The Kia Sportage,Past and Present.

Well,to be perfectly honest,i was never a fan of Korean cars,i owned two(Kia) in the past,one was quite disappointing,while the other was slightly above average.

They do have the power to surprise.
That was a long time ago;since then,the Koreans have soared billions of miles ahead in terms of design and built quality!one of the cars which i had previously owned(the one that was above average),has now blossomed into a beautiful work-of-art in motion,i am talking about the Kia Sportage of course.

First Generation
The first generation Sportage which i owned, was actually developed with a Mazda base platform. It shares many mechanical components such as the engine, transmissions, and differentials with the Mazda line of vehicles. This was due to the alliance of Ford-Mazda-Kia for technology and product sharing in the early to mid-1990s.It wasn't necessarily the best looking vehicle at the time,but it was one of the pioneers of the modern day SUV.

Second Generation
The second generation Sportage had a much more closer to home partnership in terms of technology and platform,as it shared its Hyundai Elantra based platform with the Hyundai Tucson. The second generation Sportage was considerably larger than the original Sportage and has close to zero offroading capability.Overall fit/finish and quality was said to have improved over the 1st generation model.

Third Generation
The third generation Sportage,which was designed by Peter Schreyer is without a doubt one of the best looking SUVs on sale today!Build quality and reliability have skyrocketed in comparison to its predecessors. It comes loaded with dual-zone automatic air conditioning, panoramic glass roof, cruise control, smart key with starter button, leather upholstery, power driver's seat, stereo with subwoofer and iPod cable, rear sensors and camera, chrome door handles, electric folding mirrors, 18-inch alloy wheels, and improved safety features such as ABS with stability control, active headrests and airbags all around.

Kia's Manufacturing Facility in The US.
Kia has certainly come a long way from its humble beginning.I wouldn't be surprise to see them topple Toyota and/or Honda someday.Kudos to the Koreans!