Kia Sportage review: facelifted 1.7CRDi tested

Rewind a few years, and buying a Kia Sportage was seen as a canny move by those in the know: good value, good equipment and good safety.

But time has passed, and the playing field has levelled. Now, the newly facelifted Sportage (which has barely noticeable changes to the lights and wheels and radiator mesh) has stiff competition from the Yeti, the Duster and, of course, the Qashqai. The good news is that it's still a decent car, with an excellent safety record, as well as a lot of equipment as standard - even on the lowest spec.

And, to be honest, the lowest specification is probably your best choice. The money you save by not going for a 3 spec you can then put towards an engine upgrade to the more powerful 2.0-litre diesel rather than go for the higher-spec (with nav, oooh) but lower-power 1.7 we drove for this test. The bad news for Kia is that the competition is fierce. Hell, some of it is even cheaper.