2021 Kia Sorento SPORT 7 Seat: owner review

Our neighbour bought a 2019 model Sorento diesel and raved about it every time we chatted over the fence, so we figured because the new one won Drive Car of the Year, we better check out what everyone seemed to be talking about, having never owned a Kia before.

The budget was between $40k and $60k and my wife and I are both over 6-foot tall so we wanted something roomy.

After reading every review, we test drove the Sorento in both Sport and S versions.

Immediately, the style of the Sorento, even in base model trim, impressed us greatly. The cloth seats are fat bum friendly and offer plenty of support for long trips.

Cabin layout is excellent and very stylish without being gaudy in our opinion. The cup holders available in the back doors for the kids won a huge thumbs up, and meaty door handles give a solid feel.

The safety tech is impressive, however I now include a 5 second deactivation of lane centre assist every time I start the car because it feels like someone else has their hand on the wheel all the time, and that's just odd.

This is the first vehicle I've had with adaptive cruise, so it's a bit weird at first to let the car follow the one in front and come to a full stop all by itself. Given the general drivers are really bad in our area, I set the distance to 3 or 4 unit spacings to be sure. It's impressive tech, but I'd rather drive it unassisted because before you know it, you are doing 65 in an 80 zone because the guy in front is not able to drive consistently, and the cruise just mimics the lead vehicle.

The view from the driver's seat is commanding and steering is lighter and more precise than our previous CX-5's, which makes the urban run easy.

A few key things we miss in the base model are maps, although Android Auto is available, so the phone is always plugged into the USB slot for navigation. This is good as it's tucked away in a neat little cubby spot and I don't touch it (not that I ever touch my phone while driving, Your Honour).

My brother-in-law and the service mechanics all seem to relish the chance to change seat positions for their brief drive which means a powered seat with memory function would be nice.

How does it drive? Well, it's the smoothest vehicle we have had to date. Even our kids mentioned how smooth the vehicle was, which is amazing because they normally don't notice anything other than their phones or whether we are close to Macca's.

The new 8-speed dual-clutch auto never seems to get caught napping and it changes cleanly every time. Even in that typical slow down - then accelerate to get across a roundabout, the transmission is ready to go and there is no jerky lurch. It just matches revs and surges forward.

Comfort mode is the default and it does a great job of changing as soon as 2000rpm is reached to keep it in what I would call a sweet spot of torque and moderate revs. Sport mode (the one I like most) changes at 3000rpm and keeps itself awake to the fact that there might be another stab of the go-pedal coming soon.

Speaking of go, the 2.2-litre diesel is impressively smooth, relatively vibration free and 440Nm is enough torque to feel effortless for real world driving. It's not a race car, but it isn't a slouch either. I would say that the CX-5 with iDrive is quicker, but the Sorento is far nicer to drive. All-wheel drive is great and keeps wheel spin impressively contained.

There is some telltale diesel clatter when it's cold, but that fades away quickly.

Fuel economy is great and I enjoy seeing nearly 900km of range from a 67-litre tank fill. At the end of each drive, the trip's average fuel use is displayed, and sometimes it's a game to see what the usage was for a regular school run. Running late sees fuel in the 8 litres per 100 kilometre range, and a leisurely run is down in the mid 6's. Freeway runs dip into the low 6's which is pretty impressive.

On a dark road, the low beams could be better and high beam isn't as good as other vehicles I have owned.

Overall, the Kia Sorento we chose cost $52k for a full-sized SUV that gets great fuel economy, feels quite premium to sit in and drive, and the 7 year unlimited warranty offers a lot of peace of mind.

The Sorento will soon be joined by a white Kia Stinger as the mid life crisis replacement for my FG Turbo. If people like this review, I will give some impressions on the Stinger when it arrives next month.

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