Kia Sorento review: We test drive new £48,000 high-spec 4WD hybrid SUV

THERE was a time when you would struggle to get excited about a Kia.

It was “new Skoda”, an unfamiliar marque on the scene that felt a bit . . . crap.

You wouldn’t impress anyone by boasting you had a Kia.

Perhaps just a flash of jealousy that you had “one of those seven-year warranties”. But it would pass.

Now Kia has some of the best–looking cars on the road.

The new fleet of EVs are especially exciting. And they don’t just look good. They are good.

The new Sorento is a giant case in point. This one tells the story of Kia’s, ahem, journey.

I first drove a Sorento hire car in the US about a decade ago.

It felt cheap. The trim was all plasticky and the satnav looked like Nintendo’s Game & Watch from the Eighties.

I next had one in 2016. The improvement in a few short years was immense.

Packed full of tech, with a smart new shape. But still, it felt more like a budget-friendly seven-seater.

I reviewed one again in 2019 and the quality inched along the luxury lane even further.

Fast-forward to the latest fourth-generation model and it can now hold its own against a Volvo XC90 or even a Mercedes GLE.

It really is that good.

So good, in fact, my mother-in-law declared it “the smartest car you’ve ever tested”.

And she babysat the weekend I tried an Aston Martin Rapide.

Of course, the Sorento is not an Aston. But the luxury is solidly business-class.

The tech is plentiful and you will probably never understand it all.

But it will keep you on the road, get you into almost any parking space and show you a camera-eye view of every single aspect you can think of.

It even has screens in the wing mirrors.

The model I tested had a few of the things I always like: Head-up display, wireless charging and speakers that pack a punch (Bose, in this case).

The interior feels expensive too.

Gone is all the cheap plastic that you felt might come off in your hand. And the drive is vastly improved.

For a 1.6-litre petrol hybrid, it gives out a solid 226bhp with 350Nm torque and it does 0-62mph in nine seconds — reasonable for an SUV this size.

The top speed is “only” 119mph (seven slower than in 2016) but who is doing that?

All this comes at a price, of course.

The high-spec 4WD version I tested was £48,000 on the road, which is not what you would call budget.

But it’s still a clear £10k in the right direction from an XC90 and much further from the GLE.

And it has the added bonus of being, yup, a Kia.