2026 Kia Sportage Hybrid First Drive: Good Fix of the Unbroken?
We’ve never found much fault with Kia’s small hybrid SUV, so futzing with a good thing could be dangerous.
Frank MarkusWriterManufacturerPhotographerAug 25, 2025
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We love us some Kia Sportage. In its purely combustion-powered guise, it presently sits at No. 1 in the MotorTrend Ultimate Car Rankings compact SUV class. When equipped with its hybrid electric (HEV) setup, it’s our second favorite (the RAV4 is just ahead), and somehow, when fitted with Kia’s plug-in hybrid (PHEV) drivetrain, it slips to third place behind the RAV4 Prime and its kissing cousin, the Hyundai Tucson.
Tampering with podium finishers is a perilous business, but we were mostly impressed with our drive of the new-for-’26 pure-combustion X-Pro mild-off-roader variant, though we noted that the 187-hp 2.5-liter non-turbocharged engine won’t light anybody’s hair on fire. The hybrid models add considerable juice, swapping in a 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-four engine with 177 horsepower assisted by an electric motor. In HEV form, it boosts torque big-time (both the engine and motor produce 195 lb-ft, though at different speeds, with total torque rated at 271 lb-ft), and for 2026 the HEV’s combined output jumps 5 hp to an all-in power of 232 horses.
One change we can neither criticize nor evaluate here is expanding the HEV lineup with a new S model that’s basically a $31,785 LX with $2,300 worth of AWD added. The other newbie is the slightly more trail-friendly X-Line model, which at $36,985 costs $1,900 above the midgrade EX and $4,900 below the range-topping SX Prestige we drove. Were the various upgrades worth it, and can a seasoned car scribbler (let alone a lay customer) feel a 2 percent power bump? Let’s hit Kentucky’s rolling, hilly bourbon country byways and find out.
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The Most “Normal” Feeling Hybrid Option?
Electrification-phobes leery of silent, whooshing all-electric power or unnatural “motorboating” sounds from hybrids that employ newfangled continuously variable transmissions (CVTs don’t accelerate up through distinct “gears”) should strongly consider the Sportage (or its Tucson HEV cousin). Both sandwich a motor in between the engine and a traditional six-speed automatic, so they sound and feel more “normal.”
The Kia Sportage Hybrid’s acceleration is always attended by the reassuring rise and fall of the engine revs with each gear change, and power from the turbo engine and motor crank up the enthusiasm factor noticeably. Suspension tuning revisions to account for the larger wheels and tires (19 versus 18-inch) on our SX Prestige range topper (also fitted on the X-Line) firmed things up just enough to quell our previous complaints about a too-soft suspension.
The Trade-off: Declining Fuel Economy
The bad news? Those weird-sounding e-CVT setups are inherently more efficient, so competitors like the Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-50, and even the new Jeep Cherokee get farther on a gallon of gas than the Kia, though at 36/35/36 mpg, the Sportage HEV squeaks 1 highway mpg ahead of the Subaru Forester among e-CVT hybrid compact SUVs. (Caveat: If you opt for the base Kia Sportage LX HEV, a rare front-wheel-drive offering, its 41/44/42-mpg ranks near the top of the class.)
Why has the fuel economy dropped from 38/38/38 mpg to a projected 35/36/35? The bigger tires on the SX Prestige and X-Line models increase rolling resistance, and because the SX has recently accounted for 50 percent of sales, the sales-weighted averaging had to include the big tires. What does that mean? If you buy an S or EX model with smaller tires and lighter equipment loading, you’ll likely see something closer to that all-38s jackpot fuel economy.
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Sportage Sport Mode
A Sport mode might seem oxymoronic or downright silly in an economical family hauler, but gosh darned if we didn’t find ourselves smiling on the Kentucky back roads when the SPORT light was lit. The transmission helpfully held lower gears longer, allowed more “engine braking” (and battery replenishment) to better plant the nose while bending into a curve, and then helped us blast out of turns more enthusiastically. We should also note that those fun full-throttle sends were accompanied by a bit of engine vibration felt through the seats, but hey, that’s what separates the gassers from the electronmobiles.
Sure, our trip computer’s mpg tally plunged from low 30s to 27 after 20 miles of such shenanigans, but switching back to Eco mode boosted our average back up to 29 during the remaining 10 miles or so of that run. Our reported average for the 154-mile, fun-back-roads, no-stop-n-go day was a respectable 31.8 mpg.
Enjoying the New Modes and Features
As our Bourbon Trail route was plotted via Google Maps, we appreciated the new wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality, with turn-by-turn directions shared to the SX’s new standard head-up display (HUD). We didn’t take time to program our phones as keys, but that’s a new feature for SX buyers, and now even the base LX and S models let you unlock and start the ignition with the key in your pocket.
We didn’t experience any icy roads or slick trails, but if we had, we could have called up one of the new Terrain modes—Snow, Mud, or Sand. These are in addition to the standard Eco, Sport, and MyDrive personalized modes. We also didn’t have to park in any tight quarters, but if we had, Smart Park could have done it for us, or parking sensors would have beeped at us for impending obstacles from the rear or side, not just the front. We enjoyed the new front and rear USB-C charging ports (replacing USB-A) and the wireless charging pad on our top SX Prestige model. The new all-digital dash looks great and works well, and even base models get an all-electronic instrument cluster, only the center of which is reconfigurable. (The outer speedometer and tach are simpler LCD displays.)
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Did it Feel Zippier? And Is it Worth the $$$?
As for our original question, no, of course nobody can feel 2 percent more power—especially when they’re trying to distinguish it from the lateral-g and braking effect of 6 percent bigger wheels and tires. We’ll be surprised if our sensitive test equipment registers any difference. Will the updates for 2026 help it maintain or improve its position on our rankings podium? Probably. And with its new and more affordable pricing options, we expect the Sportage hybrid’s sales trend to continue up and to the right.
