Kia Stinger GT Turbo Upgrade – Any Ideas How To Make It Better?

KIA Stinger is a very stylish car that has become quite popular in the US. If you love beautiful vehicles that not only look good but also go pretty well and are fun to drive, you should consider this model and make sure that you test drive it before buying any competitor. Chances are that you will forget about other cars and will start dreaming about the Stinger.

Well, some owners still say that the stock engine is not powerful enough. Yes, the car looks so sporty and aggressive, so it should go that way. Today we are talking in this article about the turbo upgrade in your Stinger GT.

Here are some things we'll discuss in our article:

1. Stock turbo features in the KIA Stinger GT.
2. Why should you consider the turbo upgrade?
3. Is it difficult to install an upgraded turbo kit?
4. What else can you do to make your Stinger more powerful?
5. Is it worth the money?

Let's get started!

What's actually the KIA Stinger?

So, the Stinger is a pretty famous car made by a Korean company. This vehicle is selling now new starting at approximately $37,300 for a GT-Line trim which is apparently the most popular option. But two more expensive trims (GT1 and GT2) will cost about $45,000 and $55,000 respectively.

The most popular option (GT-Line) comes with a 2.5-liter engine that offers 300 horsepower. This is not the best option for a Stinger because it's not as powerful as the other one - a V6 3.3-liter gasoline engine with 368 horsepower output which is apparently much better.

Actually, today we'll be talking about the latter engine that comes with twin-turbo technology. This is an underestimated engine that may show much more power. Many specialists say that KIA didn't do a good job when they were choosing and programming the turbocharger in this engine. So some companies came up with the idea to provide an alternative turbocharger kit.

Again, we are talking about the twin-turbo 3.3-liter engine that comes in GT1 and GT2 trims and has 6 cylinders. These engines have much more potential to show wonderful performance and much better power than with the stock turbo.

What kinds of turbo kits can you get?

We've investigated the market and found numerous types of kits available. But unfortunately, many producers are hardly known and we haven't heard anything about the quality of their products. Please bear in mind that installing a poor-quality turbocharger on your KIA Stinger may just kill the engine and bring a really expensive repair.

Here are some factors you should pay attention to when buying a turbocharger kit:

1. Look at the brand. Some companies like LAP3, Pure Turbo, or other brands with a decent reputation are OK. But unknown brands will not be OK for sure.
2. Look at the price. Consider that good-quality turbo kits just can't cost a little. They should be expensive just because this is a highly technological device that should work precisely and properly at all times.
3. Look at the compatibility. Your twin-turbo kit should be created for the KIA Stinger, not for any other vehicle. Because every turbo kit is designed with the concern of a special engine in mind.
4. Look at the seller. We've found some sellers offering cheap turbo kits and saying they are original Pure Turbo or even original KIA, but they appeared to be faked. You should bear in mind that aftermarket parts like turbo kits are often faked for bigger incomes of the sellers.

So, to buy a decent turbo kit for your KIA Stinger, you should choose a proper brand, find a seller that you can rely on, then you should make sure that the turbo kit is meant to be installed in your car. After that also make sure that the kit has everything you need to install a new turbocharger or you need to buy some more parts.

What power gain can you get?

KIA Stinger GT with a 3.3-liter V6 engine allows you to get pleasure from its 368 hp of stock power. Numerous tuning companies have claimed that they managed to get 700 horsepower with this engine by going to Stage 3 tuning (replacing the exhaust system, the intake manifold, the fuel system, the ECU settings, and some other things along with a turbocharger). But we believe those results were fakes because the engine block wasn't engineered to withstand such loads.

You can actually get over 500 horsepower with this engine. But we don't recommend setting the ECU in such a way. Limiting the power you get after tuning your turbocharger system, you will save the longevity of the engine and will have the chance to drive your powerful Stinger for more years and miles.

We suppose that the optimal power of this engine is around 420-450 horsepower. This is easily achievable without the expensive Stage 3 tuning. You will only need to replace the turbocharger and tune the ECU for the proper cooperation of different systems in your engine.

What else you will need to change in your car?

We don't recommend tuning the Stinger engine to gain more power than 500 hp. This will mean that your Stinger will lose its longevity and will probably start breaking hard after just 80 000 to 100 000 miles on the clock. This is not good, because you will have to spend your money and time trying to save your young car.

Here are some vital recommendations:

• the Stingers with 3.3-liter V6 engines are quite good in terms of intake and exhaust manifolds, exhaust system, and fuel supply, you shouldn't change anything here;
• the ECU should be set correctly because the engine will still limit the power if you don't change the engine settings in the ECU;
• in most cases, you will need to change the setting of the transmission, otherwise, it can be broken very soon because of high torque;
• your fuel should have the needed octane number - probably, buying the premium gasoline will be a good option for you;
• your air filters should be efficient enough - better buy ones that are made for sports cars;
• your brakes should be ready for more power - sometimes changing the brake pads and rotors is vitally important;
• your suspension may not be ready for new power, though, the Stingers have quite stiff and sporty suspension.

Some people start replacing the manifolds, spark plugs, air intakes, and other parts. It doesn't make much sense and will only help you spend your money. All these changes will be worth the money in that case only if you want to get 700 plus horsepower which doesn't make sense for your Stinger.

So, these are the major changes you will have to provide your car with to have much more fun when driving.

How much you will pay for the tuning?

For making your KIA Stinger more powerful, you will need to replace the stock turbocharger, and this will be probably the most costly part of your way. Also, you will have to pay for labor. Auto repair shops and dealers will not probably work for free, so the labor cost should be included in your budget.

Also, some changes to your ECU settings are needed, so this should be considered, too.

Here's what will make up the final price of your powerful car:

1. The turbo kit - around $5000 for a decent twin-turbo kit with everything included for the installation.
2. The labor. Prices may differ much, but we suppose the average labor cost will be somewhere near $1200 or $1400.
3. ECU changes. The ECU tuning is not that expensive, but you will need a really experienced guy for this. Another $200 should be considered for this.

So, you will need around $7000 to make your KIA Stinger one and a half times more powerful. Please bear in mind that the longevity of the engine will not stay on the same level as before your tuning. The engine with 450 horsepower will probably show around 150 000 miles.

You will need to choose what you want: longevity or power. These two factors don't come together in a KIA Stinger engine.

Final words

Making your KIA stronger is a fun task but it can also be very expensive. Add another $2000 to your bill for the new turbo kit for labor and ECU settings and you will get approximately what you will spend for your new power. Of course, the driving will be fun, but everyone needs to decide whether he or she is ready to pay that much for additional horsepower.

Also, pay attention to the engine's longevity. You will not be able to predict how many miles your engine will be able to drive after all the changes. But what we can say for sure is that the longevity will be a little worse. Also, a transmission may suffer a lot when you get more torque than originally proposed by KIA. Actually, the transmission problems may be even worse in terms of the price of repair than engine problems.