The Kia Sportage is the company’s most popular vehicle in the UK and more than five million of them have been sold around the world.

It was launched 25 years ago and since then there have been four generations, each one better than the previous one. And there is no doubt than when it comes to a medium SUV the Sportage is one of the best.

The latest model was launched in 2016 and it is more popular than ever, with average global sales of 38,000 units per month last year. Bits and pieces were added on in 2017.

In the UK, the Sportage attracted 40,000 sales last year which was a third of the sales in this country last year.

The Sportage made its first appearance at the 1991 Tokyo Motor Show and the Japanese didn’t know what had hit them in a market, which they thought was their own. It introduced the concept of the Urban SUV to consumers for the first time and the first generation Sportage was an instant hit, selling more than over 500,000 units.

The next generation Sportage totalled 1,223,776 units globally after seven years of production and the third-generation model hit the one million market in just four years, helping the Sportage reach two million cumulative sales during its sixth year in production.

The fourth and current generation Sportage is quite brilliant featuring a bold, progressive design, while offering greater practicality and an array of comfort, convenience and safety technologies.

Its engine and transmission line-up also provides enhanced efficiency and performance to address a broad range of customer needs. More popular than ever, the one-millionth fourth-generation Sportage was sold in January, after just 29 months on-sale.

The Sportage is both practical and good value for money in the family car market and with the Kia seven-year 100,000 mile warranty makes for reliable motoring.

Every time Kia brings a new car to market it is considerably better than the last as the quality goes up and up. The new Sportage is a lot quieter than the older model and with the potholes all over the place does a good job of riding through them without too much of a problem.

The Sportage models have a variety of engines and the 1.6-litre GDi and 1.7-litre CRDi engines are front-wheel drive, while those powered by the 1.6-litre T-GDi unit and the two 2.0-litre CRDi diesels have all-wheel drive.

I would always go for the 4x4 model because of the just in case mode. I have an old Honda CR-V and when we had that burst of snow a couple of months ago it was nice to have the safety factor on your side so I would always pay that extra.

Like most of Kia models there are plenty of variations and the Sportage has a total of 27 with prices starting at £19,000 going through to £33,500 for the top of the range. There are six trim lines which is probably too many really. I was in a car at the weekend which had bags of kit and there was only one trim which I thought was sensible.

All Sportage versions except the entry-level have a 7- or 8-inch touch-screen satellite navigation system linked to Kia Connected Services with TomTom, providing full European mapping and detailed traffic, speed camera, weather and local services information.

You can add more and more as you like - Speed Limit Information, Lane Assist, High Beam Assist, Auto Emergency Braking and Blind Spot Detection with Rear Cross Traffic Alert.

Plenty of room inside with excellent leg room front and back and almost 500 litres of space in the boot and almost 1,500 litres with the back seats put down.

Your mpg varies from 40 to 60 depending on your model and top speeds go from 113mph to 126mph. CO2 emissions are from 119g/km to 169h/km.

It’s a good time to buy because right now customers can take advantage of the Kia scrappage scheme which means if you buy a Sportage by the end of June you can get £1,500 off the list price.

This is open at all of the 191 dealers and applies to most of the Kia range. How much you get off depends which model you choose. However included in the scrappage scheme is the brand’s industry-leading seven-year/100,000 mile warranty.

The scheme requires the old vehicle you are trading in to have been registered before the end of June 2011 and owned by the customer for more than three months.

The Kia dealer will complete all the paperwork and arrange for the old vehicle to be destroyed through regulated and established channels. There is no additional trade-in value of the car to be scrapped and the scheme cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion.