2017 Kia Sorento EX 2.2 R series diesel from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

A good solid family car that's a pleasure to drive

Faults:

Of course, nothing yet. It's still new

General Comments:

I am still pleasantly surprised about this car. I was persuaded to test drive a Kia by a friend who owns one, and decided to buy it instead of the Lexus RX 450h I was looking at. The Kia was brand new, the Lexus was 8 years old, so I finally went with the Kia. In New Zealand, Kia give a 5 year warranty, with 3 years free roadside assist, and 3 years free servicing, which was another reason for my choice.

The diesel engine is powerful enough, and with 440 Nm of torque, it's a pleasure to drive on the open road. Even with the engine still being new and tight, I get less than 7.5 litres per 100 km (about 37 MPG), pretty good for a heavy all-wheel drive car.

Inside, it has heated seats, electric seats, Bluetooth, USB connections, satnav, as well as side airbags, blind spot alarms, parking assist alarms, reversing camera, the list goes on. The third row of seats can fit a 6ft adult, but kids would fit in there easily. With the seats down, there's a huge amount of room.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 20th July, 2017

22nd May 2019, 07:59

Update after 2 years owning and driving this car. So far absolutely no issues. This thing will go over 200 km on a full tank before the fuel gauge even starts to move.

If I could find something to complain about, it would be the fact that the centre display always reverts back to the clock after you turn it off; I'd prefer it to go back to whatever it was before you turned it off. A small thing, no big deal.

19th Sep 2020, 08:01

These vehicles are plagued with transmission problems and surely by other problems.

https://www.kia-forums.com/threads/2019-sorento-transmission-problems.342128/

19th Sep 2020, 23:01

You clearly had issues with a Kia, since you posted as well in the other Kia Sportage review. Again - check the mileage for starters. Second, your Kias in North America are built locally with different suppliers. Your local vehicles may have issues that other markets may not have (and vice-versa - you'll never have any of the turbodiesel problems that the rest-of-world cars may have).

20th Sep 2020, 16:30

Reading other comments, it looks as though they also had issues with Honda.

8th Mar 2021, 02:46

Not in this part of the world. Maybe only the ones assembled in the USA.

16th Sep 2023, 01:36

Never heard of any transmission problems with Kia here. Or any other problems either. Mine is 6 years old now, nothing has ever gone wrong. Even the battery is the original factory one.