Kia Sorento 2004 Review

A budget alternative to the established 4WD brands, the Sorento has most of their features. The big bonus is it leaves the buyer enough change to be well on the way towards putting a new Kia Rio runabout in the garage for other family members.

The 4WD market segment is in boom mode, with the iconic brands building sales on the back of a long history of development.

While Kia is a recent addition to the market, its compact Sportage has earned a good reputation.

The Korean company has had several decades of experience building a 4WD workhorse for military application in the Asian subcontinent, so it knows what it's doing. There's nothing workhorse-like in the Sorento, though.

Especially in the optional metallic silver paint, it has a crisp Euro look. From waist height down, the body flares over its stylish alloy wheels in a muscular stance. The 3.5-litre V6 engine gives the Sorento almost car-like acceleration, although it doesn't quite have the power and torque of some of the big 4WDs from Japan. Nonetheless, its 145kW of power at 5500rpm and 295Nm of torque at 3000rpm pulls its 2027kg kerb weight along briskly.

Towing capacity of 2300kg (braked) compares well with many of its more expensive rivals.

Visibility from the driver's seat is good. The clutch, power-steering and gear change (five-speed manual) operation are light and clean. A simple knob to the right of the steering wheel takes the Sorento from rear-wheel-drive to four. The gearbox has high and low ratio. High can be selected "on the fly" up to 80km/h. Low ratio also locks the diffs.

You'd expect some compromises in a large 4WD costing $35,950, but the Sorento has just one. Its suspension feels a generation behind most of its more expensive rivals. With 10,000km up, the test vehicle exhibited little bodyroll under extreme cornering. Of concern was the way the suspension tackled undulations on bitumen and corrugations on dirt roads. The force of the bumps was transmitted through the chassis, rather than being absorbed by the suspension. The set-up is coil springs all-round, double wishbones up front and a five-link rigid rear axle. Perhaps the spring and shock rates need revising.

Although handling is fine on sealed roads, it feels nervous at speed on rough roads in the way many family 4WDs did 10 years ago. Back then, some buyers were prepared to spend extra at aftermarket suspension specialists sorting this out. Today it's expected the factory will do it.

For everyday use, the Sorento is as good as anything around, despite fighting with the big boys in a league above its price range.

There is excellent headroom in the front and three adults fit comfortably in the rear. Those passengers are cosseted in airconditioning, have an eight-speaker CD system to listen to, adjustable headrests, plenty of cupholders and storage pockets, along with power sockets for laptops, phone chargers or DVD player.

Up front, the driver has cruise control, fog lights, heated rear-view mirrors, full instrumentation including compass, body-angle-lean and altitude gauge, remote-operated rear window for easy cargo access, power windows and keyless entry.

A large storage box under the front passenger seat, split-foldable rear seats, rear cargo cover and net, flip-up tailgate window and a roof rack with adjustable cross-spars gives many loading options. Kia claims 900 litres of rear storage expands to 1960 litres with the rear seats folded.

Safety features include ABS brakes with ventilated discs and front airbags. The Sorento has a ladder chassis but crumple zones are built into the body and the doors have impact beams.

For the money, the Kia Sorento offers a lot. Build quality is good, comfort excellent, performance adequate for most drivers and it looks classy.

Drive one and you may find the Sorento is all you need in an all-rounder off-roader.