Kia Sorento 2.2 Premium: A bold new signature

The flagship version of Kia’s largest sports utility makes a powerful impression.

Price: $76,990
Powertrain and economy: 2.2-litre turbocharged in-line diesel, 148kW/440Nm, 8-speed automatic, AWD, combined economy 6.1 L/100km.
Vital statistics: 4810mm long, 1695mm high, 1900mm wide, 2815mm wheelbase. Luggage space up to 821mm (with five seats in use). 20-inch alloys wheels.
We Like:  Excellent interpretation of Kia’s ‘refined boldness’ family design, very high level of standard specification, nice safe drive.
We don’t like: Rotary gear selector isn’t very involving.  

THREE hundred and thirty-three ‘pyrodrones’ simultaneously launching hundreds of fireworks in a synchronised aerial display in the skies above the South Korean city of Incheon.

Kia went big in launching its new brand logo and slogan; this recent effort established a Guinness World Record for ‘the most unmanned aerial vehicles launching fireworks simultaneously’. (Personally, I feel that almost must qualify for another record – for the most useless world record).

The new logo spells out the word Kia in an unbroken and rhythmical line that is designed to resemble a handwritten signature. It’s rather nice, certainly better than the staid outgoing format. 

Kia says the design embodies the brand’s rising ambitions – as does a new brand slogan: Movement That Inspires.

Talking of inspirational … the new fourth-generation Kia Sorento large sports utility. I feel it deserves to stand as one of South Korea’s best vehicles.

Of course it could be said you have to say that, because the latest Sorento is one of the newest vehicles to emerge from the peninsula, and all new models should be better than what were before, but this one really is very good.

Built on a revised platform, it currently configures with a 2.2-litre turbocharged diesel mated to an eight-speed double-clutch automatic transmission feeding all-wheel drive.

This year it will be joined by two hybrid versions, the more advanced featuring a new-generation 1.6-litre turbocharged electric motor-assisted drivetrain, also AWD, and with a degree of pure electric driving and plug-in replenishment.

The latter was one of eight winners in the 2020 Golden Steering Wheel Awards, delivered annually by a couple of big German media concerns and decided by an 18-strong jury.

In New Zealand, the turbodiesel version of the Sorento didn’t arrive early enough to be considered for this country’s Car of the Year Award, which is administered by the New Zealand Motoring Writers Guild. It will be on the primary consideration list for the 2021 gong, by which time the PHEV model will also be on the market. I’d suggest it has to be odds-on that the big Kia will be a contender.

Importantly, Sorento is the flagship model in a comprehensive range of SUVs now presented by Kia. It begins with the recently-landed Stonic, continues through the Seltos and Sportage - which are two of the biggest-selling SUVs on the Kiwi market - and includes the electrified Niro which is available as both a hybrid and plug-in hybrid.

All these vehicles, with perhaps the Niro the exception, are notable for their similarity of exterior design. During the week I had the Sorento, a number of my neighbours mistook it for a Seltos.

Kia describes this design language as “refined boldness”. Indeed. The new Sorento’s bodywork features sharp and sculpted lines and creases, and a new interpretation of the brand’s ‘tiger nose’ grille. And although the vehicle is just one centimetre longer than the model it replaces, it looks bigger thanks to a 35mm longer wheelbase and shorter front and rear overhangs.

At the rear, the new Sorento has vertical tail lights that wrap around the side of the body in a design inspired by the even bigger Kia Telluride, which was named the 2020 North American SUV of the Year. It can’t come to New Zealand as it is built in left-hand drive only.

The Sorento is built on Hyundai/Kia’s third-generation large SUV platform, which is based around a compact engine bay structure and shorter front and rear overhangs, and this combines with the longer wheelbase to provide improved interior space.

A full seven-seater, it boasts among the largest luggage capacities in its class – up to 187 litres with all seven seats in use which is a 32 percent increase on its predecessor, 616 litres when operating as five-seater, and more than 2000 litres with both the second and third rows folded.

That’s a substantial amount of rear cargo space, and notably that room as a five-seater can be increased to 821 litres by sliding the second row of seats forwards. Or less if that row is slid backwards to create more legroom for passengers.

It needs to be mentioned at this stage that although the Sorento is a very close relative of the Hyundai Santa Fe, to the extent of having the same powertrain and levels of comfort and safety specification, they are not fully identical.

A major difference is size. Sorento is the larger of the two, with a body that is 25mm longer and, crucially, a wheelbase that is 50mm longer. That’s no doubt the reason why the Kia’s interior load space is quite a bit more than what is published by Hyundai. I suppose it also needs to be pointed out that I have yet to drive the Santa Fe – that will happen in a couple of weeks.

Sorento’s interior design seems substantially different to that of the Santa Fe – but the content and the intent remains the same.

Kia’s ‘Supervision’ instrument cluster is fully digitised, and this allows the Deluxe and ultimate-step Premium models to convert the tachometer and speedometer into blind-spot monitors whenever their turn signal is activated – the speedo for the left side and the tacho for the right. The views back down the flanks of the vehicles come via wide-angle cameras located in their wing mirror housings.

Other technologies include rear cross traffic alert, blind-spot collision avoidance, smart cruise control with ‘stop/go’, driver attention warning, lane follow assist - which automatically steers the Sorento so it can remain in the middle of a lane - and in the top models, around view monitor.

The Premium model I drove is also the first Kia available with Remote Smart Parking Assist, which enables drivers to stand outside the vehicle and use the key fob to move it backwards and forwards into tight parking spaces. Kia says it is so it can be easier for passengers to get in and out of the vehicle in tight parking spaces, or if another driver parks too close to be able to access any of the doors.

Premium also features a shift-by-wire rotary gear selector, while the remaining Sorento models continue with a traditional gear lever. The E-Shift dial might be simple to use - featuring just Reverse, Neutral and Drive and with a push-button Park control in its centre - but I felt the lack of a gearshift removes a sense of involvement with the vehicle.

Better news a little further back on the centre console, however. There, is another rotary controller that can be used both to select four Drive modes (comfort, eco, sport and ‘smart’) and to select three terrain modes  (snow, mud and sand) which among other things  controls the vehicle’s electronic stability control as well as the distribution of torque to all four wheels.

The drive mode selector is great, particularly the Smart mode which is judges what the driver’s driving style is and selects a suitable mode all on its own. As for the Terrain mode selector – while I suppose it is nice to have it there, I doubt it would be used much. A pricey SUV with 20-inch wheels shod with 45-series tyres and a 176mm ground clearance isn’t really designed for slogging through the mud. More likely slogging through the leafy streets of our cities….

Overall, the Sorento interior impresses for being spacious, comfortable, and loaded with safety, connectivity and infotainment technology. With the top models this even includes mood lighting which emits soft ambient downlighting from beneath the dashboard to help create a lounge-like atmosphere.

It’s not perfect though. Apple Carplay and Android Auto phone integration is a little cumbersome. But overall, the interior environment is very good, and at the Premium level, very comfortable.

In recent years a strong feature of the Sorento – and the Santa Fe – has been its R-Series 2.2-litre turbodiesel. For this new-generation model the engine has been upgraded via a number of improvements including a new aluminium block which replaces a cast iron block, all of which has allowed this latest ‘Smartstream’ diesel to weigh in 38.2kg lighter than that aboard the third-generation model.

The engine is paired with Kia’s new eight-speed wet double-clutch auto, which makes efficient use of the engine’s outputs. It also feels quieter, helped no doubt by a bodyshell that boasts a four percent increase in tensile strength which has reduced body vibration. The vehicle’s suspension system, which essentially the same as before, has also been revised to reduce noise and vibration.

This helps make Sorento an impressive SUV to drive long distance. During my time with the vehicle we put in some serious kilometres through the North Island, and its sure handling feel and quiet interior made for relaxed motoring. Just what you want with a SUV of this size. The vehicle is not what I would describe as sporty, but it is cultured.

The Premium model pricing a full $13,000 less than the equivalent Hyundai Santa Fe Limited ,which carries almost identical specification, is a big difference that quite frankly adds to the Sorento’s appeal.

And adding further will be the PHEV model, which will offer 195kW of power and 350Nm of torque, and obviously much lower fuel consumption. No prices have yet been announced, but they will probably be above those of the Premium 2.2-litre model. I can’t wait.

Hyundai Venue Elite: Passenger car by any other name

Isn’t it time we stopped marketing very urban models as sports utilities?

 

Price: $33,990
Powertrain: 1.6-litre 16-valve OHC petrol engine with CVVT, 90kW at 6300rpm, 151Nm at 6850rpm. Six-speed auto with SportShift. Combined economy 7.2L/100km, 165g/km CO2.
Vital statistics: Length 4040mm, width 1770mm, height 1592mm, wheelbase 2520mm. Luggage capacity 355 litres. 17-inch wheels with 205/55 R17 tyres.
We like: Excellent interior design, good room, easy drive.
We don’t like: Engine gets a little breathless; it’s not an SUV

HYUNDAI’S Venue is a sports utility vehicle, right?

It certainly looks like an SUV, its ground clearance is slightly higher than a passenger car and so its ride height is also slightly more elevated. Armed with all that detail, the Hyundai marketers tell us that makes the Venue an SUV.

But it isn’t. What the Venue is, is a front-wheel drive hatch with new-age bodyshell design, and with ride and handling characteristics that are all passenger vehicle.

That’s no criticism of the Venue, which is an excellent example of latest trends in passenger vehicle design. But it is also a latest example of the current blurring of the lines regarding what is an SUV and what is a passenger vehicle.

The Motor Industry Association, the organisation which represents the interests of New Zealand’s motor vehicle distributors, classifies vehicles according to a market structure set down by Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

At the highest level, vehicles are split into three classes – passenger, SUV, and commercial. The FCAI classifies an SUV as a vehicle based on a wagon body style and with an elevated ride height. And while typically an SUV should have either 4WD or AWD, the organisation says that 2WD variants of a model are acceptable.

But here’s the rub. While it used to be that a true SUV was a rugged medium to large vehicle with an elevated ride height via ground clearance of 200mm or more, these days that ground clearance is reducing so the ride can be more passenger car smooth than SUV lumpy.

With the Venue the ground clearance is 170mm, which isn’t much more than a hatch or sedan which is usually around 145mm-150mm. To my reckoning the Hyundai’s ground clearance is the lowest of all compact SUVs currently on the market – even the diminutive Suzuki Ignis, which is the smallest SUV of all, has a minimum ground clearance of 180mm. And by the way, the equally little Suzuki Jimny’s clearance is 210mm.

So the question needs to be asked: isn’t this getting just a little silly? Aren’t the vehicle marketers taking so much advantage of the current popularity of SUVs – they currently take up close to 50 per cent of all new vehicle sales here – that they are ruining the intent of the vehicle classification system?

MIA chief executive David Crawford agrees that motor vehicle design, and customer preferences, are evolving to the extent that the classification process needs to be reviewed.

“I think things are reaching a stage where we need to decide what constitutes an elevated ride height. It isn’t defined. Is there a need for us to specify what a vehicle’s minimum ground clearance needs to be for it to be called an SUV? I think the issue has to be discussed among MIA members.”

Crawford and his team might overcome this issue by reviewing how SUVs are segmented.

At present, decisions on whether SUVs are compact, medium, large or upper large are made simply by multiplying their length by their width to get their so-called footprint. If the total is 8100 or less, the SUV is a compact. If the total is 8101 to 8800 the vehicle is a medium, and so on.

Maybe if minimum ground clearance was factored into this calculation, then anything with a clearance of less than, say, 180mm could be considered a passenger vehicle. Or crossover. Or lifestyle. Anything – but not an SUV.

As I said towards the start, all this is no criticism of the Hyundai Venue, because it is an excellent new vehicle from the South Korean manufacturer. It takes all the good things from the SUV style – elevated ride height for higher seating hip points and improved visibility, and superior passenger and cargo accommodation – and combines it with the ease of use normally expected of an urban passenger vehicle.

Two versions of the Venue are available – a $29,990 entry model, and a $33,990 Elite. Both are powered by a 1.6-litre Gamma engine that is under the bonnet of a number of Hyundai and Kia vehicles, and which in this application offers 90kW of power and 151Nm of torque, and which is mated to a six-speed automatic with a SportShift manual function.

While that’s modest amount of grunt – which underlines the fact that the Venue is very much an urban-oriented vehicle – an interesting feature is a Driving Control/Traction Control function that is operated by a rotator control on the centre console.

Select Driving Control and the driver can choose Normal, Eco and Sport driving modes. In the Eco mode the engine and transmission logic is set to maximise fuel economy, while the Sport mode changes steering effort and the engine and transmission logic for better performance.

By selecting Traction Control, the driver can then choose traction modes that cater for Snow, Mud and Sand. What the system does is adjust left and right front wheel slip control, and engine torque and gearshift patterns according to available levels of traction.

It all helps, and Hyundai says that theoretically it could put all the vehicle’s power through a single wheel, but it’s nowhere near AWD. The vehicle’s instruction manual warns exactly that. It says the Traction Control system’s design is based on 2WD, and the Venue should not be driven in conditions that exceed the intended design. So there you go. It could be said that the Traction Control is halfway towards proper SUV operation – which is exactly what the Venue is anyway.

The model we drove was the Elite, which offers a high level of safety specification for the price. This includes blind spot collision warning, lane keep assist, driver inattention warning, rear cross traffic alert, rear park assist, forward collision avoidance, and a reversing camera. It’s all part of Hyundai’s SmartSense safety package.

Ironically, the Venue carries a four-star rather than five-star ANCAP crash safety rating, because it doesn’t have the European-style ISOFIX child seat harness system, and there is no cyclist detection in its automatic braking system.

Comfort and infotainment specification is very good, too. The vehicle carries an 8-inch multimedia system that caters for Apple Carplay and Android Auto, and at the Elite level it boasts such goodies as proximity key and push-button start, climate air, and a heated steering wheel. A connected car platform also allows remote operation of such things as air conditioning by using a smartphone.

How very urban is that? Which is exactly what the Hyundai Venue is intended to be. That’s why while it might look like an SUV, it isn’t. It’s a passenger vehicle folks. And that’s what makes the model so appealing.