Stinger GT+ Nitpicks and Rants

[KGT1]

• Auto Start Stop feature - Needs a permanent toggle off and on. Why does the parking sensors have this feature but not the next button over huh KIA? Maybe you can just turn this off when we are in Sport or Custom automatically and keep it on when in Comfort/Eco?
• Door handle button - Feels like a cheap rubbery mess with a bit of lag when you press it. Why could it not have been made to match the body and be a different material?
  
• Stinger Interior Decal - The car interior has little to no mention of it being a Stinger or a GT variant. I would love to see a bit more attention to detail that indeed you are in a Stinger (Different steering wheel badge? Passenger side emblem? etc.)
• Stinger Exterior Decal - Either get rid of the current KIA logo and replace with the Excellence logo front and back, or remove the front and have the Stinger script logo on the back from the factory. I feel like at least 75% of the Stinger GT community de-badges and swaps these out anyway so it would be a nice community-driven change
• Programming of buttons - Why is the passenger side door able to open all on one press but the driver side can only if you press it twice? Why is the reverse side mirror tilt work only when its on L or R toggle and not in the middle? It seems at least to me that they paid good attention to programming things in general such as turn signal tap and custom star button yet they have these weird quirky programming implementations for no reason on the car.
• Exhaust - I would say an active exhaust feature as an option for GT1 and GT2 would be a welcome change. Stock is acceptable now yet it would be nice for a more aggressive exhaust to be present in Sport or Custom mode
• Steering wheel paddle shifters - Way too small stock AND its attached to the wheel so its a perfect storm! Extend these a bit more for GT+ vehicles

(The car overall is amazing though but these changes would be great to be implemented in the next three years of Stingers! )

 

[MerlintheMad]

Those are some nits to pick.
I don't agree with a single one of them. But hey, who said we have to agree on anything nit picky? Your list is very short. But mine is shorter yet:

I want a hatch release button inside the cabin. When somebody goes outside to get into the hatch, they can't unless they borrow your key fob. Stupid inconvenience. I've opened the doors from inside the house. But the hatch release on the key fob has a ridiculously short range, like six to eight feet.

 

[Leonidass]

Agreed on every point, well said.

 

[cncBilly]

Those are some nits to pick.
I don't agree with a single one of them. But hey, who said we have to agree on anything nit picky? Your list is very short. But mine is shorter yet:

I want a hatch release button inside the cabin. When somebody goes outside to get into the hatch, they can't unless they borrow your key fob. Stupid inconvenience. I've opened the doors from inside the house. But the hatch release on the key fob has a ridiculously short range, like six to eight feet.

Interesting. I can open my hatch from the drivers seat by pressing a button by the gas door one, by standing behind the car for a few seconds it will open automatically ( handy when holding an arm full of beer) or the old fashioned way I can press the button on the hatch it's self. CDN GT Limited.

 

[Stinger Girl]

Interesting. I can open my hatch from the drivers seat by pressing a button by the gas door one, by standing behind the car for a few seconds it will open automatically ( handy when holding an arm full of beer) or the old fashioned way I can press the button on the hatch it's self. CDN GT Limited.

I also have a hatch release inside the cabin, right where you said yours is. It worked when I got the car, but now it doesn't since they installed the remote start. Either I did something or they did something. It's on the list of things to figure out...

 

[Stinger Girl]

• Auto Start Stop feature - Needs a permanent toggle off and on. Why does the parking sensors have this feature but not the next button over huh KIA? Maybe you can just turn this off when we are in Sport or Custom automatically and keep it on when in Comfort/Eco?
• Door handle button - Feels like a cheap rubbery mess with a bit of lag when you press it. Why could it not have been made to match the body and be a different material?
  
• Stinger Interior Decal - The car interior has little to no mention of it being a Stinger or a GT variant. I would love to see a bit more attention to detail that indeed you are in a Stinger (Different steering wheel badge? Passenger side emblem? etc.)
• Stinger Exterior Decal - Either get rid of the current KIA logo and replace with the Excellence logo front and back, or remove the front and have the Stinger script logo on the back from the factory. I feel like at least 75% of the Stinger GT community de-badges and swaps these out anyway so it would be a nice community-driven change
• Programming of buttons - Why is the passenger side door able to open all on one press but the driver side can only if you press it twice? Why is the reverse side mirror tilt work only when its on L or R toggle and not in the middle? It seems at least to me that they paid good attention to programming things in general such as turn signal tap and custom star button yet they have these weird quirky programming implementations for no reason on the car.
• Exhaust - I would say an active exhaust feature as an option for GT1 and GT2 would be a welcome change. Stock is acceptable now yet it would be nice for a more aggressive exhaust to be present in Sport or Custom mode
• Steering wheel paddle shifters - Way too small stock AND its attached to the wheel so its a perfect storm! Extend these a bit more for GT+ vehicles

(The car overall is amazing though but these changes would be great to be implemented in the next three years of Stingers! )

Decals....that's one thing I really liked about my 2008 Mustang Bullitt. NO decals of any kind on the exterior, not the word Ford, or Mustang, or Bullitt. Nothing. It was a sleeper lol.

 

[Wilzer]

Programming of buttons - Why is the passenger side door able to open all on one press but the driver side can only if you press it twice?

I think it is for safety, so a bad guy doesn't jump in the passenger side if you are
alone

 

[MerlintheMad]

Interesting. I can open my hatch from the drivers seat by pressing a button by the gas door one, by standing behind the car for a few seconds it will open automatically ( handy when holding an arm full of beer) or the old fashioned way I can press the button on the hatch it's self. CDN GT Limited.

GT and GT1 does not have the auto opening hatch. And no dash button. Not even an old school latch release button. Heh, even my '94 Voyager had that (it packed in years before I sold it, but still, it was there if I wanted to get it fixed: and the Stinger totally lacking a latch release of any kind in the cabin still feels like Kia forgot).

 

[BlaydeX15]

Why is the passenger side door able to open all on one press but the driver side can only if you press it twice?

That's a setting BTW, you can change that in the dash cluster once the car is parked. It drove my wife crazy too (I didn't really care, I only ever use the driver door. Lol).

It's something like Settings -> Door -> Two Press Unlock. Uncheck it.

 

[Revvdmedia]

• Exhaust - I would say an active exhaust feature as an option for GT1 and GT2 would be a welcome change. Stock is acceptable now yet it would be nice for a more aggressive exhaust to be present in Sport or Custom mode

I would have probably paid a couple grand for a factory integrated active exhaust myself if it was available.

 

[eflyguy]

• Auto Start Stop feature

You can thank the EPA for that, not KIA

• Door handle button

Agreed. My daughters challenger unlocks when you put your fingers under the door handle. No button required.

• Stinger Interior Decal
• Stinger Exterior Decal

No thanks, as few stickers as possible for me.

• Programming of buttons

Agree on mirror tilt, totally backwards. Passenger door is for safety, but you should at least have the option to change it.

• Exhaust

Again, thank the EPA for the cost of getting performance parts approved, although other *established* performance brands do it - perhaps K/H will go thru that effort and expense for future models.

• Steering wheel paddle shifters

No issue here but to each their own.

 

[Revvdmedia]

• Door handle button

Agreed. My daughters challenger unlocks when you put your fingers under the door handle. No button required.

I don't know what your daughter's Challenger is like, but on my Mustang GT it is similar, touch behind the door handle to unlock, or on the outer handle to lock. I found two annoyances with this, first in winter on occasion it would not sense your hand properly. Second, when washing your car, the water would often trigger the lock/unlock and the lights would always be flashing in the car wash, driveway, etc, lol.

 

[Legendsk]

I also have a hatch release inside the cabin, right where you said yours is. It worked when I got the car, but now it doesn't since they installed the remote start. Either I did something or they did something. It's on the list of things to figure out...

Mine came with remote installed and the hatch open button by the driver's door doesn't do anything, as far as I can tell. Had a serious problem going into Mexico. The Mexican border agents / police wanted me to open the hatch so they could look. Pushed button nothing. Tried to get out of the car, they DON'T WANT ME TO GET OUT, POINTED UGLY LOOKING BIG GUNS AT ME! They don't speak English, I don't speak Spanish, they can't find the release button on the hatch. They starting to yell, I'd like to. After enough yelling, waving, groping around, they found the button and opened the hatch. After looking and were satisfied, they manually pushed the hatch closed, in spite of me trying to get them to stop. Apparently it didn't hurt anything. Everything still works, except the driver's hatch button?

 

[Helo58]

Yep, the biggest one for me is pushing the big black button on the door handle. I feel like such a car snob saying that, haha. With my Lexus, the door handle was the same color as the body and the doors unlocked as my hand was inserted behind/into the handle. I had no issues with washing the car/water interfering with this as the above commenter did. I really miss that feature. The lack of an inside hatch release is another gripe I share and, on the base GT, there is no reverse mirror tilt. I miss that a lot when backing up against curbs.

 

[Stinger Girl]

Mine came with remote installed and the hatch open button by the driver's door doesn't do anything, as far as I can tell. Had a serious problem going into Mexico. The Mexican border agents / police wanted me to open the hatch so they could look. Pushed button nothing. Tried to get out of the car, they DON'T WANT ME TO GET OUT, POINTED UGLY LOOKING BIG GUNS AT ME! They don't speak English, I don't speak Spanish, they can't find the release button on the hatch. They starting to yell, I'd like to. After enough yelling, waving, groping around, they found the button and opened the hatch. After looking and were satisfied, they manually pushed the hatch closed, in spite of me trying to get them to stop. Apparently it didn't hurt anything. Everything still works, except the driver's hatch button?

I would have never thought of this (until I experienced it :/) but now that you brought it up it seems insane to me that ANY car would be made without a cabin trunk/hatch release, especially considering it's been a staple feature in cars for decades now.

Like yours, my power liftgate works in every way except the cabin release. I thought maybe it needed to be reset if they disconnected the battery when installing the remote start, but this makes no sense because none of it would work if that was the case. I'm taking my car to the dealership 7/12/19 to have the paint they damaged repaired and intend to ask about it then. I'll update....

 

[MerlintheMad]

Mine came with remote installed and the hatch open button by the driver's door doesn't do anything, as far as I can tell. Had a serious problem going into Mexico. The Mexican border agents / police wanted me to open the hatch so they could look. Pushed button nothing. Tried to get out of the car, they DON'T WANT ME TO GET OUT, POINTED UGLY LOOKING BIG GUNS AT ME! They don't speak English, I don't speak Spanish, they can't find the release button on the hatch. They starting to yell, I'd like to. After enough yelling, waving, groping around, they found the button and opened the hatch. After looking and were satisfied, they manually pushed the hatch closed, in spite of me trying to get them to stop. Apparently it didn't hurt anything. Everything still works, except the driver's hatch button?

Lol! What a story! Your best post to date.
I can only relate to the "keep your hands off my hatch!" And I don't have the automatic hatch open and close. Once, as in one time only, "foreign" hands have slammed my hatch down from full open. Crap! That's how the damned hatch rattle gets started, am I right?! But I got away with it that time. I have ZERO intentions of going anywhere near the Mexican border, end stop!

 

[eflyguy]

I have the (oem) remote start and the hatch works fine, from the remote or using the button down by the fuel release inside. You do have to hold it for a couple of seconds for it to activate (unlike the fuel door, which pops the instant you press the button.)

 

[NS_Stinger]

I have the (oem) remote start and the hatch works fine, from the remote or using the button down by the fuel release inside. You do have to hold it for a couple of seconds for it to activate (unlike the fuel door, which pops the instant you press the button.)

Bingo, you have to hold the switch down for it to open, I think its just a safety thing so you don't accidently hit thr switch and it opens.

 

[Stinger Girl]

Bingo, you have to hold the switch down for it to open, I think its just a safety thing so you don't accidently hit thr switch and it opens.

Read that in the manual....doesn't matter how long I hold it down, it's dead

 

[eflyguy]

Then they broke it (disconnected a wire most likely). Can't imagine how as there are no wires on that control panel that relate to remote start.