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| Phil's Kia Sportage |
| Here it is. This is what started it all, my Kia. Its a July 2000 built Kia Sportage 'Longbody' variant which I bought new from Keystar Motors at Rothwell one of Brisbane's outer northern suburbs. This is my second purchase from them though my first being a Daihatsu (gulp!) Terios. Yes I'm out of the closet at last. In my defence I bought the little tyke for work as my other car was a big heavy lug of a thing and not suited for around town driving...which I do a lot of with work. Anyways more on all that another day and another page. I don't have a whole library of pictures of the Sportage in action apart from a few in the wilderness of my driveway and on Fraser Island. Give me time and I'll see what we can do to fix that. Here's a few more which I will change for better shots in the very near future ! |
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| Here we are on Fraser Island on the track to the Lake Wabby lookout. You will see in coming pages my love for Fraser Island which is the place that started the 4WD bug in me ! As you can see from the date stamp we were there just prior to New Year. This tends to be one of the busiest times of year on the island and as a result track conditions become rougher than usual. The hot weather and lack of rain made many of the tracks very soft with the fine powdery white sand. In general this isn't a problem except for low-clearance vehicles - we had a Honda CRV in front of us 'mowing' the top 4 inches of sand from the hump in the centre of the track largely with the rear lower suspension wishbones ! It only takes a dead tree root or piece of rock sticking up (and theres plenty of those) and suddenly the day is going to get much longer... The shadows cast over the tracks by the trees hid the ruts and holes very well so caution is needed. A found that low range is the way to go; it gives a much closer spread of ratios under 40 kp/h for rapid deceleration without jamming on the brakes. |
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| The Sportage as it stands at the moment. Still a lot more I'd like to do but all in good time. The 15x6 factory alloys are wrapped in 30x9.5/15 BFG A/T's and the King springs on each corner were a cheap effective way for a 40mm lift and far better ride particularly under load. A recent addition are the Polyair spring inserts in the back coils. Sidesteps, alloy nudge bar and towbar are all aftermarket accessories as well as a Milford cargo barrier inside. Slotted front disc rotors pull the whole lot up far better that standard and the Ralleye 1000's mounted on the nudge bar make the world a far brighter place whilst tinted windows, front slimline weathershilds and rear sunshade add to the 'look' ... not to mention necessary in this trpoical climate. Cruise control, UHF, CD changer sound system, alarm, keyring operated electric tailgate release, auto window wind up modules, exhaust and engine mods ... and more coming soon ... |
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| For those who haven't seen the longbody variant of the Sportage, this is what happens when you mature...butt gets bigger ! Basically the entire car as pretty much the same as the standard length Sportages with only cosmetic and generally minor upgrades. The action is all at the back ... and by 300mm (12"). The interior passenger compartment (etc) is unchanged but the cargo area is a far more versatile space particularly when fitted with the Milford cargo barrier. This enables the Kia to be loaded to the roof with camping gear, luggage etc safely. At last I can go camping with the whole tribe and take everything ! Of course this leads to other upgrades (ie more money) for suspension upgrades, bigger tyres ... and list goes on ... Show me a 4WD with this sort of space & low range within $10,000 ... |
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