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CHEAP CHEROKEE

Models Covered: (5 dr 4x4 2.5 diesel, 3.5 petrol [XE, XS])

BY ANDY ENRIGHT

Kia took a big step upmarket with the launch of the Sorento. Previously known for their small, cheap cars, the South East Asian manufacturer first branched into 4x4s and MPVs before taking the plunge in 2003 with a proper family sized 4x4. The Sorento was good, worryingly so for quite a few other manufacturers who traded on badge equity more than actual talent. With an excellent reliability record, sound build quality and stylish good looks, the Sorento is an interesting buy if you want a family 4x4 without typical family 4x4 pricing.

The Kia Sorento was launched at what proved to be a rather fortuitous moment. Just when it looked as if Kia had been beaten to the punch by SsangYong with their Rexton 4x4, wranglings as to who was going to import the car left the way open for Kia to clear up in the budget family 4x4 sector. In truth, the Sorento probably outstripped even Kia’s most optimistic sales projections, the 2.5-litre diesel variants proving a good deal more popular than the rather thirsty 3.5-litre petrol model.

Those familiar with the Amalfi coast may feel the Sorento to be starting at something of a disadvantage in being bereft of an R but after the slightly odd name, things get a lot better. For a start, the Sorento looks the part, which is the next big battle won. In certain respects, it shamelessly apes the Mercedes M-Class but when you’re set to be paying around £18,500, this is no bad thing. Walk around the car and there’s not one duff angle, no botched panel fits, no awkward juxtaposition of detailing, although one can’t help but feel this is a car that would look far happier on Santa Monica Boulevard than Streatham High Street. Equipment levels are good, with all models being fitted with anti-lock brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution, twin front and side airbags, air conditioning, electric windows and self-levelling rear suspension. As well as a limited slip differential, there are neatly integrated front fog lamps, some respectable alloy wheel designs and blade-profile roof rails. Top end models feature some quality electronic options such as in-car DVD and satellite navigation. Two different 4x4 systems are offered, depending on which of the three trim levels are chosen. Upspec models get a full-time all-wheel drive system whilst budget models feature a system whereby drive to the front wheels can be selected manually. Either way both have a proper low ratio gearset for serious off-roading. It’s the interior quality of the Sorento that sets it apart from so many wannabes in this tough corner of the market. We expected brittle elephant-hued plastics and chintzy trim but instead got soft touch materials and a quality feel. Only the slightly cheesy veneer trim fitted to some luxury models can be called into question and even then, the clean overall feel of the rest of the cabin design redeems it.

Prices for a 2.5-litre CRD diesel XE model kick off at £13,500 for a slightly above average mileage 03 plate model. XS versions tack another £600 onto these price but there are good number around the Kia dealer network from which to choose. Choice evaporates a little if you’re set on a 3.5-litre XS petrol engined car. These are far rarer than the oil-burners and if you can find one, it’s probably best to price it on an individual basis. Insurance for the Sorento is affordable, the 2.5-llitre cars falling into Group 12 with the grunty 3.5-litre rated at Group 14.

The Sorento offers a welcome relief to that perennial Kia complaint of insubstantial cabin quality, feeling a good deal more thoughtfully put together than Kias of yore. As with all vehicles that purport to have off road capabilities, get underneath and take a good look for damage to the exhaust or suspension and listen for whining differentials. Inspect the luggage bay and the seat backs for signs of damage when loading. Mechanically the Sorento benefits from Kia’s usual reputation for excellence. Otherwise insist on a full service record and contact a few franchised dealers to try to find the best bargain available.

(approx based on a 2003 Sorento 2.5 diesel) Kia spares have gained an enviable reputation for good value, and replacement parts for the Sorento are no exception. Front and rear brake pads both cost around £51 a set while a radiator will be around £155. An alternator is approximately £280 and a starter motor is £175. A complete exhaust system minus catalytic converter is about £560.

Beneath the well-executed lines lies something of a hardcore philosophy. Rather than adopt the current Trend for more car-like monocoque chassis, the Kia has a ladder-framed separate chassis and a solid rear axle instead of independent rear suspension. Those tempted to dismiss the Sorento as just another in a long line of effete ‘Barbie trucks’ are now starting to eat their words. The heavy-duty chassis and suspension set up mean that the Sorento can tow far heavier loads than a Land Rover Freelander or a Nissan X-Trail but it can’t hope to rival their on-road nimbleness. Having said that, it doesn’t make a bad fist of things on the blacktop. The suspension has been fettled by Porsche and whilst you won’t be clamouring to part-exchange your Porsche Cayenne after a spin round the block, the Sorento is far from agricultural. Big transverse ridges can still send tremors through the bodyshell but it’s a decent showing. It certainly corners harder than you’d at first give it credit for and without the oscillating steering response that many such 4x4s are plagued with. Two engines are offered - a 192bhp 3.5-litre V6 petrol range-topper and one that may be more pertinent to UK buyers, the 2.5-litre CRD common-rail diesel. This engine is new to Kia and features fuel injection technology from Bosch to promote smoothness and efficiency. Any 138bhp engine that has to propel something the size of a Sorento isn’t going to generate headline-grabbing performance figures and this one is no exception, but quoting sprints to 60mph seems vaguely churlish when it comes to this market. Of more importance is the chunky 343Nm of torque and the fact that the Sorento CRD will return an average of 36.2mpg with a manual gearbox or 33.6mpg in H-Matic automatic form. Of the two gearboxes, the automatic is probably the better bet you can change gears yourself with a flick of the lever or leave the car to do the hardwork. It’s worth sacrificing a couple of miles per gallon and a few zeppelins worth of CO2 per year in order to access the self-shifter’s relaxed nature and effortless way of plugging you right into the meat of the torque curve. Opt for the V6 and the auto is standard.

The Sorento has filled a market niche that few at first even believed existed. Family sized 4x4s were traditionally bought on the strength of their image, but buyers have seen these vehicles improve massively over the past few years and now represent a viable alternative to more staid MPV style vehicles. The Sorento managed to catch the imagination of this new wave of buyers and it makes a good used buy. Choose your paint finish carefully as the Sorento is quite colour sensitive but otherwise there’s little to grouse about.

NO LONGER THE SURPRISE PACKAGE
Kia’s Sorento claimed quite a few big name scalps in the 4x4 sector when it first appeared in 2003. The latest model remains a contender that rivals sit up and take notice of. Andy Enright reports

Okay, so the secret is well and truly out of the bag by now. Wind the clock back to 2003 and Kia’s Sorento was an unknown and, if truth be told, a massively underrated package. Few took it particularly seriously but when the value proposition was set against the sheer capability and versatility of this 4x4, established rivals started to squirm rather uncomfortably. It wasn’t just a patronising ‘metal for your money’ equation. The Sorento outpointed a lot of them fair and square. Fast forward to today and we now have a revised model. It will escape many that the Sorento has had a facelift but in any case, the changes go a good deal deeper.

Sorento owners seem pretty satisfied with their lot, the car topping the 4x4 category in the J D Power Customer Satisfaction survey, so radical changes weren’t deemed necessary. You’ll probably need an old and new car parked next to each other to really get a handle on the alterations to the exterior styling, so to save you the bother, we’ve done that for you. Virtually all of the sheet metal is carried over but there are revised front and rear bumper sections, a three bar grille replaces the one bar original and the projection-style headlights also give the front end a more contemporary appearance. The tail lights and body mouldings have also been tweaked. If you were tight for space on your Sorento in the garage, it might be worth bearing in mind that the changes have added another couple of centimetres to its overall length. Although sales of big 4x4s have slowed in the UK over the past 12 months – the market growing by a mere five per cent year on year – the Sorento piled on an additional 10 per cent sales growth, stealing sales from the likes of Hyundai. Honda, Jeep and even Land Rover. Where the Sorento ran out of steam was in competing with some of those marques’ more powerful diesel offerings, the 138bhp 2.5-litre oil burner offered in the Kia not really able to face down some increasingly powerful and sophisticated black pump bruisers. The revised car features a reworked version of the 2.5-litre diesel as its volume engine, this time turning out 21 per cent more power (168bhp) and fully 25 per cent more torque with a peak figure of 392Nm coming at a low down 2,000rpm.

"Expectations are much higher this time around. The Sorento need to work smarter in order to deliver"

This means that instant urge is on tap as soon as you require it, making pulling out of T-junctions and onto roundabouts brisker and thus safer. This power increase comes courtesy of an electrically actuated variable geometry turbo and lops a full 2.6 seconds off the car’s sprint to 62mph, the diesel Sorento now bulldozing that benchmark in 12.3 seconds. Fully Euro IV-compliant, this engine will even return a creditable fuel economy figure of 35.8mpg if driven with a little more circumspection. If fuel bills are a secondary issue, there’s also the 3.3-litre V6 to consider. This has enjoyed an even more potent shot in the arm, with peak power rising an enormous 48bhp over the old, rather agricultural 3.5-litre unit. This means that the petrol Sorento will now get to 60mph in just 8.9 seconds with even better fuel economy thrown in as an additional sweetener. As well as finessing the styling details and revising the powerplants on offer, Kia has taken a good look at safety, increasingly one of the major drivers when customers come to choose a vehicle of this ilk. For increased occupant safety, ESP stability control, active head restraints and front seat-belt pretensioners are offered, plus a passenger airbag cut-off switch is available. ESP automatically corrects potential skids by braking one or more wheels and/or reducing engine power, while active head restraints protect against whiplash injury. An audible reversing aid is also now offered to help reduce the risk of parking knocks and twin front and full-length curtain airbags are standard. The quality of the interior has been improved through a revised centre stack and floor console, a neater control layout and higher-quality materials. The centre stack now houses dual-zone air conditioning, a trip computer and a double-DIN JVC CD player with an MP3 compatible stereo system. Comfort has been improved with reshaped backrests on the front seats and multi-adjustable rear backrests. Along with these refinements come some changes to the trim structure. As well as the current grey interior available on XE and XS, there is a premium black leather and wood effect trim package available on the range-topping Sorento XT. Make no mistake that this is a model that has changed the way many customers shop for big 4x4s. Before the Sorento, Kia’s smaller Sportage had tried to put a lick on a few compact 4x4s but its key asset – its super low pricing – originally had a counterproductive effect in a market as style-conscious as this. It was somewhat like turning up at Oscar night in an outfit supplied by Top Man. Up to a certain point, the price tag was as a constituent a part of the message as the hardware itself. Only through continually improving their products to a point where the logic in choosing a premium badge become almost impossible to grasp did Kia manage to turn the tide. Now the Sportage is one of the biggest selling compact 4x4s and this revised Sorento looks set to accelerate its already promising sales curve upwards. There’s a lot to like about this honest and unpretentious 4x4. From its rugged ladder-framed chassis to its neat styling and increasingly sophisticated engines, it’s a car that stands comparison with more illustrious rivals regardless of price. Given that the sum you’re paying is relatively so low, it calls into question the wisdom of spending more. If you’ve an ego that needs propping, those German giants are waiting with open order books. If not, the Sorento could be all the car you’ll need.

Facts At A Glance CAR: Kia Sorento range PRICES: £20,195–£26,435 - on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 13 CO2 EMISSIONS: 206-255g/km PERFORMANCE: [CRDi] 0-62mph 10s / Max Speed 110mph FUEL CONSUMPTION: [CRDi] (combined) 35.8mpg STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags, ABS with EBD WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE? Length/Width/Height, 4587/1884/1804mm

XE-C WHEN YOU KNOW HOW
It’s Unlikely To Appear At The Top Of The Sales Charts But There Is A Place For Kia’s Sorento XE-C in the UK LCV Market. Steve Walker Reports…

Is there really that much call for 4x4 vans? I only ask because the market is positively swimming with the things and yet, when was the last time you saw one on the road? It could be that these vehicles do sell in good numbers but all spend their working lives out in the windy wilds so nobody who sticks to more travelled thoroughfares ever claps eyes on them. On the other hand, it could be that demand for off-road vans is slight and the inordinate number of different models is down to the ease with which manufacturers can chop the rear seats out of a family 4x4 and sell it as a van. Whatever the thinking behind it, Kia have gotten in on the act with their Sorento XE-C commercial vehicle.

We’re talking about 4x4 vans here and not pick-ups. The pick-up truck is a far more common beast for reasons that aren’t too tricky to fathom. They have that tough ‘n’ trendy image for one thing and you can see how the open-air load area could come in useful for dirty and/or smelly equipment - whether it’s of the professional or leisure variety. Put something smelly in the back of a 4x4 van and you’ll be sampling that aroma all the way home, while any dirt that drops off in the back can’t be easily hosed away and won’t wash off in the rain. It’ll be a dustpan and brush job. When it comes to keeping cargo dry, a 4x4 van obviously fares better but it’s simple to equip a pick-up with a detachable load area cover to solve that one. In terms of functionality, a 4x4 van only really makes sense if you want to carry a load that must be kept clean and protected from the elements over terrain that a conventional van couldn’t handle. It’s a specialised set of requirements that might go some way to explaining the 4x4 van’s relative obscurity. Over the past few years we’ve seen 4x4 vans aplenty popping up onto the LCV marketplace, some of them, like Kia’s Sorento XE-C, from unexpected quarters. Nissan, Land Rover and Mitsubishi are the usual suspects in the sector but Jeep threw us a curveball with their Cherokee Pioneer a while back and then Kia came up on the rails. These last two additions to the genre are unusual because neither Jeep not Kia had any history of selling commercial vehicles in the UK. Could it be that they view a van conversion as a quick-fix method for shifting a few more units of their family 4x4s? It is a possibility, although there’s more to the Sorento XE-C than a standard Sorento in which someone has set about the rear seats with an angle-grinder.

"Kia’s offering might just be the most visually attractive 4x4 van on the market"

The Sorento’s rear bench seat is no longer present in the XE-C van and in its place is a flat load floor. The area in the back has surprisingly roomy dimensions with a load length of 1,610mm, a load width of 1,370mm and a height of 930mm. Access to this space is through the rear tailgate which also retains the secondary flip-up glass hatch seen on the Sorento passenger car. It’s a handy inclusion that lets you quickly drop smaller objects into the back without opening the full tailgate. You can also get at your cargo through the rear passenger doors but these side-hinged portals don’t really lend themselves to the loading or unloading of bulky items. You soon appreciate why purpose-built vans employ sliding doors on their flanks when the open doors on the XE-C get in the way and the aperture, which was designed to accommodate passengers, won’t let that big cardboard box pass. Eventually, you’ll admit defeat and use the tailgate to stow any oversize objects. The Kia Sorento is a good-looking family 4x4 and, being that the alterations which made it into a van took place internally, the Sorento XE-C is a good looking 4x4 van. Looking good might help it get an edge on the competition too. It’s not too difficult to envisage image conscious urban businesses turning to something like the Sorento XE-C instead of a run of the mill compact van. They would probably have no intention of ever taking it off-road but, creatively sign-written and packing some outlandish alloy wheels, the XE-C will cut much more of a dash on the local high street than something like a Citroen Berlingo. With its chunkily modern front end featuring that sharply contoured bonnet and those dramatic wheelarches housing their oversize wheels, Kia’s offering might just be the most visually attractive 4x4 van on the market. The XE-C is based on the Sorento XE from the passenger car range but the very fact that it shares its specification with a non-commercial model is encouraging as vans normally miss out on the choicest features in the interests of keeping costs down. Sorento XE-C buyers get air-conditioning, remote central locking, power steering, ABS brakes and 16" alloy wheels amongst other niceties. What’s entry-level spec for a family 4x4 these days is still positively luxurious for a van. All Sorento models come with the same 2.5-litre CRDi common-rail diesel engine and it’s a pleasantly refined one that’s not lacking in power. The 138bhp maximum output is generated at 3,800rpm and torque of 343Nm is available between 1,850 and 2,500rpm. It all adds up to good flexibility with strong acceleration on tap through a broad section of the rev-range. There’s a choice of good five-speed manual gearbox or a five-speed H-matic auto option which makes for a more relaxed drive but hurts fuel economy slightly. Pick the manual and you can reasonably expect to get 37mpg from your Sorento XE-C and that drops to 33mpg with the automatic. On the road, the steering is rather loose and inaccurate but the XE-C rides well and is otherwise very pleasant to drive. Kia’s traditional values of high specification and low prices should strike a chord with commercial vehicle buyers in this country and there’s no reason why the Sorento XE-C shouldn’t establish a foothold in the LCV market. There are question-marks over the durability of some of the interior materials when faced with harsh commercial usage and the Sorento isn’t the most capable off-road vehicle but you can’t argue with the specification, the price or the styling and the engine is also a winner.

Facts At A Glance VAN: Kia Sorento XE-C PRICE: £18,670 – £19,909 On The Road PERFORMANCE: [CRDi] 0-60mph 14s Top Speed 106mph FUEL CONSUMPTION: [CRDi] (urban) 28.2mpg/ (extra urban) 43.5/ (combined) 36.7mpg WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE? Length/Width/Height, 4567/1884/1804mm