2016 Sorento’s upgrades worth price
Big changes, big improvement, big price.
Kia’s 2016 Sorento SUV is about 3 inches longer than its predecessor, on a wheelbase likewise stretched, making the new Sorento about the same size as a Ford Edge.
There’s enough room inside to stuff an optional third-row seat, making the vehicle nominally a seven-passenger model, though the third row has scant leg and knee space, and the seat cushions are close to the floor and thus uncomfortable.
But the row folds so you can have the spacious cargo area that the two-row provides, which is an advantage.
That practical consideration aside, the big deal about the new model is how nice it is — or can be with the application of enough money. We drove two test vehicles, both near the high end in price and fitted with all-wheel drive.
One had the sporty setup — turbo four-cylinder and only two rows of seats to keep the weight down and to emphasize the model is less about families and more about driving. It was $42,000plus.
The other was the top “family” model: three rows, AWD, V-6. It was close to $47,000.
And, probably spoiled by all the well-equipped test cars through the years, there wasn’t anything on either Sorento we’d gladly have surrendered to keep the price down. Oh, maybe the $200 “snow white pearl” paint job, but otherwise both seemed right-on.
You can walk out of the store with a new Sorento for under $30,000 — but probably not once you’ve tried the pricier versions.
If you’re not troubled by paying a premium price for a brand asyet unrecognized as premium, then the high-dollar Kia Sorento is a charmer. Rich leather, creamy switch operation, quietness helping to define the interior, phone pairing so fast it’s done before you are. You won’t feel deprived; you’re not paying big and getting little.
You might wonder now and then, however, whether you’d enjoy yourself more in a lightly used BMW X3 or similar for about the same money.
We know from extensive wheel time that the BMW X3 with sixcylinder would be sportier and more raw fun to drive, thanks to smooth and plentiful power and crisp handling.
And our experience says it’d also use less fuel, though the BMW needs premium while the Kia burns regular.
The X3 six-cylinder we know best racked up 17.4 mpg over thousands of suburban miles, higher than the Sorento V-6, and similar to the turbo four-cylinder, even though the BMW has more power, and the Kias were driven more gently.
As an aside, Test Drive has found corporate cousins Kia and Hyundai, both of them auto units of big South Korean corporation Hyundai, seldom able to deliver real-world mileage you’d expect from the ratings.
A couple of things to consider that you might miss in an around-the-block dealer-style test drive of your own:
Info screen is on the small side these days of car screens with tablet envy. Easy enough to see, read, but not a bragging point. If you’re in this price range and this stage of life, you might be mature enough not to judge a car by the diagonal of its screen.
Styling updates haven’t im- proved the rear roof pillar, called the “D” pillar because the naming begins with the “A” pillar at the windshield and goes back alphabetically. It’s still thick and ungainly at the top.
And it’s wide enough generally that it cuts visibility out that corner of the vehicle. If the third row and its head restraints are up, it’s quite a challenge to feel confident you know what’s around you.
If it were just the look, we’d resort to Test Drive’s mantra: Reasonable people often disagree on matters of taste. But it carries practical and safety drawbacks, so is worth more than a casual quibble.
But there’s a lot more good than bad in Sorento, for those who can option-up.
The big deal about the new Kia Sorento is how nice it is — or can be with the application of enough money.