For better or worse, things are on the upswing for gas guzzlers thanks to the rapid decline in the price of oil. While the age of Hummers and massive SUVs might not ever come back, it’s a good time for the smaller CUVs — a utility vehicle built on a car frame. Enter the Kia Sportage, which underwent a complete redesign for the 2017 model year. There’s been a number of cosmetic changes from the previous generation, but the Sportage is still mostly the same crossover it’s always been, for better or worse — it’s ready to get dirty, but when it comes to the environment, it’s not exactly clean, either.

We got to try out the 2017 Kia Sportage last week on the twists and turns in the desert just outside of San Diego. It’s a great place to test out the Sportage — true to its name, this is a vehicle made for adventure. While Kia hopes that their CUV will have mainstream appeal, they’re primarily looking for young people in their late 20s and early 30s — the ones that maybe, just maybe, have been able to find stable jobs and enough of a disposable income to grab a set of wheels and go out exploring.

While it can be a family car, the Sportage is better for those young urbanites ready to hit the outdoors. The Sportage is a five-seater, and while there’s ample room in the trunk (which has a floor that can be lowered a few inches for more space), it’s not as spacious as what an SUV or even many other CUVs would have. It hits the sweet spot for a road trip, though, especially if that road trip is going to involve snowboarding or some other extreme sport.

We got to test out the Sportage with the 2.0-Liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, in both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive models. The turbocharged engine is capable of 240 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque, which is actually down from last year’s model. The 2017 Sportage won’t impress you with power or acceleration, although putting it in sport mode, as always, does help. Problem is, you probably won’t feel as comfortable with liberal use of sport mode as you would with other cars — at an estimated 20/23/21 mpg for city/highway/combined, the Sportage is inefficient enough in normal mode, let alone sport mode. What we were impressed with was the excellent turn radius of the Sportage, which can really come in handy when driving around rocks or shrubs when offroading. Then again, none of this is too surprising when you consider what a CUV is — a sedan chassis carrying a utility frame. The turn radius feels like what a sedan or coupe might have, while the inefficiency is no surprise given the weight increase over those smaller segments.

The all-wheel drive model performed wonderfully when we got to take it offroading for a short while, powering over bumps and dips with no issues. The all-wheel drive system is pretty cool, too — Kia worked with Magna to use their intelligent Dynamax AWD system. Dynamax is a software-based AWD system that can take input from sensors, which feed it driving data like speed, brake usage, and steering activity to optimize the use of AWD. That means it’ll revert to FWD when you’re driving on a straight road and don’t need the extra power, only kicking in when it’s necessary (although the driver does retain some manual control over this). For an already inefficient vehicle, this system is a real lifesaver. Gas prices aren’t that cheap yet, after all.

The Sportage has the standard set of tech and safety features — an infotainment system (Kia’s own UVO on up to an 8″ display, with 5″ the standard), sensor-based safety features like lane keep assist, blind spot detection, and rear cross traffic alert, and USB ports for charging. The 2017 Sportage will work with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, although our Sportage wasn’t CarPlay-ready yet (according to Kia, it will be in April). Regardless, it’s something you’ll want to look into — UVO is a bit more streamlined than a lot of other manufacturer infotainment UIs, but the navigation system leaves something to be desired. Particularly out in rural areas, the navigation system wouldn’t recognize remote roads or highways as destinations, something Google Maps could do easily in Android Auto. The infotainment display is tilted slightly toward the driver. That’s usually a plus in sedans and coupes, but in a vehicle that will usually have passengers, it makes it a little harder for the front passenger to play their mandated roles of navigator and DJ.

The 320W 8-speaker Harman Kardon audio system is excellent. Given their expertise in speakers and their Clari-Fi technology, which excels at improving the quality of compressed music (satellite radio being the worst offender), Harman in-car audio routinely sounds better than anything else in the market. If there’s a sound system worth springing for over what’s on the base trim, it’s one made by Harman.

The inside of the Sportage is roomy and comfortable. In the front seat, you still get that SUV feeling of sitting much higher, preserving that sense of security that usually comes with larger vehicles. You can spring for a bit of luxury on the higher trims with heated leather seats and steering wheel — otherwise, it’s a pretty nondescript interior, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The panoramic sunroof, a Sportage hallmark, makes a welcome return as well.

On the outside, Kia has changed up the front end by separating the grill from the headlights. The headlights have been moved up and sweep back, partly to make room for the new ‘ice cube’ fog lights below them — four cubes of LED lights per side. The new generation is slightly wider than its predecessors at 73″ (the widest in the CUV segment), making it seem lower to the ground and more stable.

The 2017 Kia Sportage is far from perfect, but the right price can mask a lot of blemishes. And, the price is definitely right with this CUV — the Sportage starts at $22,990 and maxes out at $34,000. It’ll be available in six trims — LX, EX, and SX, all with FWD and AWD options. The 2.0-Liter turbocharged engine is standard only on the SX, with a less powerful but more efficient 2.4-Liter carrying the load otherwise. The tech safety features are introduced as options at the EX level, as are heated front seats, leather, larger alloy wheels, and Android Auto and CarPlay. The base LX can still get a tech boost with the cool and connected package, which pairs Android Auto and CarPlay with a 7″ display. The availability of optional features and the base prices make the Sportage very competitive in the CUV segment, although the lack of efficiency really hurts its economic case — it doesn’t like the price of oil will go up anytime soon, but we seem to be short on crystal balls around here.

The Sportage should be showing up in dealerships now, with Kia’s promotional push to start in early April.