The journalist’s advice
I befriended my son’s classmate’s father a couple of years ago. Hendrik often asks me about the press vehicles I’m driving, but it’s typically not more than passing conversation. Last week, when our boys were getting together, he asked me a pointed question. “My Hyundai IONIQ 5 lease ends soon. It’s a great car, but I don’t think I want to drive an EV in Chicago winters again. Do you have any recommendations?”
Although I’ve read plenty of stories about EV owners switching back to gas or moving toward hybrids, whether HEVs or PHEVs, this was the first time someone I actually know wanted to make the change. Our conversation turned into a pretty in-depth discussion, since I wanted to understand not just his preferences but also what his family needed from their next vehicle. The answers didn’t come immediately, and like many car decisions, this one unfolded gradually.
His love-hate relationship with his EV
Hendrik praised his IONIQ 5 for its instant torque, smooth power delivery, all-wheel drive traction, and near-silent operation. He particularly enjoyed the way the EV handled and the fact that the IONIQ 5 was well-designed inside and out. He currently drives the dual-motor SEL trim, which features 290 miles of all-electric range and 320 horsepower. It’s a particularly quick EV that will launch from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds. Just for points of reference, that’s quicker than the BMW i4 xDrive40 (4.9 seconds) and matches the Porsche Taycan with Launch Control.
On the downside, Hendrik said he was tired of the painfully slow charging times during cold winter days. The dual-motor IONIQ 5 on a Level 2 charging station will reach a full charge in approximately 6 hours or more. Using a DC fast charging station with a CCS adapter (250 kW) will get the IONIQ 5 dual motor from 10 to 80% in about 20 minutes.
He said it would take him twice as long to charge up in winter, making it necessary to plan his life around charging stops. Road trips became a hassle (and relegated to his gas-only Toyota Highlander), winter range dropped noticeably (30 percent), and there were only two chargers in his office parking lot, both with time limits and often occupied. Since he was leasing, Hendrik chose not to have a Level 2 charger installed in his own garage. His experience was that public charging stations often delivered at much slower speeds in winter, and the waiting game was exacerbated by long lines to use functioning charging stations.
Hyundai
Hendrik said he wasn’t ready to abandon electrification entirely, but he wanted something that combined efficiency, flexibility, and all-weather confidence without the hassle of plugging in. I asked him if he would consider a gas-electric hybrid, and he responded with, “That’s exactly what I was thinking.” But it wasn’t as easy as just rattling off a bunch of hybrid model names to him, expecting him to pick one.
The top priorities for his next vehicle
Hyundai
I asked Hendrik what his top criteria were for his next car. He said, first and foremost, it needed to be both long-range and efficient, so he could take it on road trips with his wife and two boys. But the qualifier was that it shouldn’t be too big on the outside. It would also need to be his daily driver.
He also requires all-wheel drive for Chicago winters, a robust set of standard safety features, and an excellent safety rating. The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 earned a Top Safety Pick+, the highest rating from the IIHS, and the NHTSA gave it 5 out of 5 stars. Hendrik also loved the IONIQ 5’s modern and airy cabin, robust standard feature set, and its impressive in-car tech that consists of two 12.3-inch displays in a curved panoramic frame.
Hyundai
The last criterion came from his wife. She prefers the luxurious cabins of premium brands, along the lines of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, but Hendrik remarked that a vehicle of that caliber isn’t in their budget, and he’s not willing to spend more than around $40k on a new car. He said if they could find a hybrid with a very nice interior that still kept their costs relatively low, that would be a bonus.
The 2026 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX-Prestige AWD is my pick
In my head, I ran through several options that I thought might work. The Honda CR-V Hybrid is attractive, efficient, roomy, has available all-wheel drive, and gets excellent safety ratings. As much as I love the well-designed cabin, it just doesn’t exude much in the way of luxury, so his wife would likely not give it the nod. Telling her it gets 40 mpg in combined driving probably wouldn’t move the needle much.
Honda
I also thought about the Lexus NX 350h hybrid. It nails the luxury cabin requirement. It also gets 39 mpg combined. Where it falls short is the 36.1 inches of rear legroom, about three inches less than the IONIQ 5. On top of that, the feature set that they would want would warrant the NX 350h Premium AWD at $49k, a lot more than they want to spend. So, the NX Hybrid is also out.
I love to provide recommendations based on my own personal driving experience. There are bad cars, good cars, and ones that truly stand out in the press fleet. The latter is how I felt about the 2026 Kia Sportage in SX-Prestige AWD trim I recently drove. I came away very impressed by it on many levels. Having driven the pre-facelifted model already, I had high expectations, and they were exceeded. Kia made some important changes for its 2026 mid-cycle refresh, and they amounted to substantial improvements that level up the Sportage Hybrid.
Although the 2026 model doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it refines nearly everything that already made the Kia Sportage Hybrid a good buy. First off, its base price of $40,390 hits their affordability sweet spot, and the SX-Prestige is the top trim level that also comes with standard all-wheel drive. In this guise, it’s a fully loaded vehicle with nothing left out. It’s almost shocking how many great standard features Kia packs in this thing. Many luxury brands make the Sportage Hybrid XS-Prestige’s standard features costly add-ons. That alone is reason enough to have my friend take a closer look.
The Sportage Hybrid makes its case
Under the hood, the 2026 Sportage Hybrid uses a punchy 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine paired with an electric motor and a 6-speed automatic transmission. The combined output is 231 horsepower, more than enough for brisk acceleration and effortless highway merging. The SX-Prestige AWD feels quick and capable, and the efficiency is right there at 38 mpg in combined driving. It’s also great for road trips with around 500 miles of range on a full tank with no need to ever plug in.
Inside, the Sportage continues the premium impression with its handsomely refreshed cabin. The wraparound streamlined dashboard incorporates a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster with a matching 12.3-inch infotainment display, creating a clean, high-tech cockpit. Materials are soft to the touch, the design is minimalist but not Spartan, and the dual-function touchscreen controls cleverly toggle between audio and climate settings. The new steering wheel is one of the best-designed ones in the industry, and the cabin echoes BMW in many ways but with its own distinctly modern flavor.
In terms of space, the Kia Sportage Hybrid delivers in a big way. Six-footers can sit behind themselves thanks to 41.4 inches of front row legroom and almost exactly the same in back with 41.3 inches of rear legroom. The cargo hold is just a tad short of the gas version because of the battery, but the Sportage Hybrid still has 39.5 cubic feet of cargo space with the second row of seats up and 73.7 cubic feet with the seats folded flat, ample space for errands and road trips alike.
When it comes to safety, the 2026 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX-Prestige checks all the boxes. It comes standard with Blind-Spot Collision Warning, Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist, Automatic Emergency Braking Technology and Evasive Steering Assist w/ Pedestrian Detection, Cyclist & Junction Turning Detection, Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, Park Distance Warning (front/side/rear), Parking Collision Avoidance Assist (rear), Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keeping/Following Assist, Nav-based Adaptive Cruise Control, w/ Curve, a 360-camera, Safe Exist Assist, Driver Attention Warning, and and semi-autonomous Highway Driving Assist 2. That’s more than many luxury brands. It’s also an IIHS Top Safety Pick.
Final thoughts
What makes the 2026 Sportage Hybrid SX-Prestige AWD ideal isn’t just its powertrain technology and range but also its level of style, space, technology, safety, and drivability. It might not have the quickness of an IONIQ 5, but it does provide non-charging peace of mind, road-trip readiness, and a more refined body and cabin. There’s a lot to love about it that other like-priced hybrid crossovers don’t provide. All of the aforementioned reasons make it a strong recommendation for those coming off an EV who want efficiency, power, range, and a taste of luxury. It’s so good, I would buy one for myself.
About the author
Amos Kwon
Contributing Writer, Autoblog