This week I’ve been driving a seven seater with a twist. What’s the twist? Well there are a few. Firstly, this is a seven-seat SUV that I have actually been able to fit into the rear seats of with some degree of comfort – that doesn’t happen too often. This SUV is big, stylish, spacious and extremely comfortable. This week I’m talking about the new KIA Sorento.
Let’s start with the positives, and there are a lot of them. Firstly, and remember - beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I think this is a great looking car. The grille is massive and angry looking – yet there’s some class to it. The body is large and bulky, and looks like it would be more suited to roads in the USA and not here in Ireland. The car looks unique. It’s longer than the outgoing model and is a far more attractive package.
Sit inside and immediately you are greeted by the car’s personal theme tune – you know the way when you turn on your Windows laptop you get the Windows tune? When you sit inside the Sorento you hear what I can only describe as a few bars from Dinah Blow your Horn. The dash is minimalist in appearance yet very nicely laid-out. The seats are large, very comfortable and extremely well positioned in terms of your choice of ride height, etc.
The infotainment system is uncluttered and easy to use – hooking up the Bluetooth was simple, as was navigating the stereo, maps and navigation. My test car had heated seats to the front and in row two. It also had air conditioning that can be controlled in all areas of the car (even row three). The second row is on rails and is spacious, therefore you can allow more room for row three passengers if need be. KIA was kind enough to also leave side armrests and cup holders in row three.
I work from home a lot, and therefore I get to bring my kids on occasional test drives. They love the cars I drive, but this one appealed to them more than most. My family has a seven seat Renault Grand Scenic, but my daughter never wants to sit in the third row in that machine, whereas in the Sorento she stuck to the back row like glue. She had her own little ecosystem going on back there, and when it came to me returning the car to KIA this morning I had to get the hoover out to clean the mess she had left. This was one of the very few cars that she got upset about me bringing back – it was as if I was taking one of her toys off her for being bold! I was a bit disappointed about returning it too.
Okay, so the positive stuff is all in the aesthetics of this massive machine. It looks and feels good. The question now is how it performs. Well, the 2.2 litre engine offers 197hp and it’ll give you 0-100km/h in under 10 seconds – which is quick when you consider the size of it. I found the Sorento to be efficient enough too – I got circa 8l/100km, which was after me pushing this car. Where the car trips itself up is in how it handles. The steering is fine, but the ride can be bumpy and you really feel this while going over ramps – I found that the Nissan X-Trail and the Land Rover Discovery Sport performed much better in this area, and it would be nice if I could say the same about the Sorento.
Cornering in a beast of this size can be a bit wobbly too. The car gives a lot of body roll, and sometimes it felt as if I was driving a van. To be fair, this is a massive car, and this is common in vehicles of this size. The last slight issue that I would have with the Sorento is that it can be a bit noisy at motorway speeds. I’ve been trying to figure out where the noise is coming from, and I reckon that it’s from the very large wing mirrors.
On the plus side, all-wheel drive comes with the new Kia Sorento and it kicks-in when road conditions need it to. I haven’t had a chance to bring it off road, but for those of you who live up mountains; this car will have no difficulty getting you where you need to go.
Okay, so that’s the KIA Sorento, and despite the fact that I have some issues with the car, I will say this it has been one of my favourites over the last year or so. I like it when a car makes me want to defend it, and this car does that. It should sell reasonably well in Ireland, but the likelihood is that the Hyundai Santa Fe will continue to outsell it.
Prices for the new Kia Sorento start from €38,995 for the entry level EX trim. The main seller for KIA will probably be the Platinum trim, which starts from €43,995.
