Hello everyone, been a while since I've posted but my girlfriend just leased her new car and I wanted to share the experience with you all. It was our 1st car purchase since I am not a car salesman anymore and my girlfriend eyed a couple of different cars. We checked all the small SUVs at the Québec IAS in march and we decided against a couple of choices directly at the auto show, leaving us with 4; the all new 2018 GMC Terrain, the Nissan Rogue, the Subaru Forester and the Kia Sportage. What we wanted :
- AWD
- SUV (a bit bigger than her outgoing CrossTrek)
- Under 400$/month for a 36 or 48 month lease with 0$ down.

Then came the time to shop for all of those. We quickly decided against the Terrain since it was not going to be available until late july or august and her actual lease was due on early june. They had no idea on pricing yet and we could not drive it either.
Next up was the Nissan Rogue AWD. We liked the versatility of floor and the driving dynamics but there was two big problems; the dead angles and the view outside the hatch's window. With the way the rear is angled up, we had the impression of having a 2 feet opening while looking thru the rear window which was vastly inferior to her outgoing car (Subaru CrossTrek). The salesman pushy tactics even though we weren't sure on the car made us eliminate the Rogue from the contenders.

Next up was the Forester.

We looked at the Forester Touring or Commodity. We had a really good experience with the Subaru dealership (partly because I worked there and I had recruted our actual salesman) but also partly because we knew the product, we knew what we were going to get from the service department afterwards. My GF liked the difference in power vs her outgoing Crosstrek, the vision is phenomenal due to the size of the Windows. It lacked a bit in specific equipment compared to it's competitors and the price was a bit higher than what we were aiming at. We still thought about it for a long time due to our previous experience with the dealership and the good Relationship with the salesman (it would have been our 5th Subaru in a little less than 10 years).

However, like all purchases, it is a purchase of emotion that brought us to lease a new Sportage EX Awd 2017.
We chose the Sportage for the following:
- More equipment for the same price
- GF liked the look more with the bigger wheels, the chrome and the nicer lights

What we didn't like about it:
- The lack of space compared to competitors (60cu. ft VS 68 for the forester)
- Slightly worse fuel consumption (however it won't be too much of a hassle since the GF doesn't drive that much)

It will be interesting to see if it will hold up to the reliability standard of what we are used to. We also got a slightly longer term this time around (4 years instead of 3), so will watch out for that also. All in all, GF can't wait to get her new car.

 

Congrats! The new Sportage is definitely a refined little ute with a cleanly design, pleasant and comfortable interior. As you noted it is a bit on the smaller end of the Compact Utility spectrum, but hopefully not too much so to be detrimental. Hope you enjoy it!

 

Great choice!

My parents used to have a Sportage. They put over 60k trouble free miles on it and really liked it.

 

Congratulations. My brother is on his second new Kia (a Sportage) and just loves it. The solidity/durability of the construction, solid-closing doors, and durable interior hardware go a long way towards selling this vehicle. I especially notice the difference between the Sportage and the competing Toyota RAV-4 and Ford Escape, both of which have a much cheaper and lightweight feel inside and out.

 

Let's simply hope we love it better than the service we received when we bought it! I never had such a bad experience while buying a car but the GF really wanted that specific car so!

 

The quality of service (and general condidions) at Kia shops can vary enormously from one to another. My brother gets service fit for a king from his Kia shop......but there is one not far away that is basically a small, hole-in-the-wall shop, and another one a few miles out that is huge, modern, and spacious, impressive to look at, but unknown (at least to me) in the service department.

So, if you are not satisfied with the shop you bought your Sportage from, simply try the service from another local dealership. Kia is a big company, and, unless you are really out in the boonies somewhere, has a generally widespread network of dealers. Here is Kia's Canadian Dealer Locator....just type in your location, and it will do the rest.

http://www.kia.ca/find-a-dealer

 

Yeah we have three Kia dealership close by (less than 30 mins away) but 2 of those did not give me a good "vibe". Let me try and explain the whole purchase night for you. We got there at 16:30, knew exactly which model we wanted, what price we wanted to pay and what color. The salesman asks us what is important for us and all the usual questions to get to know us. He leaves to talk to his manager. 15 minutes later, comes back with his manager that starts the négociations, telling us that they had made us a great price but that they wanted to evaluate my GF's car. All good. They come back with their offer, while telling us that they were offering 16 500+tx for my GF's car (while the remaining payments were 16,190$+Tx). Offer: 191$/bi-weekly (even if we asked for a monthly payment, they presented it that way in case we did not noticed it was higher than MSRP)for a 48 month lease. I ask them to explain to us how they could come out with a higher price than MSRP, while we did not ask for any extras (except for cargo plastic mat) and that they were buying the car higher than the remaining payments. It took everything to keep me from getting out at that very moment. I had to explain to them during 40 minutes that there was no way their numbers were working considering the numbers that I had. Well it seems that they were charging us 800$ for a training fee for the new car.

All in all it took us 4 hours for the whole process, and they still tried selling insurance to my GF. Let's just say they won't get the nicest review when time comes.

 

I can't stand that shadyness. Anyway, KIA has vastly improved over the years, and while I am a big Subaru fan and my wife is on her second Forester and will probably be getting her and Outback or the new Ascent depending on the reviews, congrats on the Kia!

 

So sorry you went through that, but imagine the majority of customers (even in the age of the internet and smart shopping advice by CR/many auto sites/forums) who do fall for it. A friend of mine bought a CPO GMC Acadia from a reputable GMC dealership, she didn't realize after she went home that they charged $4700 for an extended warranty (they told her it costed $1500......colme to find out it covered 1500+ parts). Thankfully things like these can be cancelled after the fact but her payment is $100 higher than what it would have been....

 

congrats 1JZsoarer... sorry to hear about buying experience but it's so typical. the main difference between dealers is the price of the clothes the salespeople in higher end brands wear... they all play the same games, it's pretty much the worst shopping experience there is unless you just want to hand over whatever they ask for.

 

What made you go with a Sportage over a Hyundai Tucson? Styling? They are very similar cars, so I'm curious what would be the tipping point? Thx.

 

Honestly? The styling and the fact that my mother-in-law already has a 2017 Tucson. My GF didn't want to buy the same car as her mother and she did not like the styling as much as the Sportage's. We are supposed to receive the car before the next weekend so I'll have plenty of time to drive it and give my first thoughts over the weekend. We will see if the dealership get some stars back.

While I agree that almost all dealers are like that nowadays, I used to be a car salesman five years ago and I took great pride in satisfying and answering my customers. I would do the entire negociation because, frankly, I knew what the numbers were and what my SM would accept. If I didn't have the car in stock, I would call my Customer first thing once I got the confirmation of when and from whom we would get the car. For the Sportage, I had to give a call back to the salesman to know that the car was in transit so about a week of transport time when he told us that we would get the car in 24-48 hours.