Stinger Backseat Leg Room

[hereward]

Those who can go see a demo Stinger, please note and post followups to the comments below.

On an earlier occasion I felt that the the leg room in the back seat of a Stinger was rather small. This seemed contrary to the 114 in. wheelbase which has been widely presumed to give significant leg room. So yesterday I happened to pass by a local Kia dealer who has a Deep Chroma Blue KDM Stinger on display.

I am 6 ft. Moving back the driver's seat sufficiently to enable me to drive comfortably, left only about four inches of legroom behind the seat. I had to twist my Size 11 feet to get in and get out.
It was evident that at least when I drive, the occupant of the seat behind me will not be comfortable. Also evident was that getting in and out of the passenger seats call for much twisting and turning, I think because the opening is rather small.

Following this, I was at a Honda dealership looking at the 2017 Honda Accord. Even with the driver's seat moved ALL the way back, there was sufficient legroom for the rear seat occupant to get in and out without difficulty. Note that the 2017 Accord has a wheel base of about 110 in. and the 2018 Accord 112.5 in.

This anomaly puzzled me, so I went back to the Stinger for another look: The back seats in the Stinger are deeper than those in the Accord ( just eyeballing, as I did not have a ruler with me), hence possibly the lesser legroom.

Also note: the driver's seat in the Stinger is very comfortable. It is low slung, but one can raise the seat by about three inches, which in my case left about an inch of headroom (the Stinger had a sky roof).

 

[Chris]

How was the headroom in the backseat?

 

[ralzod]

I am 6'2" w/34" inseam. In every small or mid-sized car I've ever tested (amazingly except for the Mini Cooper), I have required the seat to be all the way back, and usually lowered a good bit. I like to humor myself and test to see if I can actually get into the rear seat "behind myself." I generally cannot, but I was able to get into the Stinger, albeit very awkwardly and uncomfortably. It's still pretty much unusable for an adult if I have the seat pushed back, but it did seem to have an edge on cars like the A5, 4-series, IS350; I think the Q50 was achievable. I didn't specifically assess the rear headroom, but I don't recall it being an issue; I definitely wasn't touching the roof or ducking once seated.

I'm not shopping for a car that can resolve rear seat issues, though. I'm willing to move my seat forward the few times I transport 3 other adults, and I'd consider alternate transportation if it was a long trip.

 

[hereward]

How was the headroom in the backseat?

Rear headroom barely adequate for me, with just about a finger's width of room. People over 6 ft will have to scrunch down.

 

[Chris]

Rear headroom barely adequate for me, with just about a finger's width of room. People over 6 ft will have to scrunch down.

Ouch. Not much of a grand touring car, if you can't put another couple in the backseat. I'll withhold my judgement until I see it in person but it doesn't sound good.

 

[hereward]

Ouch. Not much of a grand touring car, if you can't put another couple in the backseat. I'll withhold my judgement until I see it in person but it doesn't sound good.

That's exactly what bothers me - the Stinger has been described as a grand touring car, which raises an expectation of long distance comfort, not just for the driver, but also the passengers. The 114 in. wheelbase encourages that belief. What we see in actual practice essentially makes it a car for may be three people with varying degrees of comfort. For a car with a 114 in wheelbase it is disappointing.

I have a feeling that Schreyer-Biermann et al. intended this as a GT car, but somewhere along the line that objective was pushed aside for the Nurburgring buzz. It is also the boy racer mindset in Korea that probably got us the superfluous hood scoops.

During my visits to the Kia dealer yesterday, it was again painfully shown that the sales people have absolutely no information about the car. They have been given no training or materials to study. It is perplexing how that can be, if the car were to be available on the lots in December. Is it likely that the Stinger's introduction will happen in 1Q18? In contrast, the Honda people have already gone through training courses and had an abundance of printed information on the 2018 Accord.