Think of SUVs and your thoughts will often go towards Kia. They and their sister brand Hyundai have marked out this area of the market as their speciality and they have made great strides in recent years all across their range.
It comes from confidence. The confidence that they’ve left their bargain basement heritage long behind and are now in the top tier of manufacturers. They have made a number of important appointments in recent years like stylist Peter Schreyer and poaching Albert Biermann from BMW’s M Division. Those aren’t the actions of a company doing things by halves.
And so we come to this week’s test car, the latest Kia Sorento, a seven seater SUV and it must be said, a handsome design. It reminds me of nothing other than the Kia Telluride, a car I saw everywhere on the streets of LA when we used to travel.
It’s bigger than before, seemingly in every dimension and that translates into huge interior room for families and their luggage.
Of course, the final two seats in the rear are really only for children but even with them in use, there’s still decent room left for luggage. Even accessing the seats is made easy – press one button and the middle seats slide forward allowing access to the two at the very back. Another button folds the front passenger seat back flat. It’s all very clever stuff and really makes for a family friendly car.
Inside, there’s a new dashboard design dominated by a colour screen for the driver’s instruments with an additional 10” colour touchscreen for infotainment. It’s a good system and easy to operate although I found the hardware buttons on the left hand side a bit of a stretch to reach. It just shows how much room is in the cabin.
A pretty much unique feature is the ability to call up various ambient sounds, including a tropical jungle, rainfall or a busy café at the touch of a button. I’m not sure exactly why you’d want all that but it’s a cool thing to have.
My test car was the PHEV version, the first time such a powertrain is available on the Sorento. Power comes from a 1.6 litre turbo petrol engine with a 14kWh battery powering an electric motor. Together, they allow you to call on 265bhp and 350Nm of torque and that’s plenty for very sprightly performance. A six speed twin clutch automatic is the only transmission option and it does a very good job. There are even various modes to deal with conditions including mud, snow or other difficult terrain.
A full charge takes about four hours and gives around 56km of electric only range. A slight disappointment is that the charger is only rated for around 3kW so there’s no advantage to having a 7kW wall charger. Charging is barely faster than a standard 3 pin plug.
Once you’ve exhausted the electricity, the petrol motor kicks in and it has to be said that that’s when things get thirsty, particularly at motorway speeds.
Before ordering the PHEV, you’d want to make sure you can do most of your journeys under battery power, otherwise it could become an expensive car to run. I was seeing 10l/100km on extra-urban runs.
I did like the way the car drove though. On the first day I had it I had to go to North Clare and being pressed for time, I pushed the car on and was surprised how well it handled country lanes. It’s not a sports car nor is it designed to be but I was impressed with its positivity and the way it flowed through the corners, doing all that while retaining a very comfortable ride, which will be much appreciated by your passengers.
One feature that will be really appreciated by the driver is ‘the indicator thing’. I heard my colleagues waxing lyrical about this and wondered what it was. As soon as I used the indicator I discovered that it activates a tiny camera hidden in the mirror and projects that view onto the instrument panel. It’s a huge boost to safety and I can’t believe that nobody ever though of it before. It should be made mandatory on all new cars – it’s that good.
The Kia Sorento PHEV costs from €52,500 and comes in K3 and K4 trims.
Standard equipment includes 19” alloys, climate control, smart cruise control with stop and go, LED headlamps, folding electric mirrors and a heated steering wheel among lots more.
Moving up to K4 spec adds niceties including a panoramic sunroof, ambient lighting, two tone leather and heated rear seats.
The Sorento is a deeply impressive seven seater SUV. Whether the PHEV would fit into your life or you’d be better off staying with diesel can only be answered by looking at your individual circumstances but if you’re in the market for this kind of car, you need to look at the Sorento.
