Pre-production Stinger in showroom, Carson, CA

[eljay]

Thanks to @ ralzod, who tipped us off this a.m. that a pre-production Stinger GT is in the showroom at CarPros Kia in Carson, CA, at the Avalon exit on the 405 freeway. I was told it will be there for two weeks from today, so if you're in the L.A. area you can see it.

I visited this morning. I'm more in love with this car than I was before, but also disappointed. I was able to sit in it--but not in the back seat because the front seats were pushed all the way back and couldn't be adjusted because, "No key." I couldn't play with the steering wheel adjustment because, "no key." Although I'd called ahead and asked if I'd be able to see the hatch in action, again, "No key." I asked the questions I had--lots--but between the saleman's lack of knowledge, a MAJOR language barrier between us, and "no key," I didn't learn much. I even had to prompt the "salesman" to the location of the rear seat release, because when I first asked about lowering the seat he pushed down the armrest/cup holder--and acted like it was a big deal to have one. He wouldn't lower the seats because the hatch wouldn't open because--you guessed it, "no key." Rrrggghhh. Do you guys think that the hatch needs to be open to lower the seats? Didn't look like it to me. I would have been more insistent, but decided it wasn't worth acting like a hysterical old woman.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen it, it looks great, even in pre-production form. And it's comfortable, even for a tall, well-rounded woman with a bad back. A little more exterior plastic trim than I'm used to, but that doesn't bother me too much.

I stopped at the Cerritos dealer on the way home to see what they knew. Nothing.

This car can't come soon enough. My geriatric Grand Prix got wind of what I was doing, and halfway home decided that it was time to punish me with the quarterly appearance of the check engine light. Sigh.

 

[STNGRNV]

Thanks for the recognizance! Hopefully, the appearance of physical car means we're closer to a price and launch date. Then I can make some decisions.

 

[ralzod]

If anyone makes it back out there, or finds another one somewhere in an English speaking location, I'd love to know if the seats all the way back yield more driver's leg room than the Optima. Unfortunately, I had to disqualify the Optima from my initial car search because of the limited driver's leg room I experienced at the auto show, so I'm nervous about the Stinger. And, just like with the other thread on measuring interior volume, there really isn't a clear or standardized measurement solution for leg room, so trial-and-error seems to be only option.

 

[eljay]

Actually, I did attempt to sit behind the driver's seat. I fit, but just barely. I guess in guy terms, you'd say I'm about a 31" inseam, and there was probably an inch to spare between my knees and the back of the seat. The driver's seat gave me room to spare, and actually, now that I think about it, couldn't have been as far back as it would go, since it sat a bit forward of the passenger seat.

But I'm not going to say it's a big cabin. The Cadenza looked huge compared to it, but I didn't sit in it. Sorry, the Optima wasn't near the Stinger, so I couldn't do an eyeball comparison of the interiors.

 

[davebo]

Isn't the Optima about the same total length as the Stinger at like 191 inches? I don't know if that translates to the same size cabin but I'm 6'1" and don't have the drivers seat all the way back in my '12 Optima. It's actually just comfortable where it's far enough forward that I can fold the rear seats down without having to remove their headrests, which ideally I'd like to be able to do on the Stinger too. It looked like the rear seat releases were up by the headrests so you should be able to trigger them from inside the cabin or leaning over through the hatch.

Edit: Stinger is 190.2", current Optima is 191.1"

 

[eljay]

Front leg room: Optima and Cadenza--45.5" Stinger--42.6"
Front head room: Optima--39.8 Cadenza--38.5 Stinger--39.4

 

[Alan]

I'm glad you liked what you were able to see and experience. At first, after you said more in love by also disappointed, I was afraid you'd found things you didn't like about the car. I'm sorry the customer experience wasn't better, but glad it wasn't the car that disappointed you.

Did you learn anything new or find out anything worth sharing just from seeing it in person?

 

[eljay]

No, Alan, thanks to all the great information on the Forum, I didn't learn much at the dealership, beyond the fact that it was a comfortable car, at least for me.

I made a comment about exterior plastic in that original entry. The chrome side mirrors and the wheel vent trim, for instance, feel pretty lightweight to me, but I drive a car that's easing out of it's second decade (built back when car makers weren't stripping weight off cars wherever possible), so I'm guessing those of you who drive later model cars wouldn't be surprised by the amount of plastic. And this was a pre-production model, so who knows what will be changed on production models.

But the car as a whole was not disappointing. However, what they allowed me to see didn't provide the whole picture, so the jury is still out. I need to actually play with the seat and steering wheel adjustments, see the trunk area, and of course, actually drive it. So far, it's still just a pretty picture to me.

In retrospect, I figure that, since they knew I was there to look at a car they couldn't sell me, they assigned me the sales rep who was low man.