2007 Kia Sorento ex from North America - Comments

My rotors had to be replaced at 500 miles and again at 9500 miles. Now the vehicle is at the dealership again with the same issue and only 11500 miles.

I have had the transmission shutter at 60 and 65 mph with no explanation. The dealership refuses to acknowledge a problem. Now it shutters at 30-40 mph and at 60-65 mph. The dealership has yet to repair it.

The passenger door will not shut if the vehicle is locked with the auto door lock button while the passenger door is open.

The dome light has never worked properly.

The back glass door (hatch) will not open with the key control consistently.

The car is a maintenance nightmare; rotors 3 times in 12k miles. The Service manager actually told me I couldn't use the brakes going down a hill! I live in the mountains. The dealership is in the mountains. The vehicle is comfortable and rides well, but in no way shape or form would I buy another or recommend these vehicles, at any cost, to someone else. Even if the vehicle was free I would have spent the equivalent of a car payment each month on just the items I've mentioned.

Sounds like a Kia/Hyundai. We won our's and its been more or a nightmare than anything else. The dealers are bent on making money when you bring the car in for warranty service.

Given that I've literally read hundreds of reviews of the 2007 model Sorento, most by very happy owners, it seems as if you got a dreaded lemon. Sorry about that; it's totally a bummer, and an expensive one at that!

Shouldn't you have returned the vehicle ASAP when it started having significant problems at low mileage? That's what the "lemon law" is for after all...

Given that I've literally read hundreds of reviews of the 2007 model Sorento, most by very happy owners, it seems as if you got a dreaded lemon. Sorry about that; it's totally a bummer, and an expensive one at that!

Shouldn't you have returned the vehicle ASAP when it started having significant problems at low mileage? That's what the "lemon law" is for after all...

I purchased my 2007 KIA Sorento Oct. 2007. It has been my worse nightmare. I traded in my 2004 KIA Sorento that I loved. Except for a few minor problems, it was the best car I've ever owned. Thinking that upgrading would be a good idea, I traded in for my 2007 nightmare. I took it back to the dealership the day after I bought it because the transmission while going up minor hills would slam into gear and between 40-50 miles an hour it would buck & surge. It is now April 2008 and KIA has no idea how to fix my car. Dealership has thrown there hands up in the air about it too. They cannot fix it, if KIA doesn't give them the fix. My car has slammed into gear more than I can count. Also it has the Sportmatic shifter, and while going down the freeway in regular automatic and shift it over to the sportmatic side, it shifts down to 4th gear. No matter what speed I'm going. Test drove other KIA's with same type of transmission and while going down freeway in those vehicles, if I move it over to the sportmatic side, I stay in 5th gear as it should. I've had the service manager out with me, and most of what happens to me, happened to him too.

Also it took 4 times back to the dealership to get my sunroof right, the plastic panels below the back seat kept falling out for the first 4 months and had to be replaced. The passenger airbag would not come on when a adult sat in seat. All the windows rattle if there down in any position when that door is closed. Also, the dealership let me test drive one of the other 2007 KIA Sorento's in there lot and the transmission in that vehicle, buck, surged & slammed into gear going up minor hills. Also where I live, the road going toward my house climbs slightly. If I start up the hill and lock the cruise at 30 mile an hour, by the time I get to the first stop sign, the car is shaking just like if you were driving a stick shift and you tried to get up a hill in 3rd gear when you should have shifted down to 2nd gear. The problem is that my car will not downshift when it should, I believe that the slamming into gear happens when the car finally decides to downshift and by that time it's also time to up-shift and it decides to do it at the same time. And with the unnecessary play somewhere in the drive-line, it all comes to a bang.

To the 8th Jan 2008, 12:34 comment. You cannot just returned a lemon car under the lemon law. You have to jump through hoops to get it done. You have to find a lemon-law lawyer that really cares, and hope for the best.

In browsing through the Kia comments, I noticed these rather unflattering reviews of the Sorento. Both Kia and Hyundai are making some incredibly GOOD vehicles now, so I hope the majority of Sorento owners are not having a lot of issues.

The comments reminded me of my one (and only) test drive of a new Sorento in 2003. We were test driving a number of SUV's and loved the styling of the Sorento. I got about a half mile down the road and the Sorento just died. It had gas. The salesman just called for a mechanic and we stood trying to figure out what was wrong. When two Kia service techs drove up, they looked under the hood, shook their heads and said "Uhhh... We really don't know anything about these things"!!! I decided then and there that I WOULD NOT buy a Kia from THAT dealership. Too often inept service people give a great car a bad rep.

I agree: a bad dealer service can make any car look like a lemon. Against all of my friends and relatives best advice I am strictly a dealership person. But if you get crappy service, you HAVE to go to a different dealer - even if it means traveling. Is it the car or the mechanic? With so many positive reviews, your situation is either a case of a single bad car or a case of singularly lousy service. You will have to go to another dealership to find out which. Please let us know!

I purchase a 2007 Kia Sorento EX in June of 2007. Get a load of this! I still had over a half of tank of gas that they gave me at the purchase. I was driving down the road and OMG I felt this horrible vibration. As I was driving home it was worse than ever. I called the dealership and they came and picked it up. Lo and behold, the drive shaft had fallen out. Of course they blamed it on the place it was built. They said a screw or something was bent when it was put in and broke.

I waited for weeks to get it back. They kept saying that the part was on back order and it was indefinite when it would arrive. I asked them was all the Sorento's having drive shaft problems since the part was so hard to get.

Finally after making my first payment and still not driving it, I went back to the dealership. I was angry and frustrated. I finally got the general manager and walked outside with him. I said what are all of these vehicles called parked out here. He said Sorento's. I said exactly. Then I proceeded to tell him since they are not selling to pull one up and I would wait til they took that part I was needing out of one of the new ones on the parking lot and put in mine. Then when my ordered part came in they could replace it. He okayed it and that's what they did.

Now I am having problems with my air bag light, and a pop and crack on left side of vehicle. Unfortunately I have no place to take my vehicle. The owner of that dealership got into a lot of trouble financially and closed it up. Now I am stuck with a shake rattle and no lighted vehicle. Also, I read in one comment about the dome light... mine never has worked either.

After reading all of the comments I am relieved that I am not the only one with these issues.

I have a 2006 Sorento LX. Whenever I go uphill or go into second gear, the truck rattles. I have to take my foot off the gas to ease up a bit to stop it from shaking and then proceed to floor it to get it to drive smoothly. I approached the dealership a few times about it and they say "that's normal".

I've also had to replace my battery last week. It drove fine for a few days but now it started to lug again. The tachometer goes crazy. I feel as though putting my foot on the gas is pointless because it's non-responsive. I had to pray that I made it home safely last night.

No more Kia's for me. If I had the money to trade it in, I would.

We have always owned Toyotas, but because of the buy a Sorento and get a Rio for free, we went to the Kia dealer. We did not get the Rio, but got a really great deal on a fully loaded 2007 Sorento! The car has 15000 miles on it and we have not had any trouble out if it besides the passenger air bag issue, which was a recall, and we took it the dealer and they resolved the issue! I am pleased with it so far and hope I do not have any of the issues I have read on this page!!!