’s trim fun bumper refresh impact the vehicle’s approach angle? Oh, now it disappeared. Approach angle compared to the previous model, and is the EX model’s ground clearance visibly different from the higher trims? No. So, they’re all rated about the same ground clearance. Um, there’s nothing really too crazy as far as approach and departure angles go. The vehicle is still the same size as last year. So, prior to the refresh, we’re really the same size. The only differences really are the technology and the design layout. So, we have a very different look to our headlamps and our grill, but vehicle I mean nose to nose or sorry, nose to toes or back end is it’s still the same size car. Um, yes, they say with the key to plug-in hybrids is to keep in the habit of plugging them in. I think I know me with winter plugging in people get lazy. So, I thought I would be lazy with it. Um, there was a time my mom was on a cruise, my my parents, I guess, for their anniversary, and I took their car. I said, “You know what? I’m taking this home with me.” So, I took her STO PHV, dropped it off at the airport, and I decided I’m going to be a PHV driver for the next few weeks. I remember to plug it in every single day. When you guys spend $200 a week on gas like me, you you learn how to do everything you can to not spend a lot of money on gas. Not that I would have been spending a ton with that car if I wasn’t plugging it in, but um I just I knew I could get to work with fuel full EV, so why not plug it in, right? So, it was that was a really great time in my life and now I get to relive it with the Tucson. Uh are there any special discounts for Thanksgiving? None on the Sportage PHV as of right now, but I mean, you can always come in and try your luck for yourself. Towing capacity 2,000 pounds. So, same towing capacity as a regular hybrid. Um, I’m just trying to see if there’s Do you pick this for a single person? So, I consider myself a single person being as I don’t have any pets. I don’t have any kids. I do have a partner, but I don’t really need a familyized vehicle. Space or cargo space is not one of my main concerns when buying a vehicle and much prefer performance, but also efficiency. And that’s where a vehicle like this I think really does make sense. If I were shopping for me personally, I would probably go with the Nero just as it is is smaller, more affordable, and also more efficient because it’s smaller and non-allwheel drive. However, if you do have, you know, things like hobbies that require a good amount of vehicle space, or if you have children, pets, something like the Sportage or even the STO plug-in hybrid could be a great option. But the Nero is definitely the most sensible pick for me because I really don’t need a vehicle this large. And I don’t know if I would want to pay for a vehicle this large if I’m not really reaping all the benefits of it. As far as fuel efficiency goes and what we get in this car, it’s fantastic. Just for me personally, it doesn’t make sense with my life. Should I go with the Mazda or a Nero? Well, if it’s a Mazda B4000, I’d say Mazda. Um, I would say Nero for sure. I’m not too familiar with Mazda’s current lineup, but I do know they they have great handling, great responsiveness, and sportiness with their vehicles, but I think as far as technology and efficiency go, the Nero is probably the best bet. Um, Ryan answered MG. I don’t know where MG’s question was, but Ryan responded, “It all depends on when you can charge at home or if you can find free charge points.” Absolutely. So, I know for me, charging at work is free, so bonus. and then charging at home is convenient and available to me. I can also park the vehicle in a garage so I’m not really heating it up in the morning or anything like that. So, it’s just a little bit more convenient and makes a lot of sense. I will also point out I don’t know if I hit on this too much while I was outside of the vehicle, but at the end of the day, I know 53 km of range doesn’t sound like too much. So, a lot of people will hear that and think, well, what if I’m going on a road trip? Well, after those 53 km of electric range, you still have a hybrid vehicle. you still have a 42 L fuel tank, you’re not going to be left stranded, unless you don’t put gas in your car either. If that’s the case, I mean, I don’t know if any car would suit you, whether it’s EV or gas. You got to put some sort of fuel in it. So, let’s say if I were leaving on a road trip tomorrow in the Tucson, I would probably plug it in overnight and then depending on where I’m going, if it would make sense for me to use my electric range right away or even just put my vehicle in automatic mode to let it decide and then I would then head up on my way. What would be the Hyundai equivalent? The Tucson, which we actually filmed yesterday, if you’re curious. Now, one thing with the Tucson versus the Sportage is I mean performance-wise, they’re largely the same. Space-wise, they’re also largely the same. design is going to be very different and trim availability will be very different. Now, for Kia, we have three different trim levels of the Sportage Plug-in Hybrid. For Hyundai, they only have one trim level of the Sport of the Tucson hybrid plug-in hybrid. Oh my goodness, you guys. I got to go home. There’s only one trim level of PHEV for the Tucson, and that is the Ultimate, which also happens to be the top-of-the-line model. So that is of course going to be not exactly cost effective in comparison to this particular EX here. So there’s a bit more choices when you look at the Kia side of things, but you might want a fully loaded PHV and then the Tucson might be the perfect option for you. All right, you guys. I think I’m going to end off today’s video. Thank you so much for watching. Now, if you have any other questions that we didn’t get to throughout the live stream, please leave it as a regular YouTube comment because I check them every single day. Other than that though, take care and we will see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.
Kia’s flagship Sportage in its PHEV version gives you the best of both gas and electric! Join Gabi for a live demonstration of this SUV in its EX trim. What do you think of the PHEV Sportage? Let us know in the comments!
Quick specs: 2026 Sportage PHEV EX
• MSRP: $46,295• Colour: Fusion Black
• Engine: 1.6L Turbo 4 cylinder
• Transmission: 6-speed automatic transmission
• Horsepower: 268hp | Torque: 271lb-ft
• Drive type: All-Wheel Drive (AWD)
Ex trim add-ons:
• 19″ alloy wheels• Leather seats (synthetic)
• LED exterior lights
• Heated windshield
• Lane keep and follow assist
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