Kia Sorento 2009 News

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced its latest round of national recalls, with models from Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Kia, Land Rover and Ram impacted.

The new Sorento has been unveiled in Korea just days after catalogue images leaked onto the web last week.The SUV has been restyled, given a complete body makeover and set off with new light clusters front and rear, LED daytime running lights, bigger 19-in alloy wheels and a revamped interior with a stronger focus on quality finishes.The cabin also gets a larger eight-inch infotainment display screen, new LCD instrument cluster and redesigned centre console.The seven-seater Kia Sorento is based on a new platform shared with stablemate Hyundai’s next Santa Fe SUV.Kia says the engine range has been updated, which means revisions to improve economy and efficiency of the current engines: a 145kW/422Nm 2.2-litre turbodiesel (6.7L/100km in the manual version), a 128kW/226Nm 2.4-litre petrol (9.2L/100km) and a 204kW/335Nm 3.5-litre V6 petrol (10L/100km).Australian specifications and prices will be confirmed closer to the new Sorento’s launch at the Australian International Motor Show in October.

To be eligible for 4WD Of The Year, a vehicle has to be completely new that year, or significantly revised. By 'significantly revised' we mean a major mechanical change like a new engine or drivetrain, or a new body. Styling, equipment or interior facelifts don't cut the mustard.To be eligible, the vehicle in question also has to have a full-size spare wheel either as standard, or available as an option. No full-size spare equals no start. On this count, the Peugeot 4007, Volvo XC60, Audi Q5 and Mitsubishi Outlander were all eliminated automatically.That left a number of other soft-roaders that do come with a full-size spare to consider. These included the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, Lexus RX350, Lexus RX400h and the Nissan Murano. The fact that so many new soft roaders didn't go down the space-saver route is good news but at the end of the day they are still soft roaders and with so many strong candidates among the ranks of the serious 4WDs, we couldn't warrant their inclusion.The new 'serious' 4WDs included the Prado 150 Series, the Land Rover Discovery 4, the Range Rover Sport and Vogue, the new Land Rover Defender variants, the ML Series Triton, and the revised Jeep Wrangler.   Further culling of the numbers saw the Wrangler and the Defender eliminated on the grounds that they are both variations on well-known themes while the Range Rover Vogue, with its new petrol 5.0-litre V8, was deemed to be too expensive in relation to the new Range Rover Sport with its new 3.0-litre TDV6.In the end it came down to the Discovery 4 with its new TDV6 engine (in SE spec), the Range Rover Sport with the same engine (only one spec level), the top-spec ML Triton as this is the only model with all the new features as standard, and the Prado in both petrol and diesel guise. To us, these five vehicles represented an extremely strong field … a classic Land Rover verses Toyota battle with the wildcard Triton thrown in.Find out which vehicle won in Australia’s leading offroad magazine, Overlander, on sale Wednesday Jan 27.

Unveiled this week at the 2009 Seoul Motor Show in Korea, the new Sorento is bigger and gets seating for up to seven.The sleeker, Lexus-inspired body shape is now monocoque — previously it was a body-on-frame design with a separate ladder chassis — and will be available as either a 2WD or 4WD.The same philosophy has worked well for the Ford Territory, Toyota Kluger and Hyundai Santa Fe.Prices and final specification are yet to be announced for Australia, though it's probable we will be offered a carry-over 207kW/335Nm 3.5-litre V6 petrol or a new 147kW/435Nm 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel. This diesel replaces the 125kW/392Nm 2.5-litre unit.Off-roaders and travellers will be pleased to note the new Sorento retains a 2500kg tow rating.Transmissions would be a five-speed automatic or six-speed manual.Global markets can pick from four engines including a 123kW/244Nm 2.7-litre V6 running on LPG — a powerplant that could find favour with Australian motorists.Designed with the final hand of new Kia stylist Peter Schreyer, the Sorento is about 110mm longer than its predecessor.Kia claims that leads to an increase in interior headroom by 64mm (to 906mm) and legroom by 102mm (to 795mm).Luggage space is up by 15 per cent — there is 258 litres behind the third seat row and 1047 litres behind the second row — because the tailgate has been moved back by 70mm.Optional or standard features likely to come on the Australian model include keyless entry and engine start, a panoramic glass roof, rear camera, sat-nav and an iPod/USB compatible audio with up to 10 speakers. 

Now the Korean carmaker is focusing on April's Seoul Motor Show, where it will unveil the new Sorento off-roader, codenamed XM.Probably the biggest news about the new Sorento is that it will move from a traditional body-on-frame construction to a unit-body design borrowed from the Hyundai Veracruz, which is sold in North America.Visually it is clear the Sorento has grown up, with a more refined and car-like design to distance itself from the more agricultural current model.The new look is more muscular, following some of the same themes as the contemporary looking Cerato, also design by Kia chief designer, Peter Schreyer.The off-roader is expected to have both turbo-diesel and petrol engines.Its engine line-up is expected to include the next-generation 150kW/435Nm 2.2-litre R-diesel engine delivering an impressive 7.0 litre/100km, a 2.4-litre Theta II petrol four cylinder and a 200kW 3.8-litre in-line petrol six.Engines will be coupled to a new six-speed automatic transmission.