Review: Life begins at 30 for the Kia Sportage — but is it still top of the range of competent family SUVs?

The Sportage first came out when dinosaurs roamed the earth – in ‘Jurassic Park' in the cinemas at least – and became a great success on this island

Kia Sportage Anniversary Edition 1.6 petrol PHEV comes decked in gloss black roof rails, door mirrors and diamond mesh radiator grille, 19-inch black alloys and dark chrome-painted rear skid plate

Geraldine Herbert

When the first Kia Sportage was unveiled in Seoul in South Korea, Albert Reynolds was leading a Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition, Whitney Houston was topping the charts and Jurassic Park was the film everyone was talking about. It was 1993 and the Kia Sportage would go on to become Kia’s best-selling car here and in Europe.

Now Kia has launched a special 30th anniversary limited edition that’s now on sale in Ireland and is our test car this week. Incidentally, by the time the Sportage arrived in Ireland two years later in 1995, Albert Reynolds had been replaced by John Bruton, indie bands Blur and Oasis were battling for the number one slot and Tom Hanks said “Houston, we have a problem” in Apollo 13, one of the highest grossing films of that year.

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