New Kia Stinger GT S vs Audi S5 Sportback
The new Stinger GT S is the quickest and most striking Kia yet, but can it match the daddy of fast, four-door coupés, the Audi S5 Sportback?...
Behind the wheel
Driving position, visibility, build quality
Both cars come with an electrically adjustable driver’s seat (and steering column in the Stinger) and four-way adjustment lumbar support. However, the S5’s seat is mounted too high for a sporty GT; the lower-slung driving position in the Stinger feels more appropriate.
Logical dashboard layouts make these cars easy to get to grips with. The Stinger doesn’t offer the S5’s option of digital instrument dials (£250), which look great and relay important information clearly, but its analogue dials sandwich a 7.0in screen that does a similar job.
It’s relatively easy to see forward out of both cars, but not so much rearwards due to their sloping rooflines. To alleviate any parking woes, each comes with front and rear parking sensors, and the Stinger augments these with a 360deg camera.
Where the S5 clearly wins is on interior quality. The Stinger looks fetching enough inside – with brushed aluminium, gloss-black panels and soft nappa leather seats – but compared with the S5, its switches don’t click so exactly, its plastics don’t have the same lustrous sheen and in places it doesn’t feel so robustly forged.
