NONE of
us who were at the international press launch of the Kia cee'd in 2006 will forget the sense
of shock we felt after the first mile or so of driving it because few cars
before or since have been as far removed from its predecessors as that one was.
Perhaps
only the prototype Skoda Octavia I drove at the factory near Prague in the
mid-1990s had the same effect on me and look what's happened to that brand!
Previously
we had known Kia as a maker of
good, cheap and very cheerful cars, much as Dacia is today, but nothing more.
The cee'd blew that image away and at one bound took Kia into the same territory as
the VW Golf, Ford Focus and such like.
Its
engines, the way it rode and handled, its styling and perhaps most of all the
way it was built and screwed together put it in the front row and every Kia produced since than has
maintained that standard. You want quality? Don't forget that Kia was the first to offer a
seven year/100,000 warranty. As it happens a couple of years ago I bought a
second hand Ford Focus as one of our family cars but it was a toss up between
that and a cee'd.
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But
never one to rest on its laurels Kia has put its cars
under the microscope and concluded that good as they are, they still lagged
behind the class leaders in each sector in one critical area, the perceived
quality inside, the touchy-feely bits the drivers and passengers see and use.
And
this is the result, the third generation Sorento SUV and just as with the cee'd
back in 2006, it doesn't take long behind the wheel to se what Kia has done – and
yet again it has got it absolutely spot on.
Priced
from $28,795 every Sorento
gets a 2.2 diesel which complies with the latest Euro emissions standards,
all-wheel drive as standard, a choice of six-speed manual or automatic
gearboxes and a very family friendly third row of seats making it a seven
seater.
I am
not a fan of its somewhat anonymous styling but what you can't see is that this
version is significantly more aerodynamic and stiffer than before and that
second quality gives the engineers a better platform to fine-tune the
suspension and steering.
As a
result it rides beautifully, it is very quiet thanks partly to the integrity of
the basic chassis but also extra noise insulation between the cabin and engine
bay, it steers fine and with the automatic version I tried 70 mph requires less
than 2,000 rpm in top which bodes well for effortless, economical and relaxing
cruising.
So far
so good but the real eye-opener and the thing that everyone is going to be
talking about is the interior because this is like no other Kia before it. I would say the
trim materials are as good as anything you will find in a land Rover or BMW or
something like that and the 'goody count', the amount of features you get for
the money is probably better.
There
are four trim levels, from KX-1 through to KX-4 and I had the second from top,
the KX-3. Heated front seats are nothing new but heated outer rear seats are
and it is a while since I've had a heated steering wheel too. In fact I think
the last car with one was a Bentley...
It has
an eight-way power adjustable driver's seat, the second and third row of seats
fold down effortlessly, there is a power-operated tailgate, the instrumentation
is clear and instantly legible and it has all manner of safety aids, many never
before seen in a Kia.
The Sorento is indeed as big a step
up in terms of cabin quality for Kia as the cee'd was in
terms of basic engineering nine years ago. It is deeply, deeply impressive.
Kia Sorento
From $28,795
Sorento KX-3 $37,595
0 to 60
ten seconds
Top speed 124 mph
Average mpg 42
CO2 177
g/km.
Warranty seven years/100,000 miles.
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