Excellent review, Lyn. Here are some comments from an owner of a fully loaded SX-PP V6 AWD top trim purchased in 2018. We're a family of four (two adults, a teenage daughter who drives, and a big dog who doesn't drive but whose second home is either the Sorento or my GTI.) The Sorento is my wife's daily driver, my daughter's vehicle when she can't convince me to lend her the GTI and the family's "road tripper." Our first 2012 Sorento was remarkably trouble free for about 80K miles. We have 55K miles on our current version and have had only one issue; an intermittent short in the ECU that produced occasional stalling and and an engine check light. The entire ECU was replaced at 50,000 miles free of charge under warranty. The new generation Sorento is undeniably an improvement in terms looks. My wife loves her "jelly bean" 2018 Sorento but I'm less enthusiastic. I was initially skeptical about replacing the V6 engine with a 2.5L turbo 4 but have since come to feel it's a win/win. Better fuel efficiency and performance. And given the fact that KIA, Hyundai, and Genesis have put the engine in at least 8(!) vehicles this year, all with their warranty of 10years/100K miles (in the US) common to all those vehicles I'm no longer doubtful. I'm not surprised to see the tow rating drop from 5000 lbs in my V6 Sorento to 3500 lbs. And since I tow nothing more challenging than a wheeled trash can up and down a very long, very steep driveway every week it's not an issue for us. All in all, the abundance of bells and whistles in the new generation Sorento is impressive. The blind spot monitor display in the driver's view in the "cockpit" would probably have prevented a minor collision when a hotshot in a Camaro decided to pass on the right late at night when my wife tried to change lanes. The alert that the back seat is occupied when the driver leaves the vehicle parked should be a mandated feature (imo). One wonders how parents can forget an infant in the back seat but dead kids every summer proves it happens. And no doubt the number of dead pets that never get reported in the paper dwarfs that statistic. The infotainment system shared with Hyundai is among the best. The third row of seats is nearly always criticized for being cramped by reviewers. But to their credit in a rare example of marketing honesty KIA describes the third row as "Plus Two" seating. Furthermore such criticism is seldom as highlighted for, say, the Toyota Highlander where legroom is two inches less (27.7") less than the Sorento's third row and overall seating in all three rows (an important metric since the first two rows can be adjusted to provide a better allocation of legroom for all passengers) in the Sorento is 113" compared to the Highlander's 110". And the Toyota is over half a foot longer than the Sorento. In any event the third row of seats may not be the most generous among midsize crossovers and we use ours less than 10% of the time. But it's a huge convenience for a local trip with the need for 6 or 7 passengers and the alternative is using two vehicles. All in all, the new generation Sorento is impressive but it's not all rainbows and unicorns. KIA has reduced the driver seat lumbar support from 4 to 2 way, eliminated the extending thigh cushion in the top trim model, and eliminated driver seat memory altogether in every new Sorento. The last is annoying in a family SUV with an MSRP over $40,000 and especially inexplicable given that the closely related Hyundai Santa Fe retains seat memory. Finally, it's not unusual for upper trim SUVs to increasingly limit second row seating to captain chairs. But KIA has gone further. The only Sorentos that now offer second row bench seats are the lowest two trims. Even the "volume" selling EX is limited to seating for two in the second row. That's a shame and not only for those with larger families. The bench second row in our Sorento is our dog's second home and won't be happy (or easily fit) in a captain chair. The only option is to more or less permanently deploy the third row that severely limits cargo space or fold one of the 2nd row captain chairs that opens the cargo space for him while leaving room for a single second row passenger. I've suggested to my wife that we might try to teach the dog to use a captain chair but neither my wife nor the dog think that's an acceptable alternative.
Miss Lyn, I would echo what someone else kind of already posted, which is that while it technically has three rows, it's primary competitors are more the Ford Edge, the Honda Passport and the Chevy Blazer; maybe also it's cousin, the Hyundai Santa Fe.
I didn’t even notice the old emblem until you said it. I don’t care about image status or what people think I care about the vehicle itself. Besides you can get those emblems changed really easy.
I always imagine Lyn walks off the set everytime she talks about the exterior features of a car and the KBB director has to convince her to come back and highlight just "one more part" of it before they let her drive.
Lyn gives me the vibes of the mom that would buy you ket but wouldn't take it with you or while she was still in the house. Like you could just take it back to your place. I love it!
Gotten one 2022 brand new and not happy transmission problem and the dealer doesn’t even care and we have been without a car for 2 months and not result making payments with no car
I always thought 3rd row seats in SUVs are a big waste of space. 99% of the time, seats are very cramp , uncomfortable and claustrophobic. You pretty much need to be a contortionist to climb into the back row. Third row seats makes more sense in a minivan :-)
Haven't really seen 5k over MSRP for a Sorento actually mainly seen it discounted by 3-4k as long as it isn't xline. Xline though usually goes for sticker. (From MD/North east)
Sick of these 4 cylinder turbos.... stick to the naturally aspirated 3.3! Nobody cares about reliability anymore! Vehicles are not consumer products like a toaster! They're 40-50 k! Not 200! Rotate a Vehicle out every 3-5 years before warranty is up is their play! There's more to life than buying vehicles! Someone should be able to own a vehicle for a minimum 5-10 years!
Was in the market to buy it few months back and test drove it, but the powertrain/gearbox dual clutch in the nice trims was bad...realy bad. It's glossed over in this review surprisingly but just check out others. It stinks they don't have the V6 and unfortunately the Telluride is still going over MSRP and I'll never do that. Check out TFL very lightly taking this thing off road and it did terribly and got overheated in mild terrain....:( looks are deceiving people
A Beauty indeed, but $45K> I don't think so! The much wiser decision in my estimation would be to plunk $45K down on a VW ID>4 at least you get a $7.500 rebate!....CHEERS!
@@buffybeast because i dont''t like what i don't like??? You insult me? Ok. Your acceptance of other opinions is zero my friend? Or just your family raised you to be rude?
Garbage, if want room for the fam get a van if want quality buy a honda or toyota with the v6 if ur credit score does t cut it then your stuck with these pos cars, let the buyers start craying for what i said lol
