The 1st Generation KIA Sportage

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The 1st Generation KIA Sportage

Kenny Sherrill, September 25, 2006 9:37 AM CST

The Mighty Sportage

My first exposure to a Sportage was in the summer of 1999. My wife, son, daughter and I spent two weeks in Washington State. My son was attending a summer course at Nintendo's gaming/programming school, Digipen, and the rest of the family went along to explore the local sights while he was hard at work (play?) The car we rented for the duration turned out to be a KIA Sportage-4 door, 2wd, 5 speed. We immediately fell in love. The headroom was the first thing that I noticed-I'm 6'-2" tall, and all of my height is from the waist up (I wear a 32" inseam jean). Then there was the roomy rear seat, the great visibilty and maneuverability. The list goes on and on.

I was in the transition from long-time self-employed automotive electrical specialist to full-time geology student, so owning a Sportage was totally out of the question at that time. The nearest KIA dealer to my hometown is 100+ miles away, so it took a while for Sportages to start showing up around here.

Pictured above is our first Sportage, my current daily driver, a '96 4 door, automatic, 4wd, sitting on top of the dam at the Amax lake, Iron Co., MO (shhh. don't tell anyone) 

more later...

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