2016 Kia Sorento EX 2.0 turbo from North America

Summary:

If you are looking for an SUV, buy a Sorento

Faults:

Nothing!

General Comments:

I own a 2015 Sorento with the 2.4L engine.

This is a review of two 2016 Sorentos I had the pleasure, yes, pleasure of renting.

They both had the turbo 4 cylinder, and they were higher end models with leather,

Style:

They look better than my 2015. They appear longer and lower. They look a little beefier. The grille is a little more aggressive looking. I think Kia is doing way better than other brands with their styling.

Performance:

Both vehicles were taken on road trips. On one trip in Canada's remote north I was able to put it through its paces in a 9 hour trip north of Winnipeg. This thing moves! Cruising at 140 km/h is easy. Passing power was plentiful. It was a blast to drive.

Ride and handling were great. It was tight and sure footed on back roads and gravel.

Final Thoughts:

I rent a ton of vehicles every year. All makes, styles and sizes. There is not one negative thing I could say about the Kia. I was very impressed. This car company is doing things right. Their vehicles are great and they just keep finding ways to raise the bar!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 25th January, 2016

2016 Kia Sorento from North America

Summary:

It's not bad, but not great either

Faults:

This was a rental car that we rented for a week and 1,500. Nothing went wrong during that trip.

General Comments:

We rented this vehicle on a 1 week road trip covering around 1,500 miles. To sum it up, I can't really remember anything that remarkable about the car, and that's how I felt in general about the experience of driving it.

Overall the fit and finish of the interior was somewhat cheap feeling. The plastic trim, buttons, knobs and AC/Heater vents felt a little too lightweight in build quality. Was it bad? No, not really. But it wasn't great either. Just so-so. The interface of the sound system was really difficult to use and impossible to work in traffic. It also felt old fashioned - like maybe the experience one would've had with a clam shell cell phone back in the mid 2000's. The UI was simply overly complicated. It did have great visibility though.

The engine felt like it was trying to hard for most of the trip. Pressing the accelerator, even at a more gently start caused the engine to rev into a high pitched whine. The acceleration was actually pretty decent. But there was virtually no feedback. Not exactly the most inspiring handling characteristics either. It has the same problem many newer cars have, which is that there is a kind of lag between pushing the gas and getting a reaction from the engine. Basically it's not at all a race car or even what I'd consider "sporty". It was like everything else with the car - just OK.

It will haul a LOT of stuff though. It had a huge interior with a lot of stowage. A family of four would have no problem hauling themselves and whatever luggage everyone needed with plenty of room.

In the end, would I buy this car? Probably not. But for a family or for someone who wants a decent smaller SUV it's OK. Not amazing, but not that bad either.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 19th January, 2016

21st Jan 2016, 18:51

Outstanding review. But a little confused on a few points. 34,000 miles on a brand new 2016. That's a lot of miles on a newly designed model SUV that just came out. Even for a rental that seems high. Also the internet says the newly designed 2016 model comes with a base 4 cylinder engine, turbo 4 engine and a 6 cylinder. Is it possible you have the base 4 cylinder engine? Also is it possible you had the older 2015 model and not the newly designed 2016 that just came out. Maybe this is a Canadian model that sometimes has different cars than America, even though carsurvey.org has us lumped together as North America. I have read that sometimes they get slightly different cars up there, which sometimes debut at different times and years than us down here.

7th Mar 2018, 23:10

You can't honestly expect an SUV to be "sporty" or a "race car".

16th Nov 2022, 17:40

That acceleration 'lag' is typical Hyundai/Kia modern cars. It's actually part of the 'insane gas saving attitude', Korean style. In other words, they calibrated the gas pedal to have a small 'dead play' so if you want to accelerate you need to depress the pedal more than on other cars. Feels like, "Do you really want to accelerate? Come on, you were just okay cruising. Acceleration will cost you gas. OK, OK, looks like this guy is really pushing down the pedal, give him some gas". Korean style