The Kia Sorento has been just one of our beloved midsize crossover SUVs these previous few years. With available V6 power, plenty of features and a roomy interior with a readily available third-row seat, the current-generation Sorento is an excellent alternative for consumers who want something a little bigger than the normal tiny crossover. This year’s updated 2014 Kia Sorento has all the same draws, but it brings some substantial improvements to keep it aboard with the competitors.
Design – Interior & Exterior
Adjust comes from within: the 2014 Kia Sorento’s elegant brand-new log cabin verifies that talk-show talking factor instead succinctly. It’s the evident change in the new Sorento, a lot more so than the sheetmetal, which looks about the same as in 2012’s version.
The Sorento cuts a much more rugged profile than most of the crossovers of its dimension. The SUV taste isn’t as muffled as it performs a Highlander, or even a Santa Fe, or as overplayed as it is on the Honda Pilot. It’s just attracted, minimally described, and only gently changed this year, with brand-new front and back sides and some trim at the sills to provide it a bit even more mass. The taillamps are LED-lit now, of course, and the grille is either intense like steel, or a more intense black mesh on the Sorento SX.
Kia’s professionals saved their electricity rather for the cabin. It’s relieved of the majority of the inexpensive-looking plastics that worked well enough for the past couple of years, and covered in finer, soft-touch products, polished off with slim, spare metal trim. The center pile’s been improved to match a larger LCD display for designs equipped with navigation, and the assesses are recast to make sure that an LCD screen will certainly match there, too, at the very least on more costly models. The woodgrain trim still comes down on the inauthentic side– as does some of the genuine lumber we’ve viewed on various other crossovers lately– yet there’s a considerable feel to the cabin since matches the Sorento’s soundless creep in price over the past couple of years.
Powertrains and Performance
The 2014 Kia Sorento is provided with 2 engine selections. The base engine for the LX is a 2.4-liter four-cylinder that produces 191 hp and 181 pound-feet of torque. Optional on the LX and common on all others is a 3.3-liter V6 that makes 290 hp and 252 lb-ft of torque. All Sorentos include a six-speed automatic transmission. Front-wheel drive is conventional and all-wheel drive is readily available as an option.
In efficiency testing, an AWD V6 Sorento accelerated from a total halt to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds, which is a double-quick time for this training.
The EPA approximates fuel economy for the front-wheel-drive four-cylinder Sorento at 20 mpg city/26 mpg highway and 22 in integrated driving and the AWD at 19/24/21 mpg. These are underwhelming numbers compared to what’s commonly obtained by tiny crossovers, though those automobiles are smaller and lighter. Gas economy for the V6 is average at 18/25/21 mpg for the front-drive version and 18/24/20 mpg for AWD.
Fuel Economy / MPG and Safety
The Kia Sorento supplies better gas mileage for 2014 compared to it did in the initial one-half of its life cycle, with six-cylinder versions getting on as well as other three-row crossovers.
The front-wheel-drive Sorento is rated at 20 miles each gallon on the EPA’s city pattern, 26 miles each gallon road, or 22 mpg combined when matched with the four-cylinder engine and automatic transmission. The numbers drop to 18/25 mpg, or 21 mpg integrated in the six-cylinder Sorento with the automatic transmission.
The all-wheel-drive Sorento is rated by the EPA at 19/24 mpg, or 21 mpg integrated as a four-cylinder, and 18/24 mpg, or 20 mpg incorporated, as a six-cylinder.
As compared to automobiles like the Toyota Highlander or the new Nissan Pathfinder, the Sorento’s integrated figures are in line, when it’s outfitted with the six-cylinder engine. As a four-cylinder five-seater, the Sorento’s simply pitted against more reliable and often smaller-displacement offerings. Ford’s Edge, as an example, offers a turbocharged four-cylinder rated at as much as 28 mpg highway; the Toyota Venza isn’t far off that mark.
Safety details
The 2014 Kia Sorento has been placed with the crash-test paces, and it’s aced them.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provides it 5 stars general, with just a solitary four-star rollover-resistance score keeping it from perfection.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) dubs the Sorento a Top Safety Pick, though without a small-overlap examination, the “+” designation is out of grab now.
In addition to the usual security and airbags– though its third-row seat isn’t really covered by its curtain airbags– the Sorento additionally has a driver knee airbag and Bluetooth as common devices, while a rearview video camera is an option on the Sorento LX and Ex Lover.
New on the Sorento’s choices listing are blind-spot displays, which inform the vehicle driver if cars are coming close to in out-of-sight spots. It’s an useful attribute that’s a choice on the LX and Ex Lover, and specification on the Sorento SX. Parking sensing units, one more useful attribute for close quarters, are an alternative on the LX and basic on all other trim levels.
Aside from those features, visibility is good from the vehicle driver’s seat. The rearmost headrests mainly associate the Sorento’s rear pillars, protecting many of the perspective to the back quarters.
2014 Kia Sorento Price
The 2014 Kia Sorento starts at a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $24,950, and reaches simply shy of $42,000 for the Nappa-leather-clad SX Limited specialty trim. That upper end sounds like a bunch of cash for a Kia, yet the 2014 Sorento is a great deal of vehicle, both in functions and improvement. Kia’s drastically enhanced resale values just strengthen the Sorento’s already excellent worth recommendation.
