[Malbjey]

Please forgive me Camaro gang.


Sold my 2019 Camaro 1LT RS (V6 engine) and bought a 2022 Kia Stinger GT.


The Camaro was my daily, and when I bought it I thought I'd be willing to deal with its limitations for years. However I really began to dislike it as a coupe. The crappy trunk opening, crappy back seat, terrible interior storage and sub par visibility really started getting to me.


I live in a region (Pittsburgh, PA) with A LOT of hills. Having a RWD coupe as a daily in the winter wasn't as bad as many people think, so long that you have winter tires. However I did have a couple white knuckle experiences driving up the hill to our home. I told myself the next car I purchased would have AWD. Also, I wanted a vehicle with more creature comforts such as heated seats, dual zone climate, leather seats, sun roof etc.



So I made the leap into a Kia Stinger GT with AWD.



What I miss from my Camaro:
-The NPP exhaust on the V6 was awesome! It screamed! This is probably the biggest thing I miss. We have many tunnels throughout the city and I loved hearing the exhaust resonate through them. The Stinger is way too quiet by comparison, IHMO. The 2022 Stinger has a variable exhaust with an opening/closing valve built in. But its still too quiet. I'm strongly considering going aftermarket once they start building exhausts to take advantage of the valves.

-The handling was awesome compared to the Stinger. It was much more buttoned down in spirited driving.
-The gas mileage was better due to cylinder deactivation, and the fact that V6 Camaros take 87 gas. I feel like this is super underrated for anyone who wants to daily their sports/performance car. How many performance cars take 87 gas anymore?

What I like about the Stinger:
-This thing pulls like a train! Granted, I am comparing this to a V6 Camaro. I haven't driven the V8. However off the line this thing just squats and rockets away. Right now I'm in the 'this is more than enough power' phase. There are even videos of stock Stingers beating the V8 muscle cars from a dig. However that's mainly due to AWD traction and the V8 cars spinning their rear tires until they establish grip. From a roll, the Stinger will lose but it'll be a close race.

-The power train warranty is awesome, provided I don't mod it.

-The car is still a looker. I find it to be even more rare than Camaros in this region so it turns a ton of heads. I haven't got anyone trying to street race me (yet) either. My Camaro got a lot of attention and a lot of people trying to show off around it. I don't street race so it was funny to me.

-The car stills almost as low as the Camaro so you still get the sports car feel from the seating position. Except now I have a much better amount of visibility from the front windshield and side windows. The back window visibility is barely better than Camaro.

-I love all the luxury features that were absent on my particular Camaro model. Stuff such as leather seats, blind spot monitoring, radar cruise control, dual zone climate, sun roof, heated side mirrors, heated seats, etc. The interior is sooooo much nicer in general. The materials feel like a much higher quality.

-Obviously it is more practical than the Camaro in pretty much every metric. We can actually transport adults in the back seats. The liftback design allows for cargo space that rivals small SUVs. It's easier to exit the car in parking lots due to the doors being smaller--I hated the huge doors on the Camaro.

-Although the car is AWD, it is a rear biased AWD system. So you can still briefly get the tail out when you put the car in sport mode and turn off the nannies. So you'll still have some fun on back roads versus a FWD sedan.
-Our insurance payment only went up about $7.00 a month. I was expecting a bigger jump considering this car costs thousands more. I was pleasantly surprised by this.




I had also considered the Dodge Charger Scat Pack and Cadillac CT-4 V.



The CT-4 V has been super hard to find, and frankly the standard features and additional practicality of the Stinger won me over.



The Charger is super common, and I wanted something different. Also I've been hearing/reading too many horror stories about them being stolen. Plus AWD isn't an option unless you get the V6. I'm not someone who absolutely needs a V8, but the V6 Charger is a dog. I wanted a step up in performance with my new car, not a step backwards.



Overall I'm very happy with my purchase. We took it on a road trip and averaged mid to upper 20s MPG on the highway. I expect that to improve as the engine breaks in more.



If any questions feel free to ask.


I attached two pictures. These were done after a hasty parking job lol.

[Crushin_LT1]

Those are nice cars, I looked at one prior to the Camaro. Congratulations, love the color!

Which engine comes in the Gt?

[Vegas Bound]

My neighbor had one. Cute car.

[Malbjey]

Originally Posted by Crushin_LT1

Those are nice cars, I looked at one prior to the Camaro. Congratulations, love the color!

Which engine comes in the Gt?

Thanks! It comes with a twin turbo V6. 368 hp and 376 tq. Although there is a lot of speculation that the tq is understated by Kia. Some stock dyno numbers are showing 370-ish tq to the wheels, which means it is making more at the crank. Who knows.

Originally Posted by Vegas Bound

My neighbor had one. Cute car.

[Bigdumogre]

Does your boyfriend like it?

[Malbjey]

Originally Posted by Bigdumogre

Does your boyfriend like it?

I don't swing that way but maybe I'll make an exception for you, sweet cheeks.

[Bigdumogre]

Originally Posted by Malbjey

I don't swing that way but maybe I'll make an exception for you, sweet cheeks.

I really like Kia’s whole new line up especially the stinger. It’s a nice car and mod friendly if you want to go decently fast. Tune and down pipe and that’s all you need for a fun daily driver. How much more was it than a v6 camaro?

[KenKat]

Did you get a GT1 or GT2?

These seem like pretty great cars - there’s a guy with a red one in my area and it usually catches my eye and I have hear good things about performance as well. I don’t think they’ve been a great seller for Kia but sometimes that’s ok since you get to drive a car that’s not everywhere.

[Camaro fanboy]

.

[Camaro fanboy]

kia and hyundai are great cars with nice long warranties.
we have a tucson diesel and love it

[Malbjey]

Originally Posted by Bigdumogre

I really like Kia’s whole new line up especially the stinger. It’s a nice car and mod friendly if you want to go decently fast. Tune and down pipe and that’s all you need for a fun daily driver. How much more was it than a v6 camaro?

Yeah people are seeing some nice gains with a JB4 tune and new spark plugs. At much as 100hp and 100 tq to the wheels.



How much more than V6 Camaro? Do you mean price or speed?

The price of a Stinger GT is Camaro SS territory. The 2022 models are mid 40K and up. So it's a significant jump in price over a V6 Camaro.

The speed is significant as well. It's closer to an Scat Pack Charger off the line versus the V6 Camaro. I wanted a 4 door sports/performance sedan and I'm very happy thus far.

Originally Posted by KenKat

Did you get a GT1 or GT2?

These seem like pretty great cars - there’s a guy with a red one in my area and it usually catches my eye and I have hear good things about performance as well. I don’t think they’ve been a great seller for Kia but sometimes that’s ok since you get to drive a car that’s not everywhere.

I got the GT1. The GT2 cost a few more grand than I wanted to spend and I really didn't care much for the added features. Its definitely a rare car, even more rare than the Camaro in these parts.


This is my first Korean car so I'm crossing my fingers on reliability down the road. However from initial quality I have very few complaints.

[Malbjey]

Originally Posted by Camaro fanboy

kia and hyundai are great cars with nice long warranties.
we have a tucson diesel and love it

Awesome, thanks for fixing the pics! Yeah that was another reason I choose this car. That powertrain warranty is too good! Hopefully I never have to use it though lol

[s346k]

Originally Posted by Bigdumogre

Does your boyfriend like it?

better watch it, i got a 10 day ban for the same comment

i have seen vids of fbo stingers dragging v8 cameros. id make the same trade for a daily.