On the road: Kia Sorento – <b>car review</b> | Technology | The Guardian |
| On the road: Kia Sorento – <b>car review</b> | Technology | The Guardian Posted: 25 Sep 2015 10:00 PM PDT The Kia Sorento is the kind of car that will cause acquaintances to ask, "What are you driving now?" when you arrive. If you like that kind of thing – and God knows, I love it – you'll burst with pride. It has a slightly militaristic exterior, more imposing in black, I should think; in white more redolent of plain money. It's long, wide and low, spacious inside, bullish on the road. There are potentially three rows of seats, though I never needed them and left the boot as was. As low as it is, the boot is an extremely high jump for an elderly dog, not that I would ever put a dog in his twilight years in a review car, oh no. City driving, as with anything not designed for a city but that city people love to drive, is not ideal: it's sluggish in the lower gears. If you're in first and second a lot, you may feel vexed by the effort. But cruising is a pleasure: give it an A road or a motorway and it will take care of itself. The acceleration is confident, the steering is true, the traction is reassuring, the handling invites trust, the leather seats make you feel as though everything's going to be OK. The driving position is well thought-out, everywhere from the posture to the armrest. The room in the cabin really tells if you're one of those people who lurches into a car with two litres of water and a load of handheld devices you forgot to charge. The satnav, from its classy 8in screen to the intuitiveness of its controls, is a pleasure: it is one of the injustices of the world of cars that you feel moved to comment on satnav only if it sucks. Then, once in a while, it's great, and you remember to mention it. It is the first time, by popular lore, Kia has ever come up with anything you'd want to spend 30 grand on, so they're naturally pretty proud. 0-62mph in nine seconds is quite fun, though you never feel as though you're taking off. It has the safety features du jour, which revolve mainly around an insane number of airbags and a lot of alarms – blind spot, lane discipline and rear cross traffic alert (this translates in the real world into a noise you don't understand, until the hazard passes you or recedes) – and the fuel consumption is decent. The question is, would you fall in love with it? If you think of SUVs as a bid for status, then a moderately priced one would seem pointless. But if you genuinely need a giant car that a dog can't get into or out of, then it's a good, solid, novel entry into the class.
Price £35,845  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from car review - Google Blog Search. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment