Little bro steals Sorento’s thunder
It’s fair to say the Kia Sorento has been overshadowed by its little brother, the Sportage, this year.
Handsome though it is, the Sorento is one of those models that treads the middle ground. Sportage’s styling is pretty inyour-face, with a tip of the hat to Porsche. It can’t be ignored and it seems lots of people like it: the new mid-size SUV has been a sometime top seller this year and has clocked up more than 2000 sales so far for 2016.
The Sorento is something of an unsung hero in comparison, with around 350 registrations. True, a large seven-seater is a different proposition to a medium-sized SUV (it’s the biggest segment, after all) and Sorento sales haven’t diminished at all compared with last year.
But it also looks like a fairly small concern next to the Hyundai Santa Fe (1400-plus), a model with which it shares much of its platform technology.
Sorento is still a critical favourite thanks to that understated style and excellent build quality.
The Limited-diesel featured here is arguably the model at its best: Kia offers four-cylinder and V6 petrol models, but the former is strictly entry-level and the latter is only matched with front-drive, which makes it quick but quite hard to manage during brisk driving.
There’s only so much traction control can do when you have a lot of power, soft suspension and a high centre of gravity.
The 2.2-litre diesel AWD is by far the most satisfying drive of the Sorento range, even if you have no intention of leaving the tarmac. The start price of $67,990 is $7k more than the same-specification V6, but the diesel has loads more torque (441Nm at 1750rpm versus 318Nm at 5300rpm) and it can actually put its power down to the ground without getting all stressed and wheelspinny.
You can have the diesel in LX and EX specifications as well, but step up to the Limited and you get blind-spot warning, lane departure alert and rear crosstraffic alert, as well as leather and sat-nav with Suna traffic information (EX and above).
There’s an old-school aura about the cabin that won’t be to everybody’s taste, with its wide, flat dashboard and large switchgear – especially if you’ve seen the more contemporary Sportage. But there’s a quiet confidence about Sorento and the quality is excellent.
Limited isn’t the absolute pinnacle. If you really want to pursue the Sorento’s luxury-SUV credentials (it’s a role the big guy can pull off), you can spend another $3k for the Premium model.
This takes you over $70k but adds the very worthwhile adaptive cruise-control system, different leather upholstery, upgraded 10-speaker sound system and manual air conditioning control for the second and third rows.