When Kia unveiled the Stinger and its GT version, it wasn’t shy to point out exactly what cars it was going after. Judging by the size of the new model and its design, Kia decided that the perfect rival for the Stinger would be the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe. The world laughed and pointed fingers at the Stinger GT saying it would never be able to topple a giant such as the BMW. And yet, the first reviews offered the underdog here a bit more than just a chance at the title.

It would seem like the South Koreans are really onto something here and the Stinger GT is a really good car to begin with. It handles well and has an engine with character, something a lot of people didn’t expect to see. Under the hood of the GT there’s a 3.3-liter V6 turbocharged mill good for 370 PS and 510 Nm (376 lb-ft) of torque. All of that goes to the four corners of the car thanks to an AWD system and allows the Kia to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.9 seconds.

That’s pretty quick, and actually quicker than the car it’s going up against here, the BMW 440i xDrive Gran Coupe. The Bavarian machine has 326 PS and 450 Nm (332 lb-ft) of torque at its disposal, numbers lower than those of the Kia by a sensible margin. The 3-liter straight six engine sounds better in our book though than the V6 of the Stinger. Nevertheless, the BMW does the same sprint in a quoted 5 seconds flat, marginally slower than its rival here.

The video below also shows a comparison between how the two accelerate up to their respective top speeds. As you’re about to notice, the power difference between them makes the Kia faster not only in the initial phase but all the way up, being faster than the BMW throughout the whole thing which is quite surprising, at least to me.