Forza Horizon 4 - Feel The Sting

Kia stunned the automotive world when they unleashed the Stinger onto the world for the 2018 model year.

Not known for producing a high performance machine, the Stinger uses a shortened, front engine, rear wheel drive platform shared with the luxury Genesis G70, but with more emphasis on sportiness. The Stinger base model (not available in Canada) comes with a turbocharged 2.0 litre four cylinder putting out 255 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque in the rear wheel drive configuration.

However, if one was to step up to the GT or GT Limited packages (available in Canada), a twin turbo 3.3 litre V6 with 365 horsepower and 376 lb-ft of torque with all wheel drive will keep you planted in your seat, simply by massaging the gas peddle with your foot.

I have been fortunate enough to test drive a Stinger on two occasions and I will say the build quality and the performance impressed me. The two main reasons I don't have one myself is the price and me being me. At the time of this posting, pre-owned Stingers are on the market starting at $33,000 CDN, which isn't that bad of a deal for a broke in, low mileage, Korean Grand Turismo cruiser. New ones are about $20k higher in price (not including taxes, destination, documentation fees, etc).

As for me being me, with chronic lower back issues, I had a hard time getting into and an even harder time getting out of the Stinger. Being so low to the ground, compared to what I am driving this past while, owning one isn't really a practical option for me, sadly.

I love the looks, more than impressed with the handling and performance, saddened I could never get full enjoyment out of one, thanks to my pain barriers.

Good thing I can have my own Stinger without the pain, thanks to Forza Horizon 4.

Now I a few options to acquire one, by hoping one would drop on a random Wheel Spin (a little bonus that comes with leveling up) or bit the bullet and just bought one outright at full price....

I opted for the "deal" approach and picked one up through the Auction House and saved a ton of credits (no bidding, I went with the "buy out" price).

In stock form, the Kia Stinger was a monster, but not in a good way. The ingame version had the twin turbo 3.3 lire V6, in a rear wheel drive configuration? The vehicle was very hard to control and had almost no grip nor decent brakes for the corners. I had to fix this.

Rooting through the parts catalog, I installed the widest tires available, upgraded the brakes to the maximum and put on both front and rear sway bars. I also corrected the AWD deficiency....