2003 Kia Sorento Review

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Heaven knows I commit more than my fair share of typos, and I have a chronic hair-shirt rash to prove it. So I’m certainly not going to carry on about Kia’s quirky orthography concerning the name of their all-new Sorento sport/utility vehicle. The Sorrento I know, on the south side of the Bay of Naples not far from Capri, is of the Double-R variety — as is its Australian counterpart near the mouth of Port Phillip Bay, south of Melbourne. No, Kia is close enough; and “Sorento” certainly sounds the same, in English at any rate. Let’s give ’em that much.

It’s just that I can’t resist pondering architect Mies van der Rohe’s observation that “God is in the details.” Kia’s brand-spanking new SUV is in many ways a masterpiece of market research and commercial opportunism. It’s just the vehicle Kia needs — right now — to exploit the U.S. auto buyer’s hypnotic fascination with SUVs. Sorento is appropriately sized, well made, suitably utilitarian, adequately powered. It’s poised to make a darn respectable show of itself duking it out against rivals like Ford’s Escape, Jeep’s Liberty, the Honda CR-V, the Nissan Xterra and the Toyota Highlander.

But there are a few missing details. For some shoppers, they will be mere quibbles; for others, they may spell the difference that determines who wins the Compact-SUV Olympiad.

The basics

Kia has elected to build a truck-based SUV whose rigid ladder frame gives it the ruggedness to tackle fairly significant off-road challenges. Among its chief rivals mentioned above, only the Nissan Xterra take the same tack; and in this particular face-off, Kia offers much the better ride quality.

Keep in mind, though, that the car platforms underlying the Escape, CR-V and Highlander all deliver plush rides by comparison. Most SUV owners are pavement addicts, of course. The Sorento’s off-road biases may wind up providing advantages most drivers will never even acknowledge.

Underhood, a 3.5-liter twin-cam V-6 gives Sorento 192 horsepower to work with, along with 217 pound-feet of torque. For 4200 pounds of curb weight, this is adequate, but it still doesn’t match the Liberty’s 210 hp. You’d think, then, that better fuel efficiency would compensate. But it doesn’t. The EPA rates Sorento at 15 mpg city, 18 mpg highway, whereas the Liberty posts 16/20; and both of these are shamed by the CR-V’s 22 mpg city, 26 mpg highway figures (albeit from a 2.4-liter in-line four making 160 hp).

In EX trim, as tested, the Sorento is available with part-time four-wheel-drive, giving drivers a choice of three modes: 2WD, 4WD-High and 4WD-Low. A limited-slip rear differential is a boon in the boonies, but in 2WD mode on the pavement, a funny thing happens on the way to the forum. The Sorento becomes positively skittish at the rear. In dry conditions, this manifests in the form of squawling tires even during low-throttle turns — say, from a stop sign. (I hadn’t gotten looks like that from other drivers since I was a teenager.) In the rain, the stakes are raised: the Sorento becomes disconcertingly tail-happy, and you’d be wise to shift into 4WD pronto to avoid some unintentional fishtailing.

Looks to spare

Certainly, the Sorento looks the part of a contemporary SUV, with cosmopolitan exterior styling, which shames that of its rivals. Inside is a competent rendition of the standard two-three seating layout, offering decent if not generous rear seating for three adults. Layout of controls is also typical — in other words, no surprises, which is a good thing since everything is where you expect it to be and does what it’s supposed to do. Materials, however, are ever-so-slightly cheap-o. The woodgrain is a little too faux, for example; the seating velour and floor carpeting just a little too thin.

This latter point, in fact, is most noticeable when you deploy the folding 60/40 rear seats for maximum cargo. The rear seat backs are supposed to fold flat after you remove the headrests and stow them in slots piercing the uprighted seat bottoms. Well, my right rear seat back wouldn’t flatten completely. Forcing it down only chafed its upholstery, whereas storing the headrests seemed to overstress the velour of the seat bottoms. How long does it take, I wonder, before repetitive chafing like this results in worn or torn fabric?

It’s the Sorento’s very versatility as a cargo-carrier, in fact, that makes this an entirely relevant question. With all seats in place, there are 31.4 cubic feet of stowing space for luggage, coolers, and the like. This more than doubles to 66 cubes when the rear seat is folded completely flat. These are the kinds of numbers that prudent SUV shoppers are attracted to, and the Sorento does not disappoint. In the realm of towing, however, its 3500-lb. rating is strictly light-duty.

For $24,595, Kia’s up-level Sorento EX is competitively equipped with four-wheel disc brakes and standard front and rear head-curtain side airbags. It’s curious to me, therefore, why ABS brakes are a $520 option — particularly in light of all that rear-drive skittishness in 2WD.

There are, it seems, certain inscrutable disconnects in Kia’s conception of its new compact SUV. Clearly, it’s the company’s most accomplished SUV to-date, rendering the Sportage, in one fell swoop, a primitive predecessor by comparison. The Sorento has the looks to turn heads, the power to be credible, the versatility to be truly “sport/utilitarian.” It even has an almost over-eager warranty of five years or 60,000 miles (ten years/100,000 miles for the powertrain alone), and includes five years of roadside assistance.

It’s just that here and there — from chafing seatbacks to twitchy tail to oddly optional ABS brakes and thirsty fuel consumption — the Sorento falls aggravatingly short of the mark. One detail or two short of godliness. Off by a single "R," perhaps.

2003 Kia Sorento
As tested price: $24,595
Engine: 3.5-liter V-6, 192 hp/217 lb-ft
Drivetrain: Four-speed automatic, rear- or four-wheel drive
Length x width x height: 179.8 x 73.3 x 68.1 in
Wheelbase: 106.7 in
Curb weight: 4057-4255 lb
EPA City/Hwy: 15/20 mpg (2WD); 15/18 mpg (4WD)
Safety equipment: Driver and passenger front and side-curtain airbags
Major standard equipment: Power locks/windows/heated mirrors, air conditioning, eight-speaker CD stereo
Warranty: Five years/60,000 miles (10-year/100,000 miles powertrain)

 

 

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Comments (1 total)

  1. Kia owner

    By Robert | Posted: 19/10/2008

    I bought a 2003 Kia Sorento, and Yes I got a good deal, about 5,000. less than a chevy of similar size and options. the all wheel drive is nice but in the summer its a waist, I wish I could switch it to 2 wheel drive when 4by isnt needed. the Kia gets crappy gas mileage for its size, and its about 10 mpg less than whT I would be getting if I bought the chevy, so Nice kia for the money, though the paint is also coming off already... 5 years being babied didnt do anything to keep it from happening. hte kias are cheap to buy, because they were cheaply built. Next time I will be buying a chevy if they are still in business!!!

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