2023 KIA Sportage Grille - What were they thinking?

[parmstrong]

I really like the KIA Sportage, specifically the SX Prestige Hybrid, and am considering it over the Hyundai Tucson and the new gen Honda CRV. What has me a bit upended is the design of the grille, with that silly silver bar across the front just below the front of the hood line. Just for giggles, I took a pic of the '23 Sportage and used some amateur cut and paste to erase the silver bar across the front. Here's the before-after:



So much cleaner, and not so 'alien.' It also returns more of the KIA trademark 'tiger grille' design. It seems all too often, car manufacturers are wayyyy overdoing exterior design to substitute 'farkle' for functionality. I do see an aftermarket mod that replaces the silver bar with a black one, but that just replaces the silver 'object' with something else. It just needs to be a clean grille! With that, they could even move the KIA badge to the center of the grille which would be truly sharp. Wish there was some way to get this idea back to KIA for '24.

 

[Kia Sportage Forum]

I really like the KIA Sportage and am considering it over the Hyundai Tucson and the new gen Honda CRV. What has me a bit upended is the design of the grille, with that silly silver bar across the front just below the front of the hood line. Just for giggles, I took a pic of the '23 Sportage and used some amateur cut and paste to erase the silver bar across the front. Here's the before-after: View attachment 63View attachment 61
So much cleaner, and not so 'alien.' It also returns more of the KIA trademark 'tiger grille' design. It seems all too often, car manufacturers and wayyyy overdoing exterior design to substitute 'farkle' for functionality. Wish there was some way to get this idea back to KIA.

I wouldn't let that one item hold you back from buying a new Sportage. If I were you, I'd just black out that bar. What do you think?

 

[parmstrong]

I wouldn't let that one item hold you back from buying a new Sportage. If I were you, I'd just black out that bar. What do you think?

Well, like I noted in the original post, there is a black-out replacement for the silver bar, but what it's still noticeable as a 'thing' sticking out from the top of the grille. Isn't really clean. I'm not particularly "stopped," but manufacturers across many brands, seem fixated on slapping non-functional junk onto otherwise clean design. Having said all this, I appreciate the KIA look far beyond its sister vehicle, the Hyundai Tucson. What is the forum opinion of recent feedback on significantly-lower mpg (that EPA rating), as well as high-speed vibration? I remember having a Toyota that had this incurable vibration problem and it was heartbreaking. Not going to spend north of $40k on top trim for that. I'm waiting for the '24 model year just to see if there are some improvements.