Each year, the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) monitors the UK's top-selling vehicles. At the conclusion of every month and every year it publishes data revealing which model has dominated British sales.
Following so far? Excellent. In recent years, the UK's best-selling car has been the Ford Puma, a compact SUV that inherited the title from its now-discontinued stablemate, the hugely popular Ford Fiesta.
Yet in recent months, two contenders have stepped forward to challenge the Puma's, and Ford's, supremacy in the form of the Kia Sportage and Jaecoo 7. Indeed, at the beginning of 2026, the Sportage outsold the Puma, before the American vehicle reclaimed its position in February.
With this context in mind, and having driven the Puma last year, I opted to take a more detailed look at the Sportage and evaluate whether it surpasses the Puma or not.
Specifications
The vehicle I tested was the HEV 'GT-Line' 1.6 T-GDi 6AT FWD variant of the Kia Sportage with a hybrid powertrain. It incorporates a petrol engine alongside a 47.7kW electric motor working in tandem to deliver 235bhp and 265Nm of torque to the front wheels through a six-speed automatic gearbox.
Regarding boot capacity, with the rear seats upright there's 587 litres of room, and with them folded down there's 1,776 litres available. On the road, meanwhile, the vehicle achieves a combined fuel economy figure of 50.4mpg. All told, our Sportage as configured came to £36,975.
That said, prices for the vehicle can begin as low as £23,954.17 if you opt for the 1.6 T-GDi variant with the six-speed manual gearbox. Rather like the Puma, costs can span from just over £20,000 to just over £30,000, though finance packages are available for both.
The interior
The Kia's cabin features a mixture of physical buttons, a touchscreen display, and haptic controls. There's a manual gear selector for drive, reverse, neutral, and park alongside buttons for heated seats, heated steering wheel and the ignition button.
Like most contemporary vehicles, there are shortcut buttons on the steering wheel enabling you to deactivate features such as lane assist without navigating through a submenu, and letting you toggle between Eco and Sport Mode.
Should you climb into a Kia Sportage and find its infotainment interface reminiscent of comparable Hyundais, that's no coincidence, as they're both owned by the same corporation. There are minor variations here and there, though otherwise they share identical shortcuts.
If you've not experienced either of those vehicles previously, it requires a bit of familiarisation, but generally it's straightforward to operate. I'd prefer a physical dial that eliminated the need to touch the screen to access different system functions and, regrettably, the climate control is managed via a haptic touch bar, making it feel somewhat fiddly.
The steering wheel, similar to the Puma, features a squared design with rounded edges. It's unclear why both Ford and Kia have opted for this approach, as the wheel becomes oversized and consequently makes the vehicle more difficult to manoeuvre.
At least the gap at the top never obstructs your view of crucial information on the dashboard ahead, and the paddles for the adjustable regenerative braking remain easily accessible. If there's one minor criticism, it's that the steering wheel didn't extend sufficiently towards me for my preferred driving position.
On the road
While the Kia boasts greater width than the Puma, and despite the unusual steering wheel, it delivered a far superior driving experience compared to its American competitor. The Puma disappointed with its city car on stilts sensation and excessive body roll through corners.
By comparison, the Kia remains remarkably composed through corners. There's genuine feedback transmitted through the steering and pedals. While it doesn't match BMW iX3 standards of driving enjoyment, it's unremarkable and straightforward. In this instance, that's actually positive because it means the vehicle won't produce any unexpected behaviour.
This doesn't indicate a complete absence of issues. The regenerative braking offers three intensity levels, and descending hills it seemed overly responsive.
While never feeling hazardous, it was peculiar how it would disengage and then re-engage; as though it was hesitant. Another point of interest was the interaction between the petrol engine and the hybrid system.
I consistently found the periods running on electric power alone were far too short before the petrol engine kicked back in. The vehicle is constantly attempting to find equilibrium, but if you're opting for a hybrid, you're doing so to consume less fuel, so you'd ideally want the car to spend longer periods not using it.
Beyond these two minor criticisms, I found my time with the Kia enjoyable. It was well suspended, and its width provided excellent stability on motorways and B-roads.
Conclusion
On balance, I believe the Kia Sportage is a superior vehicle to the Ford Puma. Admittedly, it is larger and therefore potentially less suited to navigating some of Britain's tightest spaces. That said, this does mean bulkier loads will fit inside more comfortably.
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I also found the interior more user-friendly, with fewer functions managed through the touchscreen, and it delivers a better driving experience. Whether it ultimately manages to dethrone the Ford will be intriguing to observe as the year progresses.
Christopher's Verdict: 7.5/10