Kia Sorento Diesel

It's an upgrade from Cerato to this Sorento. The space no matter human or goods is really fabulous, the pick up acceleration is good too

I have a 5 year old Sorento. Was great for the first 4 years. Now it is in the service center every 2months. Yes every 2 months. Right now it is with CnC and they have said it will take 3 weeks to fix with no car replacement as they have to import a part. I bought a Kia because I thought it was reliable and easy to fix. My car is out for one month..... Very costly.

Owning this fabulous car for 6 months now and ready to put some candid review. To be honest , I am a super Japan car Fan and only own Jap cars since 1996 till today. I often discourage people to own Korean car due to its image previously.

Having budget of 250k, this was really a enormous surprise car for me and like below comments I first came across this in car expo and thought will just stage for my wife in order to steer her to my BMW X, tourer or GL series later. Maybe to a E or 5 Series also..

Went with Mrs. First and was super impressed with the top notch quality inside the car. Well..Things did not change yet and I go with plan I visited Merc, BM, Audi, Lexus etc. To test drive all cars according to plan..

Seriously the Price of Sorento had entered some Conti range and my brain begin to behave like "Are u nuts, pay this kind price for KIA?! Might as well get A4.."

Finally when I narrow on either E200 or X3(mainly for the brand to how lian which many sporean does..) with their super good overtrade, I decide to do some leisure local and overseas all regions' research on this Sorento which leave me an almost near perfect impression.

That is not good enough, I went and test drive multiple times with different people and feedbacks etc. Feel this was comparable to Conti , in fact its exactly a conti spec and make.

So the only difference between BM, Merc and this was the price of the badge that I need to pay if I take the former.

I forgo the badge craving and decided to get this...

Am enjoying the ride now and it also serve the family well..

Will get a second pre-own conti car from difference in price I save.

Had tested drive the Sorento twice and totally in love with it! In fact, had almost paid for the deposit but changed my mind at the very last min signing another make MPV instead.

Here's my review as a car "Goondu" Below; Spec I don't know, only the driving feel.

High seating gives the driver a bird's eye view hence giving confidence. Drive was smooth with power.

Stable turning and U-Turning with responsive accelerator.

My teenage girls were with me, and they were super wow over by Sorento and said this is the "ONE"!

They like many of the features inside eg. Electrical ports at 2nd and last row for phone charging, panoramic sunroof (of course), comfy seats even the last row.

Although Sorento isn't my final choice, but guess I will always lust after this beautiful car....

An impulsive buy but nvr did regret. Secured a competitive price during kia rd show in the east and traded in my 2yo 2.4L Outlander. Depre worked out to be mid $11k. The great torque was the deciding factor. Space, built quality, and the tons of features are great. Having the car for the past week, I've managed to clock avg of 14.5km per litre with 70% Highway routes. Definitely an added surprise for this 2 tons suv!

Driven many amny cars before, from mx-5 to cx-9 now currently driving cayenne and cx-9 and looking to replace cx-9. C&C offered my 2+ year old cx-9 140k while many other places did 145k. Vw offered 150k. Compared many cars which are seven seaters which range from the trash toyota sianta to something like the skoda kadiaq. These cars are,mazda 5, toyota wish, honda jade, opel zafira, toyota noah/voxy/esquire, three french 7 seaters gc4p , 5008, grand scenic. Also tested bmw 216i gt but way too underpowered. Best two mpvs tested are touran and sharan. Suvs tested include Nissan xtrail(last row seats not useable), Honda Cr-v(really poor built quality), mitsubishi outlander(drivetrain and body control very poor), skoda kodiaq(almost 170k after added options,almost cx-9 territory).

At last shortlisted 3 cars, Kia Sorento, Vw sharan and Vw touran.Tested each car at least twice before settling on the touran. Sorento had good power and torque, can really feel the thrust when pushed hard, seats high up(commanding position),spacious 3rd row seats. Feels much faster than the figures on paper suggest 9.3sec. Not a hint of sluggishness with 5 on board. 10 year warranty very impressive and 5 year free sevicing is also great. Built quality is amost on par with the Germans but quality of materials not up there yet, asking price 145k for gt line also quite expensive. Limited colours left, no colour i want, hence i went for touran

Got my Sorento GTLine at end of Aug. Absolutely love it. It is powerful yet not noise. Exterior (esp the tiger nose grill) may not please everyone but overall the presence is there. Interior is nicely done. Loads of features such as ventilated front seats, electronic front seats with presets, real time FC, tyre pressure monitor, Auto engine start/stop, etc. Driver seat can be adjusted in a lot of ways. CarPlay and Android Auto ready. (Finally) a bigger MMC screen. Plenty of boot space. Rear sun blinds are very good for Singapore. Lots of boot space with 3rd row down. Can fit in one 26-inch foldable mountain bike and one 20 inch foldable bike (maybe another 20 inch one, will try later). GOOD FC considering it is nearly 2 tons. I am getting 8.XL/100km for my usual routes on normal mode which has about 65/35 Hwy/City. That is < $70 per 71L tank (~900km). Sports mode is very responsive and fun to drive with when traffic is light. Normal mode is also powerful enough for most cases. I installed TTC cushion and the car is quite stable and comfort to ride with. Without TTC it is fine also. Of course more body-rolling than a sedan but respectable for a SUV of this height. Sure you can get a cheaper SUV but I consider the extra cost money well spent for all the things I can get with Sorento. Quote from CarAdvice article: "In its latest generation, the Sorento has grown far larger than it has ever been before (4780mm long and 2780mm wide), no longer straddling the medium and large SUV segments a-la the Mitsubishi Outlander and Nissan X-Trail, instead now competing directly with the likes of the Mazda CX-9 and Toyota Kluger."

PS - Difference between GT and SX - not much, GT has AWD, paddle shifter, red upholstery, Seat Work-in System,

I've test driven this car for a few days when I loaned it from Kia. It has one of the best handling for cars of this size. The fuel efficiency is not bad considering the size of the car as it runs on diesel.

Got the Sorento Diesel in Dec. Previously drove a Korean, Japanese and 2 Conti. After driving my 1st Conti, never thought I will go for anything else other than a Conti car simply because of the build quality and higher specs especially torque which is a huge factor in my decision for cars as I enjoy driving cars with high torque.

Though Sorento is rather pricey compared to other Japanese/Korean 7 seater SUV, it does comes with cool features, interior quality and luxurious feel which is mainly found in higher end models of Conti brands. I enjoy the performance as it is pretty powerful. Very quiet for a Diesel car...Can barely hear the rattling sound.

The 3rd row provide more than enough space for the average adults. I am 1.8m and there is still adequate space between my knees and the middle row(mid row seats push all the back)

After test driving almost all the 7 seater SUV from price, comfort, features and performance, I would say Sorento is the logical choice for me.

No regrets so far.

Frankly, I never thought I'd buy a Kia.

Even the test drive was an afterthought - I scheduled it as the first test drive of the day and intended as a staging exercise to make it easier to steer my wife to my preferred option.

Then when I heard the price, I was tempted to cancel the test drive. $25 to 35k more than the Japanese 7-seater SUV options Mitsubishi Outlander and Nissan X-Trail ? More expensive than a Honda Odyssey ? I wondered what C&C was smoking.

But I gave it a chance. I am quite particular about certain qualitative aspects of a car because its a non-obvious indication of the overall quality of the design ie am very particular about the interior materials used (soft or hard plastics, where the hard plastics are) and NVH insulation.

The Sorento passed both tests with flying colours, to my big surprise. On both fronts, it felt like a premium brand. The other major surprise was the torque on hand - it literally threw me back in my seat.

Hence, the Sorento emerged from an invisible dark horse to become wholly unexpected front runner in my mind. But it still did not feel right paying more than an Audi A4 ... For a Kia.

So to get myself comfortable, I researched extensively.

- I tested every possible alternative in Singapore, spanning X-trail, Outlander, Odyssey, to considerably more expensive options like Discovery Sport and XC-90

- I read every possible review and comparison test of overseas publications

- I read up on all the reliability surveys I could get my hands on

What I learned gave me sufficient comfort to go ahead with the purchase. And to assure myself I was not an idiot paying so much for a Kia, I checked the overseas pricing as well, and found out that in the US, high spec Sorentos are priced in line with Discovery Sport, Lexus RX, Acura MDX, Audi Q5 (priced much higher than Sorento in Singapore).

I have now had the Sorento for 4 months and have heard my fair share of "This is a Kia? Wow" And "You bought a Kia? Haha". But no matter, the Sorento has met or exceeded all expectations to date.

Objectively, the only 7 seater SUVs I would swap the Sorento for are the XC90 and the new Audi Q7, which are both double the price.

Hence the Sorento offers unmatched value at its price point.

Excellent car but not really for singapore market.

The engine was powerful and drive was good. Comes with all the bells and whistles. But for the price it seems rather poor value.

Other 7 seater SUVs such as Xtrail. Outlander. Outback. Etc are a good 40k cheaper. That's like 30%. Not to mention the diesel tax.

I got the Sorento SX 2.2l AWD in January and it has been a wonderful one month driving it. It's exactly the kind of car you don't mind spending time in stuck in the peak hour traffic.

I owned an XC90 and a Mazda5 prior to the Sorento diesel. I like the XC90 for its stability, power and spirited drive. However, it was a guzzler and too big for many public carparks. The mazda5 was a roomy MPV which the passengers enjoy more than the driver. So I was kinda undecided between a SUV and a MPV. The sorento gives me the best of both worlds. It's not a compromise. The diesel variant gives an amazingly powerful drive. It is the most comfortable car my family has owned. It can also get me 12km per litre (of diesel!!). It drives and feels like a luxurious bavarian sedan.

I test drove both SX and normal on Diesel and Petrol version in Jan 2016

Very impressed

Currently driving Wish

Diesel is something not in my shopping list but while doing research it seems like a good fit for heavy mileage accumulators like myself. Tested the suv on a saturday afternoon, first impression car is solidly built and has a very muscular stance which I like, the engine was surprisingly quiet inside and the view is fantastic from the drivers perspective.

Power delivery was linear and at slow speed it was very easy to navigate because of the speed sensitive steering.

Only complain is the pricing which i felt is still steep and also the lack of quality diesel up north. I guess when the north matures with the recommended grade of diesel it should give this segment a good push.

Test drove the diesel version during the Kia MCF event. I had previously test driven the basic petrol version. Here are some apparent differences :

1. Torque is really superb. The engine was poweerful and even steppin on the acclelerator produced lots of torque...Really poeer on tap.

2. Diesel clatter.?? Surprisingly quiet.

3. Air ventilation seats...All cars sold in the tropics should have this feature.

All in, a very nice car, both exterior and interior and driven.

But I reckon at thge current price of 186k, it's out of reach of many people.