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Kia supplies the New England Motor Press Affiliation with implausible help. Each Kia we take a look at appears to knock our socks off, and this new 2026 Sportage X-Professional Status was no exception. The Sportage is Kia’s mannequin competing within the RAV4, CR-V, Forester, and Bronco Sport (kind of) section, one that’s the largest total in America for personal-use patrons. As nice as this Kia Sportage is by itself, we discovered ourselves asking the query, “Is that this Sportage X-Professional Status a greater crossover than the Subaru Forester Restricted or Wilderness?” Let’s evaluate and distinction these two nice decisions, with an emphasis what issues the Kia can provide that the Forester can’t.
2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status – What Is It?
The Sportage is Kia’s five-passenger crossover SUV, which competes with the RAV4, CR-V, and Forester. Some would come with the Ford Bronco Sport on this grouping. The Professional-X Status is a really fascinating trim that mixes some implausible creature comforts with a wholesome dose of enhanced winter functionality and the wanted tires and clearance to benefit from the automobile off pavement.
2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status – What Isn’t It?
We added this part to offer some readability to the X-Professional Status trim. The Sportage X-Professional Status isn’t a hard-edged off-roader just like the Ford Bronco Sport Badlands Sasquatch is. Neither is it actually a direct competitor to the Wilderness model of the Forester. It undoubtedly has some components of what these specialty trims present, however in our opinion, Kia made a sensible option to cease with the off-road package at exactly the correct degree of substances. It’s not overdone, to say it plainly.
2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status – What Does It Value? What’s Its Worth?
The Sportage we examined had a worth of $41,920, together with Kia’s Vacation spot Payment, however not together with Vendor Doc Charges. That is an especially well-equipped trim, and the value isn’t any shock to us. That is the place automobiles with this degree of content material land on the value spectrum heading into 2026.
We really feel that the Kia Sportage affords an unusually excessive worth. The reason being that it has a guaranty for its first proprietor that spans 10 years / 100,000 miles. That’s about 40% longer than Subaru’s, Ford’s, and Toyota’s. That is one goal instance of how the Kia Sportage stands forward of Subaru’s Forester.
2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status – What Powers It and Why Does It Matter?
The Sportage we’re reviewing is provided with a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine. No turbo, and no hybrid system, although different Sportage trims provide each. We had been ready to be underwhelmed by this engine, simply as Subaru’s 2.5-liter engine is taken into account “boring” by many reviewers. Nevertheless, we discovered it passable in most conditions. One massive motive is that Kia properly makes use of an 8-speed geared transmission, and never a droning and moaning CVT. Moreover, in Sport Mode, the Sportage X-Professional Status was downright peppy. We felt this automobile would fulfill nearly all of patrons’ energy necessities. Would we now have most popular one other 100 lb-ft of torque, like that supplied by Kia’s Sportage Hybrid trims? Sure.
We noticed a good 29.1 MPG over about 300 miles of freeway, suburban, and rural off-pavement driving. Included in that was about 100 miles of back-country mountain roads in Sport Mode.
2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status – The Drive
We discovered the Sportage X-Professional very fulfilling and satisfying to drive in nearly each scenario. Round city, it’s not precisely snappy, however I by no means felt just like the Sportage wanted to be faster in native driving. Within the mountains, this Sportage would have benefitted from the up-powered and far more environment friendly turbocharged hybrid powertrain Kia affords on some trims. Paddle shifters might have made the powertrain’s efforts a bit extra predictable and controllable.
This trim has all-terrain tires, and so they had been implausible. Even with the added sidewall, the Sportage handles nice. The suspension has loads of journey, too. We beloved driving this Kia on dust roads. The enjoyable was not restricted to simply sluggish off-pavement runs. On downhill sweepers on paved mountain roads at round 50 MPH, the Sportage X-Professional can carve a nook predictably, and we had loads of probabilities to push the Sportage (safely) into some tight turns. It’s a rewarding crossover to drive assertively.
There are devoted Sport, Snow, Mud, and Sand Modes within the X-Professional. Kia even added a downhill descent button, which we love. We use that in winter when driving to our cabin on a regular basis, and it helps guarantee a secure descent of slippery hills. For practically all patrons, these modes and the downhill help could be simple to make use of and provide loads of functionality. Can Subaru’s twin X-Mode do extra in excessive conditions? Perhaps. A aspect by aspect winter extremes take a look at could be very fascinating to see.
2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status – Uncommon and Notable Gear
The X-Professional Status has 17-inch tires with BFG Path-Terrain T/A tires. These are implausible, and we’d purchase this trim simply to keep away from the ridiculous low-profile large-diameter tires so many high trims include. These add sturdiness, traction, and winter functionality, and we discovered no draw back. They didn’t howl, and we couldn’t hear them when driving on the town, solely on completely easy freeway pavement are you able to detect a really refined hum from the BFGs.. You may get tires like these on a Forester, however provided that you choose into the Wilderness trim. A giant plus of tires with this design and sizing is that you can air down a couple of PSI to make dust roads and trails really feel much more easy.
The X-Professional Status additionally has a fully-heated windshield with a wire mesh heating ingredient over its entirety. It will make icy and snowy days as much as the ski areas safer and extra fulfilling, for the reason that wipers gained’t find yourself caked in frozen slush. Nevertheless, you may see the mesh at evening. We’d counsel a night take a look at drive to make sure you prefer it. Over time, we turned accustomed to it. We’ve by no means examined a Subaru of any mannequin or trim with this function (and not one of the six my household has owned had it). Solely expensive European manufacturers have supplied this on automobiles we now have beforehand examined.
The X-Professional Status additionally has a spare tire, a big glass moonroof with an influence sunshade, heated and cooled seats with a number of settings, a heated steering wheel, additionally with two settings, and probably the most comfy energy entrance seats within the class.
If you happen to plan off-pavement adventures, Kia affords a entrance skid plate. I’d add that and have it put in on day one. It’s simply $240.
2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status – What’s Lacking?
There was no center-mounted energy knob, and there are not any paddle shifters within the Sportage X-Professional Status we examined.
2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status – Off-Pavement Efficiency
We don’t want to faux that we “took this automobile off-roading.” We didn’t, and it’s not actually arrange for true off-roading. We did drive over quite a bit unmaintained and poorly maintained dust roads in New Hampshire. Right here, the Sportage X-Professional shines. It’s good. Even with out airing down, the Sportage X-Professional handles washboard gravel sections with zero rattles. It felt easy over these roads in all the correct methods. Up steep and unfastened sections of dust and rock roads, the X-Professional by no means spun its wheels, and was secure and confidence-inspiring. We used the Downhill Help and it labored very intuitively. It will be an enormous plus in winter you probably have a steep driveway or entry street to your property.
Throughout our testing, we had been joyful to seek out that the BFG tires didn’t retain stones after which fling them into the wheel wells, one thing some all-terrain tires we’ve examined have finished.
2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status – Conclusion
Most manufacturers now provide a trim with all-terrain tires and a little bit of off-pavement gear. The Sportage X-Professional appeared to supply the perfect degree for what we expect a crossover needs to be used for. It isn’t pretending to be a Wrangler Rubicon, however its sensibly-sized BFG Path Terrain tires alone make it far more succesful, secure, and comfy than a “Restricted Elite Platinum Touring” sort of trim with foolish wagon wheel-sized rims and tiny sidewalls.
Along with the excellent guarantee, we would rely amongst this automobiles many pluses the tires, the downhill help, snow mode, super-comfy seats, excellent heating of the seats and steering wheel, and the novel windshield. If you happen to dwell in an space with poor roads, harsh winters, and unpaved sections of roads, the 2026 Kia Sportage X-Professional Status was constructed only for you. Go get one!
John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Affiliation and an knowledgeable automobile tester. John accomplished an engineering program with a concentrate on electrical automobiles, adopted by twenty years of labor in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive provide chain earlier than turning into a information contributor. He’s a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). Along with his fourteen years of labor at Torque Information, John has revealed 1000’s of articles and evaluations at American information shops. He’s recognized for providing unfiltered opinions on automobile subjects. You possibly can join with John on LinkedIn and observe his work on his private X channel or on our X channel. Please notice that tales carrying John’s by-line are by no means AI-generated, however he does make use of grammar and punctuation software program when proofreading and he additionally makes use of picture technology instruments.
Photographs by John Goreham
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