Kia Sorento review

Driving position 

SUVs are the most popular cars for a reason. One of the biggest draws is that the driver sits high up, giving you extra confidence on busy roads.  

The Kia Sorento provides just that, along with a commanding view of the road ahead (and behind), despite being slightly over 4.8 metres long.  

Though if you’re making use of all seven seats, rear visibility is greatly reduced to a sea of five passengers’ heads bobbing up and down in the back. 

Luckily, Kia anticipated this and fitted, as standard on top-spec ‘4’ trims, a digital rearview mirror. This means you have a standard mirror most of the time until you flick it to camera mode, and it uses an exterior camera at the back to relay a picture of what’s behind the car. 

It makes a world of difference, especially with a car full of taller passengers like we had during our test. 

The seats themselves are very comfortable yet have lots of adjustability to hug you or loosen off where you want. Front seats on all trims are heated and cooled, with the middle row of seats getting a heat function on ‘3’ models and above. 

Directly in front of the driver is a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display (four inches on entry ‘2’ models) which shows all the relevant information from your speed, current drive mode (Eco, Smart or Sport), range, and battery level. 

Tech and features 

We feel like ‘keep it simple’ was the motto the designers followed when putting the Sorento’s interior together – and we mean this in the best possible way. 

Modern interiors are becoming so complicated that it’s often overwhelming as a driver to quickly navigate or change something on a massive screen. 

However, this Kia seems to have everything positioned perfectly. Sitting atop the dashboard is a 12.3-inch screen that’s angled slightly towards the driver for ease of use. It’s not the biggest in its class, but it doesn’t need to be and is plenty big enough for maps, music, etc. 

It, of course, gets wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, as well as a wireless charger (in ‘3’ and ‘4’ trims) and a whopping six USB-C ports. Yes, you read that correctly. 

Below the screen are the climate controls, which are part-physical, meaning you don’t need to menu dive on the infotainment screen just to make it a couple degrees cooler.  

Plus, there are knobs on either side of this to adjust the temperature, while everything else is on a touch-sensitive screen in the middle. 

The base spec ‘2’ gets cloth upholstery, while the mid-spec ‘3’ gets leather, and the top-spec ‘4’ gets fancier Nappa leather.  

All versions of the interior are black, which can make it feel rather dark, but the panoramic sunroof on the ‘4’ lightens the cabin nicely. 

Engines and power 

There are three different engine options available on the Sorento – a self-charging hybrid (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and a diesel. 

The HEV and PHEV share the same 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine along with electric motors, while the diesel gets a larger 2.2-litre unit. 

Out of these choices, we’d recommend the HEV because it’s the best of both worlds, getting decent MPG, enough power at 209hp and torque at 367Nm, and you don’t plug it in. 

It’s the engine in our test car, and it handles both town and motorway driving with ease, switching to EV mode where necessary. 

The PHEV lags behind many of its rivals with an electric range of 34 miles, and you will need to plug it in to benefit from this. 

Drive long distances often? The diesel may be the best one for you, because it’ll happily trundle along the motorway all day, but it doesn’t get much more MPG than the other two, which is something to consider.  

It's also worth noting that all versions of the Sorento come with an eight-speed DCT automatic gearbox (no manuals here), which is relatively smooth unless you pin the throttle, then it feels a bit sluggish. 

As for drive modes, there are three: Eco, Smart and Sport. The car will always default to Eco mode, and Smart mode switches between the two depending on your throttle inputs and driving style. 

Handling and ride comfort 

Where this seven-seater Kia really matters is when it comes to ride comfort. There’s no point buying a big SUV if it’s going to feel crashy on all road surfaces and too wallowy around tight country roads. 

Thankfully, we found the Sorento to be superb. It’s compliant on our bumpy British roads most of the time, but approach an undulating piece of tarmac at motorway speeds and it wobbles around quite a lot, which is to be expected for its size. 

At lower speeds, though, it’s absolutely spot on. It’s a very comfortable ride (possibly down to its 19-inch wheels wrapped in thick Continental tyres), and it doesn’t feel 2.6 tonnes thanks to its light steering. 

The Sorento is front-wheel drive most of the time, using a combination of the engine and electric motor, but automatically switches to four-wheel drive when needed for added traction. 

There is also an array of terrain modes, so if you wanted to take your sensible seven-seater on sand or through mud, you can... in theory. 

Boot space 

No matter which way you look at it, the Kia Sorento is a massively practical car.  

Even with all seven seats in place, it still gets 179 litres of boot space (a tad under a Fiat 500’s), which is enough for three large Tesco shopping bags full of beach gear for all seven passengers. Trust us, we tested it. 

With the rear row folded neatly away, you get 813 litres (809 in the PHEV), which puts it above rivals such as the Hyundai Santa Fe (628 litres) and the Škoda Kodiaq (780 litres). 

Still not enough for you, or you don’t want a car full of giggling passengers? Fold down the middle row of seats and get a cavernous 1,996 litres (1,988 in the PHEV). This means you can easily transport longer items from a big IKEA trip. 

Plus, no loading lip makes sliding them in even easier. 

Rear seats 

One worry with a lot of seven-seaters is whether you can genuinely fit seven people in them, or will you need to cut the heads and legs off those in the boot? 

Kia clearly thought of this when packaging the new Sorento, and the result is a car that can quite comfortably fit seven fully grown adults in. 

We even tested putting a couple of people above six feet in the sixth and seventh seats, and the result? Well, no complaints, though we fear a longer journey may have warranted some moaning. 

If you are doing a family road trip, we’d recommend sticking the taller passengers in the middle row of seats, which have more legroom – even the middle seat isn’t too bad. They also slide forward and backwards to create a little bit more legroom that can make all the difference. 

Plus, there are four USB-C ports for rear-seat passengers to use – two in the backs of the front seats and two in the boot. Sorry, middle passengers, you’ll need to fight the front passenger for yours. 

Storage solutions 

Family cars always need nifty storage solutions, and the Sorento is no different. 

In the front, you’ll find a deep storage compartment underneath the central armrest – big enough to fit a one-litre bottle. 

The door bins are fairly big, and like the central compartment, can keep larger bottles. 

But our favourite bit above all else are the rear door-mounted cupholders, allowing for easy access to your drink. Even those sat in the boot have one each. 

Towing 

Diesel engines aren’t as popular as they used to be, and buying a new one is becoming rarer and rarer, so you may as well make the most of them while you still can if you’re a keen caravan or trailer tower. 

The 2.2-litre diesel with its 440Nm of torque can tow up to 2,500kg, while the two hybrids are limited to 1,000kg. 

Safety 

The Sorento scored a full five-star rating following its most recent Euro NCAP safety test in 2020, showing excellent crash protection in the event of a collision. 

All models come with an array of features such as Smart Cruise Control, Dynamic Brake Control (DBC), Hill Start Assist Control (HAC), Lane Keep Assist and a 360-degree camera. 

Unlike a lot of other cars these days, there’s no easy way to quickly turn off these assistance systems, which can be a bit fiddly, but thankfully, they're not as intrusive as some other ones. 

Fuel economy 

We’ve been averaging 43.8mpg across 500+ miles in our HEV test car, which beats its claimed 42.2mpg efficiency and equals around 600 miles on one tank of petrol. 

The PHEV, on the other hand, can manage up to a claimed 176mpg (realistically 48mpg when using a mixture of electric and petrol) and up to 34 miles on electric power alone.  

Plug-in hybrid MPG figures can be very misleading because they account for a significant portion of time driving on electricity alone, unlike in the real world, where you’d lean more towards a mixture of both. 

Whereas the diesel has a claimed 42.8mpg, making it (only marginally) better for longer motorway stints. 

But the moral of the story is, just buy the HEV for the best of both worlds – decent MPG and no need to plug it in to charge. 

In our test car, we found using the shift paddles was a real bonus. In Sport mode, they change gear hesitantly, but in Eco mode, they adjust the regenerative braking through three different strengths; the strongest being better than we experienced in the fully electric BYD SEALION 7. Top points then for Kia here. 

Reliability 

Kia and reliability go together like strawberries and cream at the tennis. There should be very little to worry about when it comes to the Sorento’s dependability. 

And with Kia’s seven-year/100,000-mile warranty, you have little to worry about for longer-term ownership.