Kia Sorento - Reliability and safety
The level of standard safety equipment is as good as you’ll find in the sector, while Kia’s seven-year warranty is a further draw
Relative to rivals, the prices of the Kia Sorento may have crept up through the generations, but the Mk4 car can still play the value-for-money card by virtue of its fully loaded standard kit list. This is particularly evident in the area of safety, where the Sorento features a host of active systems.
Forward Collision Avoidance Assist (FCA) scans the area in front of the car for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles, while Intelligent Speed Limit Assist and Land Follow Assist help to control acceleration, braking and steering to keep you in lane and maintain a safe distance to the car in front – a great driver aid to take the strain off in stop-start motorway traffic, although the driver must always be poised to take control if needed.
Blind-spot assist with rear cross-traffic alert is also included, plus Highway Driving Assist (HDA) which automatically keeps you to the speed limit when the smart cruise control system is engaged. The amount of safety aids is reflected in the maximum five-star score the Sorento received from Euro NCAP when it tested in 2020. It also received an 82 per cent rating for adult occupant protection and 85 per cent for child-occupant protection.
The Kia Sorento didn't make an appearance in our 2024 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, but its smaller sibling, the Sportage, came an impressive 11th. Kia has a solid reputation for happy customers that culminated in a third-place finish in the Driver Power manufacturers’ list in 2022 - dropping down to sixth in 2023.
Warranty
Kia’s seven-year warranty is one of the best in the business and underlines the brand’s faith in its products. The cover is actually seven years or 100,000 miles, and it can be passed on to the next owner when the car is sold for the remaining time and mileage.
Servicing
The service intervals on the Sportage depend on your engine choice. The hybrids need a visit to the dealer every 12 months or 10,000 miles, but the CRDi diesel is 12 months or 20,000 miles, whichever comes first.
