Moved from Sportage AWD to H6 2.0 Alhamdulillah. Have only driven a couple of times since it arrived but the initial feeling is good. The key decision points for me were (for this online reviews, opinions from experts and friends, a couple of visits to the dealership and a test drive was done):
Pros
- More spacious. We are a family of five and space is a bit better than the Sportage in terms of passenger space. Cargo feels significantly better.
- More powerful, that may help with the drive and consumption. Will find out.
- Some useful driving assist features like adaptive cruise, lane keep assist, and traffic jam assist. These weren't present in Sportage and these will hopefully make driving a bit easier.
- Small additions over Sportage that are very welcome, eg. Cornering lights, 360' camera, TPMS, larger screens.
- Drive, comfort and sound insulation are equal or better.
Possible Cons - I say possible because some of them I have yet to find out / experience.
- Overall Quality. My initial impression of quality is actually quite good. The materials and overall feel is mostly at par with Sportage, some even better, like seats, in car infotainment system. There are some small things I noticed which feel a bit lower in quality and workmanship, eg. Cargo area covers, both the pull up screen, and the spare wheel compartment cover. Small items like the boot closure button as well.
- Durability overall, related to overall quality. This will be proven with time, although international reviews on this are not bad.
- Local service and support network. This was the biggest concern, bearing in mind all my comparisons were with Kia as I was moving up from there. Again, will find out how they will fare in the future. Good to know the network expansion is underway. 2-3 new dealerships are to open in Karachi in the coming months hopefully. Kia has a bigger network of course but it has taken some time to develop, and you mainly need 1-2 which are accessible to you in each city you stay in. For me, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
- Spare parts prices and availability; this concern was covered by the fact that they have local production so hopefully parts would be there as they are being used to assemble the cars here. Prices won't be much different from Sportage.
- Spare wheel is not full size. But at least it has one, the HEV was dropped because of price and lack of spare wheel. Yearly trips to Islamabad from Karachi won't be possible with family.
- Price difference was of course hard to digest but it comes down to cost vs benefit of all above points. Time will tell whether this was worth the money.
Will keep updating as we use the car more Inshallah. Would also request more users to share their experiences, as user feedback including the decision points are very helpful for others to decide.