transmisions

I have heard that the trany in the kia sportages gives a lot of problems. Is this true?

mmm....I'm sure some would be tempted to suggest removing "the trany in" and keep the rest in your post....but that would be overkill....anyway, what tranny are we talking of? Auto or manual....and do we include the transfer box in that?
Anyway, from reading for several years through several KIA forums, I would not think this is an issue with normal driving habits.. Front hubs, wiring, grounds, cooling and ignition problem top the list. EVen severe offroaders do not come often with transmission problems: in fact, with the high axle ratio, and the poor torque of the engine, the transmission is seldom put to hard task....

I'm refering to the automatic transmission and does not include the transfer box

Definitely no case here. Of course hard offroader will always find a weak point...and they tear apart differential pins and break the hubs or even torque the transfer case by going on solid rock with 4 wheel blocked..specially if they have installed front locker differential......but the tranny holds tight. However, there are SEVERAL other problems which indirectly cause the transmission to behave erratically and the transmission initially gets the blame for that. One case is the pre-catalyser blockage: it happens rather often, and this blockage impairs engine power, forcing the throttle pedal to be kept closer to the floor, and this stops the transmission to go to 4th gear aor enage TCC....but once the cat is replaced, all "transmission" problems vanish.....

That's the info I needed. Thanks