A merry little Christmas, indeed.
Kia’s new flagship saloon, the Stinger, will finally be getting a much-needed optional upgrade that should be in showrooms by the tail-end of December, it seems. The bi-modal exhaust system, designed specifically for the Australian market to deliver a more engaging note, will be hitting shelves at $2659.99 on Christmas morning, inclusive of fitment.
It’s almost unheard of for an optional part to garner quite this much attention, but then again, we’re talking about the Kia Stinger. No Kia has generated quite as much buzz for itself, particularly the V6 model that the bi-modal exhaust will be fitted to, though quite a bit of that attention could be down to the timing of its introduction that coincided rather closely to the run-out of the Holden Commodore.
While the exhaust system on offer will be exclusively for the V6, dealers have made it pretty clear that buyers of the 2.0-litre four-pot turbo model are also keen on a similar system to upgrade the vocals on their cars, and Kia Australia will be starting that project real soon.
The V6’s upgraded exhaust system was engineered together with Melbourne-based company Lumen, and will be manufactured in either its Clayton facility or its other factory in Footscray, Victoria.
“Lumen did most of the technology stuff on it, and they were given a brief to do a couple of different versions. In the end, the one we settled on was the bi-modal system, and about four or five different sound checks and tunes. The electrics have been designed here as well. It’s been set up so that it operates in three modes, at varying degrees of activation. So you can drive it in Eco and not have any noise, whereas in Sport you’ll have noise from start to finish.” — Kevin Hepworth, Communications Manager, Kia Australia
It’s been made clear that while the new exhaust system won’t turn a V6 into a V8 (neither in terms of sound or performance), the new system will definitely provide a little more aural oomph, though in what specific manner remains a mystery. Despite no mention of what tone the new exhaust system will take, there are already 140 pre-ordered units by eager owners, with the system available for retrofitting (a process that’ll take an hour or so).
Will the new bi-modal exhaust system complete the Kia Stinger experience? We’ll just have to wait and see.
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