The Kia Tasman doesn’t have as much torque as most of its Thai-built rivals, but the Korean brand says it’s more than competitive.
While it features a new body-on-frame platform, it uses the same “trusty” 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine from the Sorento and Carnival – albeit with 6kW more power and 1Nm more torque, plus a larger cooling fan for performance off-road and while towing.
“Now with lots of testing and lots of kilometres that we’ve done, we’re pretty happy with the performance and believe it does match up well against the competition – even up against the BiTurbo 10-speed auto from the Ranger,” said Roland Rivero, Kia Australia product planning general manager, to Australian media.
The Ford Ranger, along with the Toyota HiLux, are available with turbo-diesel engines producing 500Nm of torque.
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The Tasman uses a torque-converter eight-speed automatic transmission, unlike the eight-speed dual-clutch auto found in the Sorento; it has more gears than the HiLux (six) but fewer than the Ranger BiTurbo (10).
“The eight-speed transmission does an amazing job of using the available torque from the engine,” said Graeme Gambold, Kia Australia chief ride and handling engineer, when asked how the Tasman will perform in towing considering rivals have more torque.
“It’s not all about the peak value, it’s the meat under the curve. It’s how the drivetrain uses it and it does it well.
“It’s not a problem and I don’t think that giving it another 50Nm of peak torque would really change anything, it’s further down in the range where it’s really using it.”
The Tasman’s power output, however, compares more favourably with those rivals. The Ranger BiTurbo pumps out 154kW, while a HiLux with the 2.8-litre turbo-diesel produces 150kW.
Kia claims a 0-100km/h time of 10.4 seconds and fuel economy of 7.6L/100km.
While Kia has indicated electrified powertrains may come during the Tasman’s lifecycle, it has all but ruled out a more powerful V6 model that could take on six-cylinder Ford Ranger models.
The Ranger is offered not only with a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6, but also a 3.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V6 in the Raptor.
“We wouldn’t completely close the door [on a V6] but we’ve got to be mindful of again, that word: NVES,” said Mr Rivero, noting the “huge” penalties that apply to brands that exceed their CO2 emissions targets under the incoming New Vehicle Efficiency Standard.
“[If] you dissect the category, over 80 per cent of sales are still in the four-cylinder category and we’ve gone for that big 80 to start off with.
“We do have a long product life cycle and you never know, but at this point in time, it’s looking highly unlikely.
“With the current movement in green car tech and government legislation, it’s going to be very, very difficult to have that type of powertrain.
“I understand the desirability for it. I understand how cool it can be, but we’ve got to play the balancing act as a business.”
Kia is offering the Tasman’s turbo-diesel in just one tune, whereas rivals like the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux, Isuzu D-Max, and Mazda BT-50 offer less powerful entry-level turbo-diesel engines.
In other markets, however, the Tasman will be offered with a turbocharged 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with 207kW and 421Nm. That’s down just 20Nm on the turbo-diesel, but up 53kW.
Kia hasn’t confirmed this engine for our market. The Tasman’s segment has few in the way of petrol options in Australia, where diesel dominates, but there is a small handful including the Volkswagen Amarok TSI452, Ford Ranger Raptor, and entry-level Toyota HiLux Workmate.
MORE: Everything Kia Tasman
