You may never have heard of the Kia Sorento, but if you are in the market for a spacious 4x4 then you should have done. If you haven’t, now’s your chance to find out a bit more about it.
Kia is a make in the ascendancy in the UK right now, selling record numbers of cars. It belongs to Hyundai so there is some crossover of mechanical DNA between the ranges but the Sorento has no match in the Hyundai line-up.
Its 4x4 models have been outselling those of Jeep and it may well be that you have seen a Sorento and not realised it. Many people mistake it for the more expensive Lexus RX300, although the two cars are quite different.
The major differences are important. The Kia costs less than the Lexus and also comes with a choice of diesel engine. That may be all you need to know. If that’s the case, move to the last paragraph to find out about prices - otherwise read on.
The Sorento comes with a choice of engines, a 2.5 turbodiesel and a 3.5 litre V6 petrol. Parker’s Price Guide, the one you can buy, didn’t even mention the Sorento at one time, although it does now. Glass’s Guide, the book the trade uses, has values for the diesel and not the petrol, which only sells in very small numbers.
If you want to protect your investment then the diesel is the Sorento to buy. The petrol cars are worth much less already and that difference will hit hard when you want to sell, if only because no-one will want to buy your petrol car.
I spent a fortnight running round in a diesel Sorentos, both manual and automatic five speed gearbox and found them enjoyable device. In around 1,100 miles of motoring the car returned a consistent 27.5 mpg, which is bearable for a big 4x4 these days.
I also tried a petrol model some time back and found it much more thirsty, struggling to best 20 mpg. But, then again, a much smaller 2.5 V6 petrol Freelander is no better.
In normal driving the Sorento is in rear wheel drive but engaging 4x4 and low range is no more difficult than twisting a knob on the fascia. No levers to pull on this one, so life is easy.
The car is competent enough off-road, with enough ground clearance to avoid collisions with the scenery on the underside. On road the ride is fairly good, maybe not a smooth as a Range Rover but then you could buy three new Sorentos for the price of one Range Rover Vogue.
Durability does not appear to be an issue. One of my test cars turned over onto 22,000 miles while I had it and they will have been 22,000 very hard miles. If it can stand that treatment, and it had done so very well, then it should be able to take whatever you throw at it.
More recently, Kia has revised the Sorento and upgraded the diesel, lifting power output from the 2.5 litre unit from a slightly wheezy 138 bhp to a much healthier 168 bhp. These cars will pull up to three tonnes, which is why so many enthusiasts with large caravans seek them out as tow barges.
If you off-road regularly, then servicing needs to be frequent, but otherwise once a year should suffice for a Sorento. Insurance starts at Group 12, fair for the type of car it is.
If you want a roomy and well equipped 4x4 at a good price (about to get keener as a new model launches in February) then the Sorento makes a good choice. The bad news is that it does not suffer from over the cliff plunges in values like some other Korean cars.
With that in mind, an 03 52 plate diesel XE will cost you £6,200. On an 05 plate it would be £9,800, but go up to a top of the range XT auto on an 08 plate and you’ll spend £18,300. There was a time when values hardly fell, but that’s a saving on new price of £7,500, which is worth having.
Maurice Hardy
