The Kia Stinger arrived on the scene for the 2018 model year and receives a series of updates for 2022. Sometimes described as the "poor man's Porsche Panamera," the Stinger's fastback body style and rear-wheel-drive platform are two of its main standouts. Its 368 horsepower twin-turbo 3.3-liter V6 continues to win rave reviews.

In GT guise, all of this can be had for as little as $44,735. The new GT-Line base model, powered by a new turbocharged 2.5-liter four with 300 hp begins at just $37,135. Whenever there's a mid-life refresh, a vehicle typically undergoes a fresh series of crash tests by the non-profit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), and the refreshed 2022 Stinger has done just that with impressive results, once again.

The 2022 Kia Stinger has earned the IIHS's coveted Top Safety Pick+ rating, beating last year's Top Safety Pick score thanks to one new standard feature: LED headlights. It's not uncommon for new vehicles to miss out on the top score due to a lack of standard LEDs. This year's Stinger further received a 'good' score in all six crash test evaluations, specifically driver-side small overlap, passenger-side overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests.

"The Stinger fundamentally changed the way consumers viewed the Kia brand," said Sean Yoon, president and CEO of Kia North America. "This latest Top Safety Pick Plus rating from IIHS validates Kia's relentless pursuit of improvement and advancement, and perfectly complement the Stinger's highly regarded performance capabilities."

In addition to the LEDs, the updated Stinger lineup comes standard with the Driver Wise suite of assist systems such as forward collision warning, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, and high beam assist. The Forward Collision Avoidance Assist system is a particular standout for earning a 'superior' rating in vehicle-to-vehicle evaluation and, better yet, an 'advance' score in the vehicle-to-pedestrian test. It remains unknown whether or not a second-generation Stinger is in the pipeline.

Never a strong seller on par with Kia's crossover lineup, the sport sedan's sales are exactly what management intended for, a company source once told CarBuzz. That's all fine and good, but do those figures justify a full redesign? We certainly hope so.