Jonathan Gitlin

If you believe voices in certain corners of the Internet, there’s a dearth of affordable rear-wheel drive sedans on the market. Well, it’s time for those corners to put up or shut up, because Kia has been listening, and the result is called the Stinger. The vehicle began life as a concept car at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, and with much made of its Nürburgring-honed handling, it’s clear that Kia wants to attract drivers who would normally look at offerings from BMW and Jaguar.

Underneath that grill-covered (we counted 12!) fastback body is a longitudinally mounted engine—either a 2.0L turbocharged inline four (255hp/190kW) or a 3.3L twin-turbo V6 (365hp/272kW) in the Stinger GT—with options for rear- or all-wheel drive. Opt for the former and you get a mechanical limited slip differential; choose the latter and benefit from Kia’s new dynamic torque vectoring system.