Kia Sorento

Meet Our New Kia Sorento

Calling our new Kia Sorento a new car is a very loose term. It’s actually a 2010 model, so it’s only new to us. That said, we bought it from North Yorkshire Kia and the car has a perfect service history and has only done 60,000 miles. That mileage equates to an average of 20 miles a day over its 8-year life so far.

My history with cars is legendary in that we usually wait for a car to die before replacing it. I was determined to buck this trend and replace our Vauxhall Zafira before it took its last breath.

Why a Sorento

North Yorkshire KiaLiving very close to Ryedale Garages’ Kia forecourt and passing it numerous times each day on my walk to work, shop, dance school and running I was always eying up what they had on display. It was only ever a semi-serious look because I believed that Kia’s only 7-seat car was the Carens, and as it is similar to the Zafira I never entertained having one of those.

Ever since I could drive I’ve fancied driving a 4×4. I have zero need for one, but I always liked that type of car. When I was 18 I wanted a Sukuki Jimny but the insurance was a killer.

I happened to find out that the Sorento was also a 7-seater as well as being a 4-wheel-drive SUV. After that, I became very aware of the Sorento. I would spot them driving around everywhere because every second car around these parts is a Kia (not an official statistic but that’s how it seems). Then I realised a couple of friends had them too and they said they were great cars.

But, they always seemed out of our price range. That was until this older model appeared.

Smooth Sale

On one Tuesday after work, I called in to inquire about the car, although I’d already done my homework as it was advertised on AutoTrader and I’d read reviews of the 2010-14 models.

Andrew dealt with me and before I knew it had the keys in my hand and was checking it out. The sales technique was so non-pushy it was barely noticeable that I was interested in buying a car. After that, I went back and before I knew it I had bought it. Seriously, it was so easy!

I actually walked away not believing I had just bought a car and Helen could believe it even less than that!

All About the Service

Kia SorentoThis was the first time I had ever bought a car from a main dealer such as Kia. My previous car came from one of those huge car supermarkets and the experience couldn’t be more different. I bought a car in minutes rather than being kept in a showroom for 4 hours!

As well as the excellent services there’s also the servicing. The car wasn’t quite due to have its 9th full service for another few thousand miles, but Andrew sorted it so that this would be done before I took it home. This is such a great thing for giving me peace of mind, especially if you knew my history with cars!

On the day I was due to pick it up I was sat with Andrew, doing a bit of paperwork and taxing the car online. While doing this I never realised that a freshly washed and valeted silver Sorento had been silently rolled up to the door. So there it was – our new car.

As I drove it away I passed our old Zafira that I have brought with me. I have to admit I felt a tinge of sandess seeing it go after all the adventures we’ve had in it over the last 6 years.

First Impressions

I’ve now been tootling about in this car for a few days and so far I love it. I’ve not gone any real distance in it yet so can’t comment on travelling far but my first impressions are good. Here’s what I like:

  • Feel. I love the feel of the car, the size and ride height are superb. I feel safer in this than the Zafira and especially so with the kids in too.
  • Comfort. It’s a very comfortable car to drive and the kids seem to feel that too.
  • Space. There’s plenty of it – even the 2 rear seats are far bigger than the Zafira.
  • Aux. I know modern cars are all about Bluetooth, but remember the Zaf had nothing, so being able to hook up my phone in the auxiliary port is fantastic!

Kia Sorento dashboard

Trivial Niggles

Of course, with Ying comes Yang and there are a couple of minor niggles. These are certainly not things that would have me taking the car back but for clarity here they are:

  • No radio controls on the steering wheel, not even volume. Although this model, the KX1, is at the bottom of the specification pile, given my 2007 Zafira had them, I am a little perplexed at Kia omitting them completely.
  • Only the driver’s window has auto. This is REALLY trivial, I realise, but again in the Zafira I could put down all four windows automatically rather than holding the switch. Also, and this might actually be a fault, the driver’s window only goes down in auto, not up.
  • The middle seat bench doesn’t move forward and back. In the Zafira you could move the middle row of seats forwards and back like you can with front seats. This was useful for adjusting leg room for those using the back two seats.
  • It’s not keyless entry. Trivial again and especially so as it wasn’t exactly something I chose the Zafira for. It just happened that whoever originally ordered the Zafira that became mine had added this option on. But you become accustomed to such luxury. I’ve walked up to the Sorento a couple of times and yanked on the door handle and been left puzzled as to why the car won’t unlock. Then once in the car, I’ve instinctively reached for the start button that, of course, isn’t there! 
Happy Motoring

Despite this not being a much newer car and only 3 years younger than our old car I am looking forward to having this one for a number of years. I am vowing to take much better care of this one that I have in the past and hopefully won’t be eying up other cars foreseeable future.


 

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