In Kia's lineup, the Sorrento sits above the compact Sportage crossover. It competes roughly with smaller crossovers that also offer a third row, like the Dodge Journey, Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Outlander.
Fresh from last year's redesign, the Kia Sorrento gains a few more upgrades for 2012. Also new are a ventilated driver seat, stain-resistant seat fabric and Kia's "Uvo" voice-activated control interface.
With the 2012 Sorento, Kia continues its determined effort with an impressive starting price that pits the Sorento squarely against crossover all-stars like the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4.
Like a lot of its competition, the 2012 Kia Sorento comes with a choice of four- or six-cylinder power. Overall, the Sorento is an impressive effort.
The 2012 Kia Sorento is a crossover SUV offered in four trim levels: base, LX, EX and the sporty SX. A third-row 50/50-split-folding seat with room for two is optional on the LX and four-cylinder EX, and standard on the EX V6 and SX.
The EX starts with the LX's equipment and adds 18-inch alloy wheels, keyless ignition/entry, rear parking sensors, dual-zone automatic climate control (with rear air-conditioning on V6 models), a power driver seat (with power lumber support), a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob and Kia's Uvo voice-activated electronics interface .
For the EX, opting for the Premium Plus package gets you power-folding outside mirrors, leather seating, heated front seats, a power front passenger seat, a hard-drive-based navigation system, a rearview camera and a 10-speaker Infinity surround-sound audio system with digital music storage. A 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 175 hp and 169 pound-feet of torque come standard on base and LX trim levels. The base model has a six-speed manual transmission, while all others come with a six-speed automatic.
Front-wheel drive is standard across the board, while LX and EX models can be had with all-wheel drive. EPA-estimated fuel economy is 21 mpg city/29 mpg highway and 24 mpg combined with the front-wheel-drive automatic. All-wheel-drive models drop fuel economy to 21/27/23. Fuel economy for the direct-injected four-cylinder is rated at 22/32/25 with front-wheel drive, and 21/28/23 with all-wheel drive.
The 2012 Kia Sorento comes standard with antilock disc brakes, stability control, hill-start assist, hill descent control, front-seat side airbags, full-length side curtain airbags and front active head restraints. The Sorento also earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's top score of "Good" for frontal-offset, side-impact and roof-strength crash tests.
It doesn't slide fore or aft without the optional third-row seat, making the Sorento less versatile than the Equinox, CR-V or RAV4.
The 2012 Kia Sorento's base 2.4-liter engine feels punchy enough around town and with light loads, but struggles a bit with extra passengers and cargo. At highway speed, the Sorento's cabin remains impressively isolated from both road and wind noise.
Half a decade ago, Kia poached a talented designer named Peter Schreyer from Audi. Schreyer’s mandate? Create a powerful design language for Kia, overhaul the lineup, and make Kia stylish. Now people visit a Kia dealer because they actually want to buy a Kia. In the SX V6 model, pictured above, the driver sits tall in a supportive and comfortable 10-way power driver’s seat, covered in nice leather and facing a handsome wood-and-leather steering wheel.
Because space needs to be created for that tiny third-row seat, the second-row seats are mounted fairly far forward in relation to the rear wheel wells, compromising leg room, minimizing clearance for reverse-facing child seats, and making it harder to get in or out in tight parking spaces. The front chairs are quite comfortable, though the front passenger’s seat could use a height adjuster. If the second-row seat were mounted further back, or placed on sliders like a Chevy Equinox, leg space could be impressive indeed.
