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I find myself missing this place after spending a good 10+ years here with my past couple cars. I had a 2005 TSX A-Spec 6spd which I loved, then a 2012 Acura TL base which had plenty of power and worked great as a family car.
So I made my exit from Acura about 6 months ago after I took a good look at the newer TLX but wanted something with some strong straight-line speed and ended up at the most unexpected place...KIA. I saw all the reviews and hype around the new Stinger so I test drove a GT and fell in love with it. It has great practicality as a family car with it's hatch and roomy interior, but would still be a blast when I leave the kiddos home. It’s AWD with a twin-turbo V6 good for 365hp/376lb/tq. You can easily get both of those numbers over 400 with a simple tune and re-gapped plugs. I'll be honest, this thing is a total blast to drive, in sport it's an absolute bullet off the line.
This won’t be a crazy build thread or anything, I have plans, but not major ones. I want to keep my warranty intact so no tune for me. If anyone is curious about the car feel free to ask questions.
So far for mods I’ve gotten:
Tuxmat floor liners (front and back)
18x8 FCO4 Fast Wheels in gloss black for winter duty
Eibach rear sway bar
Stinger KDM script re-badge on the back
A couple pictures, I'll post more once the weather improves. These are from right around the time I first brought her home so none of the mods were done at this point.
There's not a lot of cars that command a stare from me on the road, but this car, it has such a presence. Every time I see one I find myself unable to look away. The fact it has the performance to back it is just icing on the cake. Good luck with it!
I test drove a Stinger GT last week at the Cleveland Auto Show (they have test drives of several makes). It is definitely and officially on the list for my next daily driver. I'd go with a GT2 for the head up display. The build quality was pretty impressive, and the AWD system handled pretty well...it's not SH-AWD, but then again, nothing is.
There's not a lot of cars that command a stare from me on the road, but this car, it has such a presence. Every time I see one I find myself unable to look away. The fact it has the performance to back it is just icing on the cake. Good luck with it!
I agree, when I saw one sitting on the lot I was blown away immediately. The proportions are just perfect on the car, and the fact that it's a lift back just makes it so practical.
Originally Posted by neuronbob
I test drove a Stinger GT last week at the Cleveland Auto Show (they have test drives of several makes). It is definitely and officially on the list for my next daily driver. I'd go with a GT2 for the head up display. The build quality was pretty impressive, and the AWD system handled pretty well...it's not SH-AWD, but then again, nothing is.
The AWD has been great for me, zero drama, just instant traction. The car performs really well in the snow too. The biggest issue I took with the handling was the bodyroll at the back of the car, that's why I went with an upgraded rear sway bar. The sway bar tamed the rear bodyroll and makes the car feel that much more planted in the corners.
I'm getting bitten by the mod bug as spring approaches...picked these up last night. Apparently they add a nice soundtrack to the turbos and very solid hp/tq gains.
One thing that lured me to turbocharged cars is their hp/tq gains with simple mods, especially tunes.
I haven't done a ton of research on the Stinger but how have the powertrains been holding up? What's an easily attainable power level with a simple reflash / bolt-ons?
Lots of options for tunes and bolt-ons for the Stinger. The most popular plug and play tune in North America is JB4. To give you an idea, running their map 2 which is a conservative tune with the intake above, 91 Octane fuel, and gapped upgraded sparkplugs (everything else stock) they got peak wheel numbers of 416 hp and 514 ft-lbs. Keep in mind that's their conservative tune. Downpipes alone on this platform with no tune are getting +30 hp and +26 ft-lbs, tons of potential.
That's pretty impressive. How are the transmissions holding up?
I have yet to hear of one failing on the biggest Stinger forum on the internet so I'd say they're holding up really well. Lots of guys are running tunes on that site too.
Damn I'm so jealous! The Stinger GT2 is my current dream car and I love everything about it except for the price! Kia is actually providing a massive bargain to Stinger buyers since if you were to put a German brand logo on the car it would easily sell for $20k more than the Stinger's MSRP of around $52k, but $52k is still waaaaaaaay out of range for a poor divorced father with child support payments like me.
The best thing about the Stinger GT2 is that its such an amazing all around vehicle; it looks utterly fantastic both inside and out, it has the performance to back up its good looks, it has high quality performance parts like the Brembo brakes, it provides excellent practicality with its generous interior space and cargo-swallowing rear hatchback, and lastly, its so much more affordable than any other comparable car on the road (looking at you BMW and Audi).
Kia hit an absolute home run with the Stinger (and sister-car G70 honestly) and I too have been seeing them all over the place lately. I can't confirm that they are necessarily raking in the dough with the Stinger's release, but they absolutely nailed it out of the park in terms of building a fantastic and unique car (an especially impressive feat when you consider many other brands which are dropping cars altogether in favor of bland and horrific, me-too crossovers and SUV's).
Congrats on that beauty mate! I'm sure you are going to love every minute of it!
Ordered a few small things, center caps, door striker covers, and BMS intake.
Intakes are on, I can really hear the turbos working with the audible whoosh when I come off the throttle, sounds very cool. Not sure on gains on my otherwise stock car as the intake maker only supplies a dyno with a piggyback and the intake working together.
Probably just me but I actually prefer the way the stock intakes look. But I've never liked the look of aftermarket intakes personally (they perform a lot better though).
A small update, I added a couple new things. I rebadged the front with the OEM KDM badge and installed a gloss black Maxton Design V1 front splitter. The splitter is tamer than some on the market but thats sort of what I'm going for.
Looks great, the splitter looks more like OEM+ than aftermarket.
That's exactly the look I'm going for. I'm getting a bit older so as much as I like modding my cars I'm definitely aiming for the oem+ look.
Originally Posted by TylerT
Looks fantastic!
Needs moar low! And a wheel setup.
Thanks! I'd love to go lower but this also needs to double as a second family car for me with my wife and 2 small children, so lowering is out of the question for now. I have a nice set of 18" gloss black winter wheels/tires that I run in the colder months and I really like the OEM 19's and the factory rubber (Michelin Pilot Sport 4's).
Part of me still wishes I'd been able to make the Stinger work, prices weren't where they needed to be at the time.
good to know.
I don't see a ton, but they're definitely on the road. See more Stingers than RLX 
