It wouldn’t be too cruel to say that not too long ago, the idea of Kia making a highly desirable, premium SUV would have raised more than a few eyebrows. Yet you only have to spend a moment in the presence of the Sorento to know that this is a handsome, quality car that could go toe-to-toe with more expensive machinery.
While the big news in the current climate is that there’s a plug-in hybrid version, we’ve been behind the wheel of the diesel. Because despite sales of diesel-powered cars nosediving, it does make sense in larger vehicles. The question we’re going to answer today is whether Sorento buyers travelling longer distances regularly should still plump for the diesel.
This latest generation of Sorento is wider and longer than the car it replaced, and is therefore unsurprisingly more spacious inside, too. On the powertrain front there are self-charging and plug-in hybrids as well as the diesel we’re testing, with a new eight-speed dual clutch transmission.