The best Sportage to buy? // 2026 Kia Sportage PHEV Review
We’ve got the updated Kia Sportage plug-in hybrid or Sportage if you like. PHEV. There we go. The gas engine didn’t come on there. There it is. But that’s typical of a plug-in hybrid when you need that extra power. And also the Kia and Hyundai plug-in hybrids, the gas engine comes on more in the winter because you need to create cabin heat. We’re going to get into all of that. And right now, what is under the hood of this? A 1.6 6 L turbocharged 4 cylinder. It has a 13.8 kWh battery with 53 km, 34 mi of range. It’s matched to a six-speed automatic transmission and gets a combined 268 horsepower and 271 pound- feet of torque, standard all-wheel drive. It’s been a few years actually since we’ve driven the plug-in version of this. So, let’s dive in. This has been updated. What are the key standard features? The base trim comes with a 4.2 in multi-information display, a 12.3 in touchscreen with navigation, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless charger, six speakeraker audio system, leatherrett upholstery, heated front seats, 10-way power driver seat with two-way lumbar support, four-way manual passenger seat, a heated steering wheel, and a manual liftgate. In the US, a heated steering wheel is not standard. So recently we drove the regular hybrid version and it has been redone for 2026 with a new look on the front and the back. I think those are nice updates. What else is new for 2026? Yeah, tweaks to the interior exterior. You get an extra 7 horsepower with this plug-in hybrid and more standard features including driver assist technology. Yeah, we just went through that big long list. Uh what hasn’t changed is the size of this which is fantastic. It’s definitely one of the biggest in the compact class and is a very welldesigned compact SUV. The hybrid and this plug-in have the same powertrain for the most part. You’ve got a turbo 4-cylinder and you’ve got a conventional automatic transmission. Where it differs is in the size of the battery. I think with a plug-in hybrid, if you’re going to charge it all the time and you do do those shorter trips, you can really save a lot of money on fuel. But of course, driving it in hybrid mode, obviously you’re going to get good fuel economy versus a gas model. What I like about the Sportage is that it’s refined. It’s comfortable. It’s easy to drive. The steering is light. I have to say, this steering wheel with the flat bottom and top is quite satisfying to use on a vehicle this size. I got to riddle me this, Andrea. What’s a Sportage? A Sportage. In the US, it’s Sportage. In Canada, it’s the Sportage. I do find the vest, the virtual engine sound to be a little bit louder on this model. Never heard a vest in my life. I have heard, however, the sound that EVs and hybrids make when they drive by. Uh, you can hear a Toyota coming. You know it’s a Toyota. You know the sound. And this one is kind of loud, but in the in the car, you don’t hear it that much. To me, more so than the hybrid. Andrea, what do we have to put it in? You got to put it in. Ask for subscribe. And if you can hit that notification bell, you’ll be notified when all of our reviews drop and then you can watch them. And we do this the cup carvey twice a week. The first one drops on Wednesday. We put another one out on Saturday. Do you know that most of the people that watch our videos are not subscribed? So if you’ve been lurking and watching, but you haven’t subscribed, don’t lurk. Subscribe. And it helps a lot. Okay, so now we’re at higher speeds. Let’s see what this thing does. Here we go. It woke up the gas engine pretty quickly, actually. Yeah, it did. The transition’s pretty good, actually, which is tough to do with a plug-in hybrid. Sometimes there’s quite a delay and then everything lights up together. So, this is very well done. Just keep in mind, just keep in mind that there is no heat pump on this. So, if you live in a cold climate, the gasoline engine in the colder months will come on a lot more often just to create cabin heat. So, keep that in mind. So, one of the updates, we mentioned it earlier for 2026 is the new front and rear to this. It’s got a more blocky light pattern on the front that is similar to the Sarrento. And I think it’s a big up from uh the last model of Sportage. Me, too. It shares the same design philosophy as the Sarrento and the current Talia ride. So, I think that they’ve done a really good job. It’s bold. I like the broader shoulders. I wasn’t a huge fan of the previous model front end. So, I’m really enjoying this and I’ve seen a few on the road and they they really catch my eye. That’s the one thing about Kia is um if something’s not working or maybe some people don’t like it, they switch it. They just they’re not married to something. They move on. They just want to make it better. This plug-in hybrid has 8.3 in of ground clearance and comes standard with LED projection headlamps, LED combination tail lamps, roof rails, bodycoled door handles, a heated windshield, 19-in wheels, and a tire repair kit. Available features include power folding exterior mirrors, LED cube projector headlamps, and LED fog lamps. Well, if you’re a regular here and you’ve been lurking and haven’t subscribed, do that. Uh, you also know that we go off on a regular basis about the piano black inside modern cars and how car companies lean into it way too much. Uh, Kia is leaning away from it nicely here. They have one strip across the dash as an accent piece. I’m okay. You don’t touch that. It’s just decoration. The rest of the cabin is really nicely equipped with great materials and textures. Kia did this to reduce smudging and fingerprints. You know, you get these vehicles that have such high gloss piano black trim in them and they just look dirty all the time. So, the changes were made at the center console on the doors as well as the instrument panel. So, I think that it’s a great addition with some nice mix of materials. It’s elegant and it’s very clean. Okay, we are going to talk about this dual panel system here. It it has two functions coming up in questions coffee and cars and there is a whole group of people who dislike it. So we’ll jump into why that is. Uh but the rest of the cabin is what we expect from the Hyundai group really which is one big panel in front of the driver and it’s broken up with the instrument cluster and with the infotainment system. It doesn’t have the HVAC controls integrated in there. Some of them do that. Mhm. Now this has got a dual 12.3 in screens. You’ve got a wireless charger which is in a great place and you can cover that up and keep the center console very clean. It has a dial shifter. I like the ambient lighting that’s been added. You have it around the center console, but also throughout the cabin. Um, I think it’s a really nice touch. Still plenty of buttons in this Sportage. You have your heated steering wheel, your heated and ventilated seats right at your fingertips. By the way, this heated steering wheel is getting a little too hot. We did notice the buttons are great. They’re easy for the passenger and for the driver to switch on. It took a while for these heated seats to get warmed up. They’re hot now. Like, they’re really hot, but I think it might be because it’s using air to blow hot air instead of just an element. I’m not sure about that, but it’s taken too long. Yeah, it did take quite a while. It’s cooler here, but not as what it is in other parts of the country. Um, if you have a real cold spell, you’re going to find that these take a while to heat up. What it does well is that the comfort level, the seats are very comfortable. You’ve got a height adjustment on the passenger seat, which is available, and then a power driver seat, and plenty of thigh support, which you guys know I love. So, we’re going to show you the back seat in a moment. This is a real leader when it comes to space, but right now, how is the over there for the cup holders and stuff? Yeah, not bad. I’ve got a water bottle and then you can put some other little items. You could probably squeeze another water bottle. And the center console, well, not deep. I think it offers enough storage for you to tuck some items away. I do like the panoramic sunroof that is available on the middle trim in Canada of the plug-in hybrid, but guess what? It’s actually standard in the US. Nice. Well, here are the available features. You get a 360° camera, blind view monitor, remote smart park assist, highway driving assist, too, head-up display, 8- speakeraker Harmon Carden sound system, eight-way power passenger seat, ventilated front seats, driver seat memory with memory mirrors, and a smart power liftgate. Well, here’s me getting in the back seat. There is no shortage of leg room in this model. The floor is almost perfectly flat. Uh, you get good headroom. The seats actually recline, which is something you don’t see often in this class. And there’s an armrest. How does it stack up? This plug-in hybrid gets 41.4 in of front row legroom and 39.5 in of second row legroom. Lift up the power lift gate. Same thing here. You get a very nice, useful cargo area. And underneath the floor, that’s where you get the tire repair kit. Cargo space behind the second row is 34.5 cubic feet. And overall cargo space 65.6 6 cubic feet. I’m not sure if you know this, Andrea, but this is shared with Hyundai and the Tucson. This or the Tucson? That’s coming up in our hot topic right now. Your questions. Time now for questions, coffee, and cars. Your questions from Instagram. We have the carnival vans at work. I cannot stand the HVAC radio control. Such a hassle to use while driving. Yeah. So, if you’re not aware, there’s a panel here underneath. And typically Hyundai and Kia do a great job of having, you know, physical keys. The problem with this is you have to toggle between your sort of your media and map and all that kind of stuff and then the HVAC controls and if you’re in the wrong one, you turn you’re turning up. Well, this actually happened to us on the way here. I thought that it was cold in the car and then looking and the temperature is at zero. So, when I did the display yesterday of shooting the inside, I was trying to turn the radio down, but I turned the heat down and vice versa. Yeah. So, if you’re not paying attention, you might turn the volume up instead of the heat and vice versa. But you can set it to what you use most often. For me, it would probably be the radio, I think, that I would set it on. But, um, I know a lot of people don’t like it. I think it’s the biggest complaint about Kia models. Not all of them have this. No. So, I don’t have it. Yeah. I have a feeling they’re moving away from it because of the complaints. Kia is very good at pivoting. The the problem is if you’re at work and you’ve got a fleet of Carnival hybrids, you get in and you don’t know what the last person said it to, so you got to deal with it. It’s a little bit tricky. The price of the Kia Sportage PHV went up quite a bit here in the US. Do you think it’s will still compete well with other PHEVs considering the electric range and power didn’t change much? It is still competitive price-wise for sure. And I I actually think that this was priced a little bit lower before um when you look at other plug-in hybrids on the market, but Kia offers a lot of features. But I do agree with you about the range. Uh power-wise, I think it’s got good power anyway. But the range is a little low when you start to look at the Outlander plug-in hybrid currently with 60 kilometers or 61 kilometers and the current RAV 4. And both of those models are now getting more range with um the 2026 models coming. The value leader is the Ford Escape uh plug-in hybrid. It’s it’s the best deal, but it’s only front-wheel drive. For some people, they won’t care. It depends where you live. If you live in California and Florida or wherever where you don’t care about inclement weather, then that’s a great option. But, uh, you know, people like the all-wheel drive. Hey, if you want to get a question in for a future video, follow along on Instagram. It’s motormouth_andrea. You can see all of the pictures and behind the scenes. For me, it’s Motormouth Auto and the links are below the like button. Very well done. Does this PHEV capture the refinement and quietness that you guys love about the hybrid model? It’s funny because we have um the Cross Trek this week, the hybrid, and then we were doing the shooting back and forth, Andre and I switched cars, and this is so much quieter. It’s so much quieter um than that model. And I think it just levels up even more on on top of the hybrid version of this. You know what? I actually think that the hybrid version of this is still quieter. And I’ll tell you why. Because the the way it transitions when you’re in pure EV mode, if you have your battery uh charged up, which we like, plug it in. Um, when the gas engine comes on, it it just seems like I hear it more that uh transition between going electric to needing that extra power. You do hear it. So, I I think this one is very good. I just think I’m still a bigger fan of the Sportage Hybrid. That’s when you fight with the system to turn up the radio. Oh, wait. Oh, I turned up the heat. And now it’s time for our hot topic. What’s this one, Andrea? Do you prefer this or the Tucson? Do you like blondes or do you like brunettes? I like I like bronze. Good answer. Good answer, Zach. Um, it really comes down to what you prefer. What happens at head office, the Hyundai group, they give them the platform, the transmission, the drive system, and and they say, “Okay, Hyundai, you go and make a Hyundai and Kia, you go make a Kia, and this is what we end up with.” So underneath, they’re virtually the same. Yeah. And looks are subjective, right? So, for me, I would say that I prefer the exterior of this Kia model. Uh, I’m really attracted to it. Uh, I think the interiors of both could be a tossup for me. They’re both very well done. Yeah, I it really comes down to what you like and who’s got the best lease deal or finance rates that month. I think that’s really what it comes down to, the tiebreaker. Okay, so we’re going to get into the vital stats of this Sportage Sportage. Let’s start with pricing. We’ll do Canada first and then move on to the US. Pricing includes freight, PDI, and fees. The base model starts at just over $49,000 and the top trim is just over 55,000. In the US, it’s MSRP. The base model starts at just under $40,000 and the top trim just over 47,000. Here’s the fuel economy for this plugin. You get a combined 2.8 L equivalent per 100 kilometers. That works out to 83 m per gallon equivalent. When the battery is depleted, you get a combined 6.9 L per 100 km. That’s 36 mp gallon. This plug-in has a 7.2 kW onboard charger. With a level two charger, you can charge this SUV from 10 to 100% in 2 hours. It is not compatible with a DC fast charger and has a J1772 plug. Towing capacity is 2,000 lb. In Canada, the warranty is 5 years, 100,000 km. In the United States, 10 years or 100,000 mi. That’s right, 10 years. So, you like the idea of a compact crossover that is a plug-in. Here are four to choose from. For your consideration, four vehicles for you to consider. Up first is the new Toyota RAV 4 plug-in hybrid with a 2.5 L 4 cylinder. It gets a combined 324 horsepower and has 80 km, 50 mi of range. Pricing has not been announced yet. The Mitsubishi Outlander with a 2.4 L 4-cylinder engine, a combined 248 horsepower. It does have good range though, 61 km, 38 m, and a starting price of 49 grand. The Hyundai Tucson plug-in hybrid has the same powertrain as the Sportage, but gets a little less EV range. It has 51 kilometers, 32 m. With only one trim offering for 2026 in Canada, it has a starting price of $56,000. There is a new Nissan Rogue plug-in hybrid. Gez, it looks a lot like the Mitsubishi, doesn’t it? With the same powertrain as that Outlander PHEV. The pricing hasn’t been announced yet. So, there are four plug-in hybrid SUVs for you to consider. Lightning round. Two things we like. Two things we like to see improve. I really like how quiet and refined this plug-in hybrid is. I really like how quiet and refined this hybrid is. I feel Kia needs to change this HVAC infotainment toggle back and forth. There’s too many complaints. Ditto. So, there it is. It’s the Sportage plug-in hybrid. What do you guys think of that? Thanks for watching, and if you like what you see, make sure you subscribe. We’ll see you next time.
This is a Motormouth couple car review of the 2026 Kia Sportage PHEV compact SUV.
We have always been a fan of this plug-in hybrid for its smooth ride and refined feel. The 2026 Kia Sportage PHEV is powered by a 1.6L turbocharged 4-cylinder with a plug-in hybrid system, it has a
13.8 kWh battery with 53 km/34 miles of range. It’s matched to a 6-speed automatic transmission and gets a combined 268 horsepower and 271 lb-ft of torque, standard AWD.
What’s New for 2026? The 2026 Kia Sportage PHEV gets a small boost in power, an extra 7 horsepower, more standard features, updates to the exterior and interior, new available features and a full suite of advanced driver assistance features.
Kia updated the 2026 Kia Sportage PHEV exterior, it has a boxier, bolder design which reminds us more of the Sorento. The interior of the cabin is open and modern looking with more technology upgrades including a dual 12.3” panoramic display, wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto is standard on all trims, the wireless charging pad is built inside the upper tray, new accent trims for the instrument panel, centre console and door planels to reduce finger print smudges. There’s plenty of storage and the comfort level of the cabin is very good. There’s more driver assist technology including, standard auto emergency braking with pedestrian, cyclist and car detection.
2026 Kia Sportage PHEV fuel economy is good, it gets a combined 2.8Le/100 km, 83 MPGe. When the battery
is depleted, a combined 6.5L/100km, 36 MPG.
This 2026 Kia Sportage PHEV has a 7.2 kW on-board charger. With a Level 2 charger, you can charge this SUV from 10-100% in 2 hours. It is not compatible with a DC fast charger.
In Canada, pricing includes, freight, PDI and fees. 2026 Kia Sportage PHEV EX $49,120, EX Premium $52,220
SX $55,720. In the US, MSRP X-Line $40,490 and X-Line Prestige $47,190.
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