It’s funny how some manufacturers keep getting drawn into debates about their past – whether that be for bad or good reasons. Have a look at this Skoda Superb review by our own Mike Woodley and you’ll see just that – mentions of the past and how Skodas used to be joke cars in this country.
For some reason this trend skips past Kia who most people seem to think only started selling cars in the UK over last ten years and have always had the build quality to justify their seven year warranty. Some of us know this isn’t the case….
My first car (thanks Dad) was K571 MSP a Kia Pride. Bit of a strange name but to be fair, other than having a noisy alternator it never broke down once and did give me my freedom, if not driving thrills. Here it is about to find a new owner at Shotts Auctions
Fast forward 17 years and we find ourselves with the keys to Kia’s flagship Sorento 2.2 CRDI KX-4 – something that any 17 year old would be proud and lucky to park at high school. However, coming in at a whopping £41,000 this will be an unlikely parking place unless you are the head teacher. Can it really justify the price?
It’s easy to scoff but the big Kia has nearly every toy you can imagine and the interior does feel pretty luxurious, like it could cut it with the BMW X5 and Audi Q7 (which start at £44k and £48k!). It’s often when touching the seats, dash and switches that you can tell whether a car is built from quality materials and with the Kia you are never in doubt that they’ve gone all out to use the best.
The KX-4 model which we tested comes with a larger central screen sat nav system which includes a nifty 360 degree camera view (really essential when parking these big seven seaters in supermarket car parks), 10-speaker stereo with amp and woofer, cross traffic alert (also handy with the big cars), voice control system, heated memory seats – basically it’s what you’d expect in a Range Rover but in a Kia.
Now, when we test cars like the Kia Sorento they would usually get used for shipping family members about, going on shopping trips and maybe doing a commute to the office. This time however we had a slightly unexpected test for the big Kia. While in our custody we got the chance to go and drive the McLaren 570s for the day and we needed a car to film from and ship us about between stints in the supercar. This gave us a chance to really test the Sorento’s cross country pace and how comfortable it is to spend most of the day in.
Whilst the 2.2l 197 bhp diesel was always going to feel slow after the Macca, it did a really good job transporting us at a decent speed across fast roads like the A871 Haul Road. Grip, cornering, roll levels, these were all as you would expect in a big 4×4 but the gearbox did do a good job of keeping you in the power band and 441Nm of torque kept in moving along nicely.
Unless you are actually going to go off roading in these cars then I think the looks and the toys are one of the biggest reasons for choosing them. We already know the toys are good and I’d argue the Sorento is a good looking big beasty too.
When you take the 19” alloys, glass roof, slick looking headlights and chrome front grill you do have to question; other than a brand name, what do you get extra from the big German manufacturers?
The only real thing I would change about the car, and I said the same about the Volvo XC90, is that if you are going after the premium sector then you need the engine to feel premium too. Although the 2.2 diesel does get you along the road quick enough, it does feel like it’s working hard and that’s not what you want in this sector of the market. A modern 3.0 V6 unit might sacrifice a bit of MPG but would elevate the experience and really give the Europeans something to worry about.
CAR: Kia Sorento 2.2 CRDI KX-4
PRICE: £41,000
ENGINE: 2.2-litre diesel, 197bhp, 441Nm
PERFORMANCE: Top speed 124mph 0-62mph 9.6 secs
ECONOMY: 42.8 mpg combined
CO2 EMISSIONS: 174 g/km
TT Rating: 
