Just a concept for the moment, but it's a fully functional vehicle with mostly off the shelf working parts. Definitely looks like production is probable. And if it does go to production, will it eat the BRZ's lunch? On paper the answer is a resounding yes.

RWD 2+2 coupe
turbocharged 2.0 liter 4 cylinder, 315 hp
6 speed manual transmission
103.1 in wheelbase and 169.7 in overall length is just a few inches longer than the BRZ
lower and wider than the BRZ
2874 lb curb weight (odd that they're being that specific with the weight of a "concept" vehicle)




http://www.autoblog.com/2014/01/13/kia-gt4-stinger-concept-detroit-2014/

1/14/2014 9:16:44 AM

i don't know why but i really dig the styling of the head lights

1/14/2014 9:58:00 AM

Till someone cracks the ecu it's following with non females/poseurs will be minuscule

Aka it's genesis rnd 2

Looks good tho.

1/14/2014 10:04:24 AM

I feel like you put way too much emphasis on the ECU cracking. I mean people love the BRZ/FRS but it's engine is fragile as hell - ECU tuning not a good idea there.

And it shares nothing with the Genesis but the engine I believe (different platform). I mean come on, it's 500lbs lighter than the Genesis.

1/14/2014 10:15:41 AM

If it's that great I'll have 2 kias lol...

I just think a large portion of turbo car purchasers say .... Now what?

That kick in the kidneys is addicting and you always want more.

Ps your whole post should finish with "Says the guy who supercharged his brz"

1/14/2014 10:36:50 AM

looks good to me

1/14/2014 12:40:20 PM

^^hahaha

(and I regret doing it)

1/14/2014 1:36:08 PM

Quote :

"Till someone cracks the ecu it's following with non females/poseurs will be minuscule "

315 HP in a sub 3000 lb. RWD coupe and you're calling it a girl car?

1/14/2014 2:36:27 PM

That's not really what I said but sure you could take it that way...

1/14/2014 2:56:04 PM

1/14/2014 3:09:21 PM

i actually had to stare at that for a sec before i realized what was going on..
awesome

1/14/2014 3:28:00 PM

^^ Gotta be in Russia

^^^ That's how I took it too...

1/14/2014 3:45:48 PM

Specs look good, but I hope they refine the look quite a bit and don't call it "Stinger".

1/14/2014 3:51:39 PM

Why not? It's a lot better than the gay trend of just calling a car by a few letters or numbers.

1/14/2014 4:23:58 PM

It just sounds hokey to me. It sounds like a cheap Chinese go kart you'd buy off Craigslist. Feel free to disagree, but it's not to my taste. This is probably just the project codename anyway, so I doubt it matters.

[Edited on January 14, 2014 at 4:35 PM. Reason : l]

1/14/2014 4:34:32 PM

Yeah. and it'll probably cost $35k.

1/14/2014 5:54:32 PM

Make it reasonable easily mod-able for another hundred horsepower, with no nav system and no data recorder, and I'm in .



[Edited on January 14, 2014 at 9:08 PM. Reason : ]

1/14/2014 9:07:41 PM

Is nav a standard option on cars these days? Are black boxes required on all cars?

1/14/2014 9:56:32 PM

Shit. Honda just started making their cars standard with Air Conditioning. Calm yo tits!

1/14/2014 10:01:06 PM

You usually have to get nav to get the better options packages, but I don't think having it standard is common among mainstream models. Higher-end ones might.

Isn't a black box required these days?

1/14/2014 10:04:09 PM

Plenty of cars don't have nav, but sometimes it does come with the good options packages. More broadly, I hate how it's tough now to option anything á la carte.

Black box isn't required, but just about everything except audi and vw have it now.

1/14/2014 10:26:13 PM

Yeah the option packages thing is a bitch.

Yes I want power lift gate no I don't want leather yes I want heated seats no I don't want vehicle lane monitoring and vehicle encrochement warnings...

Fuck this is all included in one package..... Wtf I don't want all that

I didn't mean it would be a girly car I just meant that predominantly know nothings will drive them.

1. Because it's a Kia who has no performance offerings
2. Because you can't mod it without a stand alone or piggy back

1/15/2014 11:14:35 AM

You don't see a lot of "know nothings" driving around in FRS/BRZs. So I don't think that would be the case for this vehicle either, as it will probably cost more and be less fuel efficient.

1/15/2014 11:22:45 AM

I've met exactly 3 BRZ/FRS owners. One of them is posting here, another didn't know anything about his car and had cross shopped it between I think it was a corolla and third told me she bought it because she was a "horsepower junky", her last car was a Mini Cooper S (which felt faster, AND more fun IMO). Just sayin'.

1/15/2014 12:14:44 PM

This is strictly a concept and even the company is not saying that it previews a future model.

If it is made, however, the power will be reduced to 250 and the weight will go up by 300-400. Look at the interior, thin bucket seats, minimal gadgetry, and straps for door handles. Yeah, it will definitely be fattened up significantly.

1/15/2014 12:28:34 PM

Why would it be detuned to 250hp? For Pete's sake, that engine makes 276 hp in the Optima. No way they would detune it lower than that. And you're being overly pessimistic about the weight increase. Just for starters it will lose the ridiculously heavy 20" wheels and 15" brake rotors.

And

Quote :

"A sleek, well-crafted concept car with excellent proportions and exemplary detailing, our favorite thing about the Kia Stinger Concept is still probably something that you can't see in pictures. At under 3,000 pounds, only about 170-inches long and with a turbo'd 2.0-liter engine pushing out 315 horsepower, our favorite thing about this Kia is the good chance that it might get the green light for production."

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/01/15/editors-choice-top-five-2014-detroit-auto-show-debuts/

AB isn't Gospel but this seems to be the automotive media's general consensus.

1/15/2014 12:45:20 PM

Priced at $35k or higher, it definitely isn't a BRZ beater.

1/15/2014 4:42:22 PM

They released projected pricing information???

1/15/2014 4:50:08 PM

Evo's do well considering

Quote :

" 1. Because it's a Kia Mitsubishi who has no performance offerings 2. Because you can't mod it without a stand alone or piggy back"

1/15/2014 5:52:23 PM

^^no, Hiro pulled that price out of thin air. And then Specter repeated it.

1/15/2014 11:47:01 PM

is it going to have the 10yr/100k warranty?

1/15/2014 11:54:44 PM

Yeah. I was simply saying there's gonna be a drawback to it. I'm suspecting price, assuming the rest checks out favorably.

I mean, look at how much fail the Genesis Coupe was in terms of "Low $20k and light weight with respectable power!!!1"

[Edited on January 16, 2014 at 12:23 AM. Reason : .]

1/16/2014 12:23:16 AM

Quote :

"is it going to have the 10yr/100k warranty?"

If it makes production of course. It's a Kia. That's one of their main selling points.

(That's one of the primary reasons I bought one new, and the reason that car will be out the door the moment the odometer hits 100001. I trust them to stand behind their warranty, and based on the reliability of the car so far I'm impressed, but I'm not ready to risk my money on a 10 year old Kia/Hyundai just yet.)

[Edited on January 16, 2014 at 12:37 AM. Reason : d]

1/16/2014 12:37:21 AM

Quote :

"If it makes production of course. It's a Kia. That's one of their main selling points."

On the other hand, Subaru built a brand identity for decades on AWD...

1/16/2014 8:30:21 AM

I've never heard of a manufacturer offering a different warranty on just one of their vehicles. It would make no sense for Kia to not offer a 10/100,000 warranty on that car, given that the power train is off the shelf. And Subaru was still selling FWD Imprezas as recently as the mid to late 90s.

Quote :

"I mean, look at how much fail the Genesis Coupe was in terms of "Low $20k and light weight with respectable power!!!1""

Not saying you're wrong, but I don't recall Hyundai ever stating the Genesis coupe would be light weight. Given that it uses the chassis of the larger Genesis luxury sedan I don't think anyone said it would be light. Additionally, they never stated that it had a weight (when a concept car) of 28xx lbs. Furthermore, Kia doesn't want to develop and sell a direct competitor of the Genesis Coupe. A small 2+2 sub 3000lb sports car is the perfect niche for them to fill, since Kia/Hyundai have nothing currently offered like that.

[Edited on January 16, 2014 at 9:00 AM. Reason : k]

1/16/2014 8:59:18 AM

http://www.worldcarfans.com/114011668859/kia-gt4-stinger-designer-hints-at-a-possible-production

Says if produced the vertical lights would have to go

1/16/2014 3:37:37 PM

the rear view is awesome, from the side it looks like what i imagine a budget koenigsegg would look like.

1/16/2014 5:47:43 PM

They should name it the new Kia Sephia. It would bring back such fond memories of Kia's glory days gone past.

1/16/2014 9:30:57 PM

^^^No surprise there. Doesn't bother me, as the headlight array is my least favorite part of the exterior design.

1/17/2014 8:26:39 AM

Dude evos can be tuned with open source tuners... And the Evo has one of the strongest cult followings of any car, up there with mustangs vettes subarus jeeps etc...

1/17/2014 9:05:12 AM

open source tuners = piggyback/standalone

Quote :

"Make it reasonable easily mod-able for another hundred horsepower"

+1

don't use the FRS formula: bad starting hp, no FI, no forged internals

1/17/2014 9:33:55 PM

Rom raider is not a stand alone. You can almost program as much but it's obd 2 compliant so you can pass inspection if you do it right.

[Edited on January 18, 2014 at 4:36 AM. Reason : .]

1/18/2014 4:36:05 AM

^^don't forget shitty DI seals

1/20/2014 8:58:18 AM

im interested in this if they dont change it

1/20/2014 10:55:57 AM

Quote :

"Kia GT4 Stinger to Arrive Late This Year Last month Kia unveiled the GT4 Stinger concept at the Detroit Auto Show, but at the time Kia's execs only hinted that a production version could happen. Now TopSpeed claims that it has received the word from a source that a production version of the GT4 Stinger has been approved and that it will arrive by the end of the year. The production version of the GT4 Stinger will reportedly look nearly identical to the concept, but the interior is still being finalized. The GT4 Stinger was unveiled with a 315-hp 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder engine, but the final version may get closer to 290 horsepower."

Sounds promising, though some of that info is suspect. The head designer of the GT4 specifically said (last week) that the front end will need significant changes to meet those BS pedestrian crash standards. That disagrees with the design comment above that I bolded above.

http://www.thetorquereport.com/2014/02/kia_gt4_stinger_to_arrive_late.html

2/5/2014 4:10:55 PM

Even the headlight configuration isn't legal iirc.

2/5/2014 4:18:45 PM

Yeah that'll definitely change. The front actually reminds me a lot of the Honda S2000 concept car's (Honda SSM).

2/6/2014 8:18:02 AM

Quote :

"I've never heard of a manufacturer offering a different warranty on just one of their vehicles. It would make no sense for Kia to not offer a 10/100,000 warranty on that car, given that the power train is off the shelf. And Subaru was still selling FWD Imprezas as recently as the mid to late 90s."

Mitsubishi did just that w/the EVO if I remember correctly. Also, I want to say Corvette has done the same. There's other stipulations often times, like required maintenance for maintaining warranty coverage, such as on the Skyline/GTR and even specified oils as VW has done.

2/6/2014 1:25:34 PM