One of the fastest-growing segments in the 1990s automotive market was the sport utility class. So you should not have been surprised to see Korea’s Kia Motors enter the fray with its own four-door 4×4. Designed to live at the low-cost end of the price range, the Kia Sportage (pronounced SPOR-tedge) was competition for vehicles like the Suzuki Sidekick and base model Jeep Cherokee. It came to market in base and uplevel EX trim levels, the Sportage initially was only offered with a 2.0-liter/94*horespower SOHC four, but was superseded by a 139-horsepower DOHC version as standard. A part-time 4×4 system, two-speed transfer case, adn rear-wheel ABS were standard, but an airbag was not available.
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