The all-new Kia Sorento. Go boldly
Powerful, progressive and versatile, the fourth generation of Kia’s large family SUV is designed and engineered to take on everything life throws at it. Raising standards in the class for space, efficiency and quality, the all-new Kia Sorento sits at the head of Kia’s South African SUV line-up, which also includes the Sonet, Seltos and the evergreen Sportage.
The Sorento’s redefined exterior design – with sharper lines, high-tech details, and elongated proportions – gives it a more confident and mature presence. Inside, its attractive cabin also introduces premium-quality materials, cutting-edge infotainment technologies, and a stunning new design.
The new Sorento is the first vehicle to be based on Kia’s new-generation large SUV platform. Paired with a bigger body to maximise cargo and luggage space, the platform ensures the Sorento is one of the most versatile and spacious three-row SUVs on the road.
Furthermore, the Sorento’s innovative interior packaging means it can offer all this while accommodating Kia’s new ‘Smartstream’ diesel powertrain. As a result, the new model offers greater fuel efficiency, lower emissions, and higher performance than its predecessors.
This is one of Kia’s most advanced vehicles ever thanks to its progressive connectivity, driver assistance and infotainment technologies. Its user-friendly twin digital displays deliver advanced graphics, new telematics features and smartphone connectivity.
A mainstay of Kia’s global line-up, more than three million Sorento models have been sold worldwide since it was launched in 2002.
Stylish and modern, the new Sorento is the flagship for Kia’s reinvigorated SUV line-up in South Africa; the result of a collaborative design effort between Kia’s worldwide design network in South Korea, Europe and the USA.
The concept of ‘refined boldness’ inspired Kia’s designers, who sought to maintain the robust, tough-looking aesthetic of earlier generations of Sorento, while applying a greater degree of refinement and elegance, and even a sense of sportiness. Its bodywork incorporates sharp lines and creases – noticeably more sculpted than its more rounded-edged predecessor. With more contemporary geometric details and more swept-back, elongated proportions, the result is a more confident, more mature and more desirable design than ever.
The front of the Sorento evolves with a new interpretation of Kia’s hallmark ‘tiger nose’ grille, displaying a wider shape which organically wraps around the integrated headlamps on each side. The headlamps themselves feature a new ‘tiger eyeline’ LED daytime running light, adding extra focus to the design by depicting the intense impression of the lines around a tiger’s eyes. This sharper, more assertive appearance is complemented by a wide, rectangular lower air intake, bookended by wing-shaped air curtains to channel air around the car. A sharp bumper lip is also capped with a skid plate, enhancing its robust appearance. The new model is 1,900mm wide, 10mm wider than the third-generation Sorento.
In profile, the proportions of the Sorento are subtly adapted to make it appear longer. The new model is 10mm longer than its predecessor (now 4,810mm), yet it features shorter front and rear overhangs. The additional length is found in the wheelbase (a result of the Sorento’s new platform), which has grown by 35mm to 2,815mm. This subtly adapts the visual character of the Sorento, making it look longer and ‘faster’, despite being 10mm taller. It also extends the length of the bonnet, drawing the A-pillar 30mm further back from the front axle. The trailing edge of the bonnet wraps around the front wings and turns into a single, strong character line which extends along the side of the Sorento and into the rear lamps.
Ever recognisable as a Sorento, it retains the characteristic wide D-pillar, substantial bodywork and clad wheel arches that have defined all three generations to date. It also adopts certain other design features from more recent Kia models, however, including a new dynamic shape on its C-pillar and sculpted body surfaces with sharp creases.
Inspired by the World Car of the Year-winning Telluride, the Sorento adopts new vertical tail lamps which wrap around the side of the body. Sharper lines in the bodywork echo the straight, technical appearance of the front of the car, with horizontal shapes used to make the vehicle appear wider and more imposing on the road. Trim on the sporty lower rear bumper embodies the appearance of dual tailpipes and, like the front, features a skid plate to add to its tough SUV aesthetic. The fourth-generation model follows other recent Kia models with the Sorento model name displayed centrally across the tailgate. A subtle integrated spoiler also conceals the rear wiper, resulting in a less fussy design and enhancing the driver’s view out of the back.
The new Sorento will be available in South Africa with a choice of 10 paint finishes, and the option of 18- or 19-inch aluminium alloy wheels depending on the trim grade.
The interior of the fourth-generation Sorento represents a step-change in quality and design for Kia cabins. From the first-generation 2002 Kia Sorento, which provided occupants with a practical, robust and utilitarian space, the Sorento today provides owners with something altogether more striking, desirable and comfortable.
One of the highest-quality interior spaces found in any Kia to date, the intuitive, tech-oriented cabin of the new Sorento is fitted with premium-quality materials and cutting-edge infotainment. At the same time, it retains the spaciousness and versatility that has characterised the Sorento over its two-decade existence.
The attractive, upscale cabin introduces a sophisticated next-generation design, based around twin digital displays in the dashboard. The 12.3-inch digital driver instrument cluster is twinned with a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment and navigation system at the centre of the dashboard. These display information clearly within the driver’s line of sight, and create an innovative wide-screen user experience. The car’s many functions can also be controlled with new haptic buttons on either side of the screen, which also feature further down the dashboard for the climate control system. The focal point of the dashboard is the eye-catching vertical ventilation stack, with a chrome-effect surround that extends onto the centre console below.
The cabin of the new Sorento subtly integrates a range of other technologies, including an available Mood Lamp system. This emits soft ambient downlighting from beneath the dashboard and door trim, creating a lounge-like feeling and greater sense of space. A wireless smartphone charger also sits at the base of the centre console, while a powerful BOSE surround-sound system is also available to provide a more immersive in-car audio experience.
Material quality is enhanced, with a cabin that blends metallic trim, leather upholstery, and embossed satin-effect surfaces. Applied throughout the interior and across the dashboard, the cabin boasts a more sophisticated appearance and ambience as a result. The Sorento is offered to buyers with standard black single-tone leather trim.
Like its predecessor, the new Sorento will be built for South Africa and many other global markets at Kia’s Hwasung manufacturing facility in Korea.
Model Recommended Retail Price incl. VAT
Sorento 2.2 CRDi 7-Seater EX+ 2WD 8DCT R809,995
Sorento 2.2 CRDi 7-Seater EX+ AWD 8DCT R849,995
Sorento 2.2 CRDi 7-Seater SX AWD 8DCT R914,995
Sorento 2.2 CRDi 7-Seater SXL AWD 8DCT R988,995
All Sorento models ship as standard with Kia’s industry-leading Unlimited Kilometre, 5-year warranty (inclusive of roadside assistance), as well as a 6-year / 90,000 km maintenance plan.
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