A Kia SUV has beaten an all-electric Hyundai and a hybrid Toyota family SUV to win Australia’s most coveted new car accolade, the Drive Car of the Year overall award.

The Drive Car of the Year awards, now in their 16th year, shines the spotlight on the best vehicle in each of 20 consumer-focused new car categories.

The categories include Best Small Car, Best Medium SUV, Best Dual-Cab Ute, Best Hot Hatch and Best Value Car, plus 15 others, all tailored to help Australian consumers buy smarter.

From those 20 winners, one car is crowned the best of the best, the Drive Car of the Year overall winner. The vehicle that wins this ultimate prize is the one the judges believe makes the most significant automotive advances that will impact more Australian new car consumers.

In 2022, the Drive Car of the Year overall winner is the Kia Sportage.

Judges found that the Kia Sportage Medium SUV sets new benchmarks for safety, technology, refinement and affordability, and it does so in the most competitive and most popular new car segment in Australia.

With eleven affordably-priced variants kicking off with the Sport S at $32,445 and stretching to $52,370 for the highly-equipped Sportage GT-Line, there’s a Sportage to suit all Medium SUV needs and budgets.

All Kia Sportage variants are equipped with class-leading safety features to keep occupants and other road users as safe as possible.

The Kia Sportage’s interior style, space and refinement elevated the new Kia beyond many of its rivals and combined with class-leading safety and driving dynamics tuned specially for Australian conditions to make the Sportage the standout choice in the medium SUV class.

Then there’s the peace of mind of Kia’s seven-year warranty, which is one of the longest new car warranties in Australia.

All this and the Sportage’s strong value equation combined to elevate it beyond its two main rivals for the Drive Car of the Year overall award, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Toyota Kluger family SUV.

“This is the second year in a row that Kia has taken our top prize,” said Drive’s Director of Content James Ward. “Last year it was the Kia Sorento large SUV, and this year it’s the Sorento’s all-new little brother.”

“Back-to-back wins are testament to the incredible leaps in quality, style, driving engagement and value that Kia’s new-generation vehicles are making”.

“Thank you to Drive for recognising the all-new Sportage as the outstanding package that it is; offering an innovative, sophisticated and let’s not forget localised, medium SUV choice to buyers in an increasingly competitive segment,” said Kia Australia’s Chief Operating Office, Damien Meredith.

“To win Drive’s overall Car of the Year title for a second consecutive year, following all-new Sorento taking out the honours in 2021, is humbling and the Kia family couldn’t be happier with this achievement.”

Drive CEO, Simon Halfhide said “The past 12 months have seen the automotive industry deal with unprecedented change, including supply shortages due to global COVID-19 disruptions impacting semiconductor chips, shipping delays, and advancements in alternative fuel and Electric Vehicle technology. However, in the face of such adversity, the Australian new car market has taken huge leaps forward, delivering world-class cars to new car buyers at affordable prices.”

This year marks the 16th running of the Drive Car of the Year awards. Drive’s dedicated team of automotive experts tested more than 80 cars across 20 categories during three evaluation weeks. In all, judges covered more than 20,000km in their exhaustive sear5ch for Australia’s best cars.

Vehicles are judged against an established set of criteria that mirror Australian consumer expectations. These include technology, comfort, safety, ongoing running costs, design, performance and handling.

“There’s no other judging process that’s as thorough or judging panel with this much expertise,” said Drive’s Head of Content, Glenn Butler. “Drive Car of the Year is the most comprehensive and most relevant awards in Australia.”

The full list of categories and winners of the 2022 Drive Car of the Year are:

2022 Drive Car of the Year: KIA Sportage

2022 Drive Car of the Year Category winners:

1. Best Light SUV – Ford Puma
2. Best Dual-Cab Ute – Dual winners: Isuzu D-Max 4×4 and Mazda BT-50 4×4
3. Best Small Car – Volkswagen Golf
4. Best Medium Luxury Car – BMW 3 Series
5. Best Hot Hatch – Hyundai i30 N
6. Best Small Luxury SUV – Volvo XC40
7. Best People Mover – Kia Carnival
8. Best Upper Large SUV – Land Rover Defender 110
9. Best Large Off-Road SUV – Ford Everest
10. Best Off-Road Dual-Cab Ute – Ford Ranger Raptor
11. Best Medium Luxury SUV – Jaguar F-Pace
12. Best Sports Coupe – Ford Mustang V8
13. Best Electric Vehicle Under $100,000 – Hyundai Ioniq 5
14. Best Large SUV – Toyota Kluger
15. Best Electric Vehicle Over $100,000 – Porsche Taycan
16. Best Small SUV – Skoda Kamiq
17. Best First Car – Toyota Corolla SX Auto
18. Best Medium SUV – Kia Sportage
19. Best Value Car – Kia Cerato S
20. Best Medium to Large Car – Skoda Octavia

For more information about the Drive Car of the Year program see: https://www.drive.com.au/drive-car-of-the-year/

For a detailed analysis of the 2022 winning cars visit https://www.drive.com.au/drive-car-of-the-year/2022/

For high-res photos of Drive’s Car of the Year 2022, the KIA Sportage, https://www.dropbox.com/sh/stsbzej54j37g2w/AACM6pvCokEE8lOGkGF0IS-Sa?dl=0

For further information:

Caitlin Lynch
Senior Communications Manager, Nine
clynch@nine.com.au

Friday, March 11, 2022