Kia Sorento Advice

There are some states where the very existence of unmarked police cars seems almost as illogical as it is cruel, while in others, like Victoria, it’s a surprise that every second vehicle isn’t a cop car in disguise.

When most people think of off-road four-wheel drives (4WDs), they tend to picture beefy, petrol or diesel-guzzling beasts that only look legitimate when equipped with winches, caked with dried mud and decorated with a constellation of bugs.

The first thing we did when trying to figure out the meaning of the Sorento badge was to ask Kia Australia.“No idea” was the simple reply. Beyond, that is, the obvious connection with towns such as Sorrento in Victoria, Western Australia and, of course, Italy.Since the Sorrento on the Bay of Naples is the best known globally, and Kia is definitely a global company, it would stand to reason that it’s the Italian Sorrento that Kia was referencing.And there are plenty of precedents for car companies naming sometimes hum-drum cars after exotic resort locations: Ford Capri and Cortina; Chevrolet Malibu; Triumph Dolomite. So why not Kia Sorrento?That gains weight when you consider that – depending on who you talk to – the town of Sorrento was named after the Sirens that inhabited the area according to Greek mythology.And if the PR spin is to be believed, Kia picked up on the Sirens’ legendary powers of attraction to describe it’s alluring full-sized SUV.Even Tina Arena managed to get the spelling correct on her 1995 single 'Sorrento Moon'. Although, ironically, despite being born to Sicilian parents, Ms Arena was actually singing about the Victorian Sorrento in the song, and the film-clip was partly filmed at Sorrento back-beach, south of Melbourne.By spelling it with one 'r', Kia instantly put all those theories in doubt, because even the Australian Sorrentos are double 'r'.Maybe saving a few cents on each badge was a thing in South Korea back then. Rs don’t grow on trees you know.That’s a bit more interesting because even though it’s one of the shorter words on the planet, 'Kia' is actually a two-part word.The 'Ki' bit is a way of saying 'coming' or 'arising from' while 'a' is either 'the East' or 'Asia'.Which is a heck of a lot less esoteric than a mis-spelt Italian resort town.

Industry-best seven year unlimited kilometre warranty announced by Kia.Kia is today launching a new industry-leading warranty program that will cover owners for seven years and unlimited kilometres.Customers will also benefit from seven years of capped price servicing and roadside assistance, while the warranty will be fully transferable between owners.All existing Kia owners whose vehicles were covered by the brand's previous five-year capped price servicing plan will also automatically receive an additional two years of capped price servicing for a total of seven years. The five year warranty period remains for these owners however."Crucially, our customers will not be asked to pay any more for their scheduled services than had been the case with the five year capped-price program," Kia Australia COO Damien Meredith said."The two year increase in warranty, capped-price servicing and roadside assist is absolutely transparent and we will not be asking our customers to dip into their pockets to fund the extra benefits," he added.Kia is currently the only automaker in Australia to offer a seven-year warranty period, trumping Citroen's six-year term and the five-years offered by several other manufacturers. The Korean brand's new coverage is also more than double the three-year industry standard.