Everything We Wanted . . .
I’m a research nut. For almost everything I buy, I spend a disproportionate amount of time researching for the best or, at least, the best value. When it came time for us to buy a new car, I spent hours reading reviews, articles and brochures for dozens of mid-sized SUVs. I would even read the owner’s manuals, from cover to cover, trying to determine if one car had a better user interface or feature package than another. For that particular year, Consumers Reports rated the Audi Q5 the highest but the Kia Sorento was second - the Audi was listed at $77,000 and the top-of-the-line Kia Sorento was $44,000. Besides the price, there were a couple of other things that helped us choose the Kia: The Audi has a 272 horsepower engine (that requires premium fuel) while the Kia V6 is 290 horsepower and uses regular fuel. Also, the Kia has Torque Vector Steering and the Audi does not. Other than that, the features are almost identical: leather seats, HID headlights, 360° cameras, high-end stereo, adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, etc. The Kia can tow a trailer of up to 5,000 pounds with a maximum tongue weight of 500 pounds (the travel trailer we tow with our Sorento weighs 3,000 pounds and has a tongue weight of 350 - it does okay).
We bought our Sorento new and it’s been completely trouble free until last week - we had to have the electric parking brake actuator replaced which cost almost $1,500 (the Kia dealership quoted us $3,600). The car is an absolute pleasure to drive and it’s very comfortable. The fuel economy isn’t great with the V6 - around town we’re lucky to get 15 mpg but we can get 24 mpg on the highway (but not when we’re towing the trailer).
Consumers Reports has since changed their rating on the 2016 Kia Sorento and its position has dropped to the worst but I believe that’s because of the oil consumption issues with the 4-cylinder engines. Our V6 has never used any lubricating oil between changes.
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Verified Owner
