Kia Sorento
The word “Kia” is in fact derived from some Chinese characters representing what us westerners read as Ki. Ki means to “arise” or “come up out of” while “a” refers to Asia. So when put together, Kia means to “arise or come up out of Asia”.
From its very humble beginnings as a manufacturer of bicycle parts (by hand) on the outskirts of Seoul, Korea, Kia Motors has made its name as a leader in the Korean automobile industry, laying claim to the production of the country’s first automobile as well as Korea’s first automobile export.
It’s a cheap and cheerful company, Kia, just going about their business of making good cars for good money, not interested in the world of high performance motoring, like some of the European manufacturers. Like Opel, for example, has the Opel Performance Centre, BMW has their Motorsport division and Mercedes has Aufrecht Melcher Grossaspach (which has an even more special division, called Black). Unlikely we’ll see an “M” powered Soul or a Rio OPC anytime soon.
Or so I thought, because it came as a massive surprise when I planted my foot in the new Kia Sorento and left skid marks, and not only on the road. This front wheel drive, 3.5 litre V6, 207kW monster is like riding bareback on the love child of Dr. Bruce Banner (AKA the Incredible Hulk) and a buffalo weaned on uranium laced Powerade.
If you’ve driven an Opel tuned by those mentals at OPC you will have experienced some violent torque steer. To understand the feeling in the Sorento, turn that up a notch and transpose the feeling into a vehicle tipping the scales at two tonnes. What makes it more of a wild ride though is that normally torque steer is relatively predictable, it always pulls in the same direction – well not in the Sorento. It’s completely random, to the extent that you may even believe the front wheel are going in different directions. All you can do is grip the wheel real tight and have the reaction time of a rattle snake.
Beyond the slightly excessive number of horses under the bonnet, the Sorento is a good looking, well made, practical, 
usable SUV. The interior is massive, because the whole vehicle is massive, which allows for seven seats, two of which fold away in the floor of the boot as is quite common these days. Full-leather upholstery comes standard and the plastic odds and ends seem to have a quality feel about them.
Otherwise there’s an extensive standard specification list, including keyless entry, climate control, electric windows, cruise control, a decent audio system and park assist with a neat rear-view camera displayed in the rear-view mirror.
The suspension setup uses a MacPherson strut-type arrangement at the front and a multi-link independent system at the rear. Kia has also managed to lower the centre of gravity by 54 per cent. What this boils down to is improved handling characteristics over the outgoing model and aside from the lunacy described earlier, the Sorento feels quite competent for such a large vehicle.
I’m less convinced by the speed sensitive hydraulic power steering. It’s wonderful in tight parking lots where the steering literally becomes light enough to turn with one finger, but on the opposite end of the spectrum it never gets heavy enough at highway speeds to provide a satisfactory level of confidence.
Overall I’m slightly confused by this particular model. At R386,000 it is slightly less expensive than the equivalent spec 4×4 diesel model, just with a lot more power and in turn a much bigger fuel bill. Don’t get me wrong, it is bucket loads of fun if you have one for a week, but I’m convinced you will tire of the lunacy over a period of ownership (if you don’t have an accident first), then wish you’d bought the diesel.
Price: R 385,995
Engine: 3470cc DOHC V6
Power: 207 kW
Torque: 335 Nm
Acceleration (0-100 km/h): 9.4
Top speed (km/h): 210
Fuel consumption (l/100km): 13.6 (claimed)
Miles Downard
Photo Credit: Quickpic
Certain extracts taken from Kia International