i agree with gary, completely, the rotary engine would be a bad choice for the Sportage for off-road and on-road ability, although, it's a great choice for the much lighter Samurai. i have seen a Samurai with one in action and it's like watching a lawn mower with really big tires trying to climb stuff, it almost sounds like a dirtbike.

anyway, aside from gary's possible diesel swap, there is a direct swap with the slightly larger and more torquy Mazda 2.2L engine. you just swap the block and all the internals of the block, including crank, pistons and connecting rods. you bolt all the Sportage parts directly to the 2.2 block, including head, intake, accessories, then the block to the bellhousing. so far, the only person we know that has done this is Darren Skilton, but 2.2's should be cheap enough that we will begin to see more. i think the ratings for the 2.2 with Kia head and peripherals is around 170-175 HP and around 180-185 LB-FT or more.

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