Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Kia Sorento Starts Next Stage of the Brand's Evolution

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.

Related content

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.


No comments: