December 29^th, 1999                        

How safe is a Sportage?

Try asking someone who has taken one through a car vs car collision, followed by a rock wall, followed by a triple roll-over.

Someone like Janine Klay, who has just bought her second Kia Sportage. It was the last few seconds she spent in her original Sportage that convinced her there was no other choice as a replacement.

It was slammed by an out-of-control car, knocked across the road where it bounced off a stone wall and rolled three times. After climbing out with nothing more than scratches and a bruise, Janine can’t say enough about the safety of Kia’s compact four-wheel-drive.

She’s the manager of the Upper Murray Holiday Resort in Walwa, in north-eastern Victoria, and bought her first Sportage early this year.

"It was absolutely terrific," she said. "I’m a bush walker and I do a lot of off-roading to reach the good spots. With its excellent off road ability the Sportage was the natural choice. That, and it was $5000 cheaper than the next best choice and I couldn’t see where the extra money was going.

"I also do regular trips to Albury on resort business and always take the Sportage rather than the resort’s own full-size 4WD, because it’s so much easier to drive."

While on the return leg of one of these runs, Janine was negotiating a set of ‘very hairy’ corners when a car coming in the other direction lost control and slammed into the Kia sideways, driving it into a rock wall.

"I guess I was doing about 60 kmh and he was going much faster," Janine said. "The Sportage bounced off the wall, and then rolled and bounced into a ditch, coming to rest on the passengers’ side. I managed to climb out the door carrying just a few scratches and a bruised shoulder.

"The Sportage rolled three times and every panel was damaged, it was a write off. Yet the roof and all four doors held and the passenger compartment remained intact. No one who has seen the wreck, and the whole town has seen the wreck, can believe I escaped with such light injuries. It’s a fantastic testament to the strength and safety of the Sportage."

Janine has now taken delivery of a brand new Sportage GSE. "I wouldn’t hear of buying anything else when I saw how my original Sportage handled that accident," she said.