2016 Kia Sorento review & road test | Auto Expert John Cadogan

Full Kia Sorento review here: www.autoexpert....
The new Kia Sorento 7 seater SUV is a game-changer for Kia. But the big question is: Who’s going to pay more than $60,000 for any flagship wearing a Kia Sorento 2016 badge?
The curse of being an up and coming carmaker is that the cars on sale now always lag behind the brand’s reputation. The product might be worth 9 out of 10 today - but people will think it’s still in the sixes. Kia has significant reputational opprobrium to overcome, but the new Kia Sorento could easily be Kia’s redemption ex-machina.
Here are the top six reasons why the new Kia Sorento is a real winner - but don’t worry: this review is not a Sorento suck. I’ll be telling you exactly what you’ll hate as well. Any way you look at it, it's one of the best family SUVs in Australia.
Hyundai is very worried about the Kia Sorento - because it raises the bar, and it puts the Hyundai Santa Fe under significant pressure. The Kia Sorento is 90 millimetres longer than Hyundai Santa Fe - and 80 of that is between the wheels. That means access and legroom for passengers is objectively superior in Kia Sorento. If you’re carrying your kids, their friends, your friends or your relatives - or any combination of those vehicular hangers-on - that’s going to be an important consideration.
Let’s compare Hyundai Santa Fe Highlander and the Kia Sorento Platinum. The Kia Sorento is going to cost you $2750 more. So let’s leave our personalities at the door and think like accountants. Is there a net return on investment for your almost $3000 additionally spent? Kia Sorento is longer, as noted, but they both have the same powertrain. Sorento’s in front on warranty, but the Hyundai Santa Fe claws back some ground on capped price service, and longer complimentary roadside assistance.
The $3000 question is active safety: Sorento has blind spot warning (which you can live without - especially if you adjust the mirrors properly) but it’s also got adaptive cruise control, and that’s a huge plus on congested freeways. So all up, you have to conclude that Sorento more than passes the value test - the extra dough is definitely worth it. It’s good value. Adaptive cruise and longer wheelbase would do it for me.
Santa Fe - and I’m a big Santa Fe fan - is copping a real squeeze, right now. (That’s great news, if you want to buy one.) Sorento is squeezing from above and the new Hyundai Tucson is piling on the pressure from below. Tucson has some equipment that the Santa Fe lacks (adaptive cruise - go figure). So it’s a card-carrying certainty that Hyundai will move in coming months to add adaptive cruise and probably some other active safety stuff to Santa Fe. They’re not confirming it yet, but it’s a done deal. And the only remaining question is: What will happen to the price?
Sorento is certainly not cheap, but it’s good value. When you look at vehicles like the Land Rover Discovery Sport, the commercial philosophy is completely different. You can buy the poverty pack of Disco Sport for within $1000 of the Sorento Platinum. But it is a poverty pack. If you want to feel like a peasant, albeit a peasant driving a good-looking SUV, buy the Disco Sport TD4 SE. As commercial propositions go, the base Disco Sport is like retaining a dozen Bangkok hookers - everything you really want is gunna cost extra. The big alloys, the high-intensity lights, the third seating row. And every time you tick one of this infinite series of boxes, it’s another two grand.
It’s very easy to get seduced by these notionally sexier SUVs. They’re all doing it: Audi is a gold-medal-winning specialist at docking their vorsprung durch technik vacuum cleaner up to your bank account in this way as well. You walk into the dealership expecting to pay about $60,000, and you will emerge from these delightful institutions with telltale bruising and tearing in a certain intimate area, and more like $90,000 lighter of pocket. It’s a vulgar, egregious process. But when you buy a Sorento, the price you expect to pay is much more in line with the price you actually pay. What you see, and what you pay, are not too far apart.