Sportage still needs work, but fun

James R. Healey delivers a surprisingly positively spun review for a vehicle he finds so many faults with. The headline reads very positive, but much of what we read had no "fun" involved. The $23,000 truck started creaking and clunking in the driver's side door pillar, the automatic transmission "imitated the village idiot" when looking for the right gear, the V-6 was "course-sounding and not really joyful in its duties", body panel gaps were wide and the four-wheel drive is "so-so". But the ultimate was that he was able to dismiss all this by saying with a new engine and new transmission and betting that the creak was nothing serious, this is the truck Korea needed to build. I'd love to switch the KIA symbol with a Chevy or Ford symbol and see how the positive spin would change.