2013 Kia Sorento Pricing and Specs

It sounds as though there’s some slack somewhere vin the driveline that is taking up suddenly with a clunking noise as the result. This is actually pretty common in cars as they age and relates to general wear and tear on the driveline components.

What you haven’t told me is whether your car is a petrol or diesel model which will determine whether it’s a front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive vehicle respectively. Why does that matter? Because, fundamentally, the all-wheel-drive version – which has a centre differential, a transfer-case and a driveshaft for each wheel – has more than double the driveline components of the front-drive Sorento. And, clearly, that means at least double the opportunity for a clunk or creak or groan to creep in as the vehicle ages.

Regardless of the driveline layout, of course, any free-play in the driveline is bad news because it means there’s wear somewhere and that needs to be identified and fixed before it wears further and, ultimately, fails, leaving you stranded or even contributing to a crash. So have it checked by a workshop familiar with that make and model and nip any problems in the bud while they’re still annoyances rather than catastrophes.

In the meantime, you can do a bit of detective work of your own: Many driveline clunks are caused by worn CV (Constant Velocity) joints which allow the wheels to turn (with the steering) as well as drive the car. Find a nice, deserted car-park and slowly drive in circles first with full left lock and then with full right lock. You’re listening for a clattering, clicking or rumbling noise as you do so. If you can hear such a noise, then you might just be well on your way to diagnosing the problem.

In terms of kilometres done 100,000 km is a significant mental marker, and that’s probably the time to move it on, or at least just less than 100,000 km. The only problem is that you do very few kilometres, so the car would likely be 7-8 years old by the time get close to 100,000 km and that makes it a fairly old car and less valuable. I’d suggest you think about moving it on within the next two years and take advantage of the low kilometres it will surely have done.

There are so many things that can affect fuel consumption in real life that it’s difficult to precisely predict what you might get. But you can take the claimed fuel consumption figures published by every carmaker as a guide. Kia’s published figures for the car you are considering are: 9.7 L/100 km (urban), 7.3 L/100 km (combined) and 5.9 L/100 km (hwy). If most of your travel is around town, with little highway or freeway driving, I would expect your fuel consumption should be 7.5-8.0 L/100 km. If you do short runs only it will tend to be closer to 9.7 L/100 km, if you’re regularly on the freeway it could be less than the combined figure.