Today’s Kia Stinger is a type of car about which enthusiasts dream. Few of those enthusiasts have ever actually bought one though. Let’s see if a bit of depreciation makes this one a deal that can build up some enthusiasm.

Much of the ire that was directed at yesterday’s f focused on the car’s ill-proportioned aftermarket steering wheel. That looked like something more appropriate for a drifter kart than a big old Ford. In all fairness, the seller did note in the ad that the wheel was attached via a quick-mount and hence could very easily be swapped for something larger and less likely to make driving the car feel like an arcade game. Still, first impressions are lasting ones, and that wheel did the deed, killing much of the interest in the car at its $9,750 asking. That sent the car packing in a 66 percent No Dice loss.

Imagine this scenario: auto enthusiasts clamor for an affordable performance car with reasonable room and unassuming good looks. One brave carmaker hears those plaintive pleas and answers with a vehicle that meets all of those demanding criteria. The enthusiast market goes nuts and the car shoots to the top of the sales charts. High-fives are offered all around.

That’s a nice story, right? If only it were true. The simple fact of the matter is that while many of us rail about the dearth of affordable sporty sedans and hot hatches in the market, too few car buyers are willing to walk the walk when such cars actually become available. That’s why good cars like the Alfa Romeo Giulia and VW GTI aren’t selling in strong numbers. Hell, the Volkswagen has fallen so far that the base Golf has been discontinued in the U.S., nominally being replaced by the tall and somewhat uninspiring Taos crossover.

Another car that aspired to greatness but that ended up a Rodney Dangerfield punchline was the Kia Stinger. This is a stylish grand touring car with hatchback practicality and which can be had with a potent 365 horsepower twin-turbo V6 engine under its hood. Add to that room for four (five, in a literal pinch), plus decent handling and a laudable feature set, and Kia’s got itself a winner, right?

Sadly, no. So far, the Stinger hasn’t lived up to sales expectations since most car buyers these days would rather lump around in a crossover than get down to business in a sporty sedan or low-slung hatch. That’s a damn shame since the twin-turbo Stinger is a fun cruiser that looks the part too. And with available AWD, folks who live where black ice isn’t just some new sort of hipster coffee beverage can get in on the game too.

This is rear-wheel-drive only, which makes it slightly less confidence-inspiring on the road. That also makes it lighter and hence a little quicker to do pretty much everything else, so there is an upside to that omission. The car does have the goods under the hood though. That’s the twin-turbo V6 which is paired with an eight-speed automatic that can be manually paddled when it’s acting naughty.

According to the ad, the car comes with 50,500 miles on the odo and a small scratch on the rear quarter that was picked up while accumulating those. Other than that, the car’s Micro Blue paint looks good as new as does the aggressively-styled factory alloys. Those allow you to play peek-a-boo with the big Brembo brakes that sit just behind. Likely not the originals, the tires wrapping the wheels seem to have plenty of meat.

Inside there’s leather seating and Stinger-branded rubber mats, including a big one for the load area. That area beneath the hatch is compromised a bit by the big Pyle sub-woofer but there’s plenty of space left for groceries or a weekend’s worth of bags.

One of the reasons anyone might want to buy any Kia is for the five-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty the company offers on all its cars and crossovers. That’s just about to run out on this Stinger, but it would likely be reassuring to the car’s new owner to know that it will be there at the time of the sale. Last thing — this Kia has a clean title and is claimed to have been garage-kept. There’s even a picture of it in a garage featured in the ad to back up the claim.

When new, this Stinger had a base price of $38,350. Optioned up a bit, it would have likely gone out the door at something more like $45K. It’s now almost five years and 50,000 miles later and the seller is asking $34,500, or about $10K off that as-new price. Does that seem like a fair amount of depreciation?

What do you think, does this Kia GT look to be a deal at that $34,500 asking? Or, does that price just plain sting?

You decide!

Orlando, Florida, , or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Bill Rice for the hookup!

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