00:00 Hey guys, Atco here and we're back at Queensland Raceway, our test track, and as you might
00:09 be able to tell, we're in a real drive car today, the Kia Stinger GT.
00:12 A pretty strong engine up front, twin turbo V6, 274 kilowatts and 510 newton metres of
00:18 torque.
00:19 It's my first time in this car actually, so it's a pretty exciting day, because I've heard
00:23 some really good things about this car, and it seems like a lot of fun, but can it do
00:28 a lap time?
00:29 Can't wait to see how it stacks up on the track compared to the other cars, because
00:32 it's got some pretty good potential.
00:35 Alright, let's talk about driving position and the cockpit.
00:40 Initial impressions are pretty good.
00:42 The seat at first felt a bit lazy, but as soon as I put it in sport mode, the side bolsters
00:47 came in and hugged me a lot tighter, and it actually feels really good, really supportive
00:51 without being a crazy deep bucket seat, so for everyday driving, great.
00:55 Visibility is awesome.
00:56 It actually feels like you're in a much smaller car than the Kia actually is, so perspective-wise,
01:02 you're right on top of the car, you can really attack, you can feel like you can place the
01:06 car exactly where you want it, which is pretty critical on the track.
01:10 Coming inside, the steering wheel, good size and shape, love the flat bottom.
01:14 I would have liked an Alcantara finish, just for a bit more grip and sweaty palms, just
01:19 to take that away, but apart from that, really good effort there.
01:23 Pedal shift, but it is an 8-speed auto, so I will use the pedal shifts, but I'll be interested
01:27 to see whether it stays in gear or actually you have to use it like a proper manual.
01:32 Apart from that, I can't really complain about the interior.
01:35 It all stacks up and looks pretty good.
01:37 Alright, so let's talk powertrain.
01:40 Generally, I'm pretty impressed, like the engine just seems always there, I can pick
01:45 up the throttle nicely, and if anything, it's more a game of traction control with my foot,
01:51 so I can't get completely on it, there's more than enough torque, 510Nm and the power
01:56 at 274kW, it's pretty solid.
01:59 And as you'd expect from a twin-turbo V6, like the power band's reasonably wide as well,
02:03 and I think it starts at 1300rpm and all the way up to 4500, the torque curve, so really
02:10 you can be in the wrong gear and it doesn't really matter, it just seems to pull out.
02:14 So that's super positive and great for on-road driving as well, because it's just flexible,
02:18 it doesn't really matter what gear I'm in, I get on the throttle and she goes, so that's
02:23 great.
02:24 Transmission feels alright, the differential's working, I've had a few slides already and
02:29 it seems pretty reactive to my requests, which is always nice, sometimes you can pull a paddle
02:35 and nothing happens, but here it seems pretty reactive, good upshifts, so no complaints
02:42 there at all.
02:43 I did the 0-100km/h time, I got 5.2, I just gave it a couple of cracks and that's not
02:46 far off the claimed 4.9, we've got a full tank of fuel, it's not really a focus today
02:51 and the fact that I'm within a couple of tenths is pretty impressive and the way the launch
02:56 control system works is super easy, put it in sport mode, traction control off, off the
03:02 brake pedal and bang, a 5.0-100km/h, so that's pretty impressive, especially in a rear-wheel
03:07 drive car, it's always hard to get the traction down and it had no issue at all, it really
03:10 controlled it well.
03:14 So now let's talk about handling and this is going to be the critical part of a lap
03:18 time.
03:20 Suspension feels pretty good, but maybe just a touch firm in certain areas.
03:30 Steering is good, the cool thing is, okay I've got a bit of understeer there, but I
03:34 can also make it oversteer, so the chassis seems nicely balanced, I can control it, go
03:39 in with a bit of understeer, a bit of throttle and slide out of it, no problem.
03:45 So for me, the chassis is feeling really good, I think the tyres hurt it a little bit, they're
03:54 just the standard Michelin Pilot 4s, not the S version which are a bit better and obviously
03:59 the Cup 2s which would be amazing, so it's a good compromised tyre, it's not going to
04:04 be amazing on the track, but generally they feel okay, they haven't dropped away yet,
04:10 but it is an issue you can have with road tyres that pretty soon after the first lap
04:16 they start to drop away, so that can be a problem.
04:20 Finally the brake pedal feels decent, but there is just a little bit of lack of control
04:26 there, a couple of times it had it go firm on me and a couple of other times not, and
04:32 the problem with that is the inconsistency, it's hard to fully commit on the track not
04:36 knowing how it's going to react.
04:38 The smoother you are with the application, then the better the control, if you jump on
04:44 it quickly it probably thinks you're in an emergency stop and it tries to react and brings
04:48 the ABS in a bit quicker.
04:50 Alright, so now let's get a hot lap started, I've messed around with the settings and tried
04:54 a few different things, for me the best setting is basically sports mode, differential, engine,
04:59 suspension, everything in sport, traction control off and ESC off, the only thing with
05:03 that is that you've got to really watch the throttle pedal, I've got to really manage
05:07 the power going onto the straight, but if I can do that well I think I can do a pretty
05:11 good lap time.
05:12 Alright, so that's the first lap, I've got the ABS on, I've got the clutch on, I've got
05:19 the brakes on, I've got the brakes on, I've got the clutch on, I've got the brakes on,
05:26 I've got the clutch on.
05:34 Alright, so that's the first lap, I've got the ABS on, I've got the clutch on, I've got
05:42 the brakes on.
05:50 Alright, so that's the first lap.
05:57 There you go guys, a pretty solid time, 60.64 seconds.
06:26 So just over the minute mark, but I think that's a solid effort by the Stinger, it puts
06:32 us just between the Audi S4 and the Lexus LC500, but for me the real comparison is with
06:39 the RC F Lexus which did a pretty good time at 59.3, the difference is just 1.3 seconds
06:46 and under half the price, so a pretty solid job by the Stinger.
06:50 For me, what blew me away with this car was not the engine or the rear wheel drive or
06:56 all that, I was amazed by the chassis, this thing handles well and I didn't expect that
07:00 coming to the track, it's more of a touring car but it's great to have that information
07:05 for you guys, it's unbelievable, you can make it understeer, you can make it oversteer,
07:09 you can do what you basically want with it and for a driver, that's all part of the fun.
07:16 So I hope you guys enjoyed this video as much as I did, if you did, hit the like button
07:20 and don't forget to subscribe to the channel, plenty more content to come and we'll catch
07:24 you guys again soon.
07:25 Thanks for watching.
Comments