Used Kia Sorento 4x4 2010 - 2015 review

The second-generation Kia Sorento of 2010 was something of a departure from the original. Gone was the ladder frame chassis, low-range gearbox and 3500kg towing limit; in their place, a much more comfortable, family-friendly SUV, not to mention one that benefitted from Kia’s new seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

Among the engine line-up were a 2.0-litre diesel with 147bhp, which came only in entry-level trim with front-wheel drive and five seats rather than seven, and a 2.4-litre petrol with 172bhp, which was as thirsty as it sounds - not to mention expensive to tax. As such, most buyers opted for the 194bhp 2.2-litre diesel, which is why you’ll see vastly more of these on the used market today.

Although not as rugged as its predecessor, the Sorento (which is closely related to the Hyundai Santa Fe) can still tow up to 2500kg if fitted with the six-speed manual gearbox or 2000kg with the six-speed automatic, and the third-row of seats offers enough space and sufficiently easy access to accommodate adults as well as children.

Unlike many cars of this type, the Sorento is even big enough to retain boot space for a couple soft bags even when all of the seats are in use. Fold them away and there’s the storage to match the best estate cars, with the Sorento able to swallow a couple of large suitcases with lots of room to spare. A flat loading lip and second-row seats that fold away also mean that it’s good for carrying longer items.

Three adults can sit abreast in the rear seats without any complaints, and the reclining backrests will help everybody to get comfortable. The dashboard layout, meanwhile, is perfectly functional, if not particularly exciting.

The same can be said of the driving experience, for while this generation of the Sorento is markedly better than its predecessor for on-road dynamics, it's still a big, heavy SUV with relatively soft suspension, so it leans over through corners and its automatic gearbox is fairly sluggish by modern standards.

However, there is plenty of grip; what’s more, the 2.2-litre diesel engine is quiet once up to speed and pulls well, even when the car is fully loaded. And despite its more road-biased setup, the Kia Sorento will still cope reasonably well with a bit of off-roading, should ever the need arise.

A facelift in 2013 resulted in the slow selling 2.0-litre diesel and 2.4-litre petrol models being discontinued, as were the options of having two-wheel drive or only five seats. Styling and trim levels were tweaked rather than completely overhauled, but there were some notable improvements to fuel economy and CO2 emissions, which make these post-facelift models slightly cheaper to run.

If high mileages hold no fear, you’ll get away with paying as little as £6,500 for a second-generation Kia Sorento from 2010. Spending closer to £9,000 will buy a car from the same year with average miles, but the smart money goes on a car that’s still within the fully transferable seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty (although you’ll need to check that maintenance conditions have been adhered to for the warranty to still be valid). For this, you’ll need to increase your budget to £11,000, which will buy a 2.2-litre-engined model with fewer than 60,000 miles on the clock.

Post-facelift (2013 onwards) Sorentos will cost you from £13,000 for sub-80,000 mile examples, while at the very top of the market you can pay as much as £24,000 for a very late, low-mileage car. However, by this point it would make sense to move up to a newer third-generation Sorento.

If you’re looking at a pre-2013-facelift Sorento, the 2.4-litre petrol engine has an official fuel economy figure of 33.2mpg, but in reality will struggle to get much over 25mpg, and you’ll be saddled with a tax bill for £290 per year.

The diesels are much better, recording mpg figures in the mid-40s in official tests (this translates to about 35mpg for most owners), with tax coming in at £225 per year. Opting for four-wheel drive instead of two-wheel drive doesn’t make a significant difference to economy, but choosing an automatic gearbox rather than the manual does dent it to the tune of about 4mpg, as well as producing enough extra CO2 to push the car into a higher tax band, meaning an annual tax bill of £265.

Post-2013-facelift cars benefitted from a reduction in CO2 emissions, which means that a manual car costs £180 per year to tax, while an automatic will cost £205 per year.

The Kia Sorento range runs from 1 to KX-4, with four-wheel-drive models denoted by a KX prefix. Chances are you’ll be looking at a car with a 2.2-litre diesel engine - and if you’re not, we’d suggest you do, because these will hold on to more of their value than other versions.

All Sorentos are well equipped, with air-con and alloy wheels among the standard features. However, early 1-specification cars had only five seats as standard (buyers had to select the additional two as an option).

Upgrading to KX-2 specification not only added seven seats and four-wheel drive as standard, but also dual-zone climate control, leather upholstery, heated seats and rear parking sensors, while KX-3 added an electrically adjustable driver’s seat, a six-CD multichanger and a panoramic sunroof.

If you want a factory-fitted sat-nav, look for a post-facelift KX-2 Satnav or KX-3 Satnav model, or a last-of-the-line KX-4, which also included a parallel park assist system that could automatically steer the car into spaces.

Our favourite Kia Sorento: 2.2 CRDi diesel KX-2

The most obvious rival to the Kia Sorento is the mechanically similar Hyundai Santa Fe which has the same engine, four-wheel drive system and seven-seat layout, but only had a five-year warranty to the Sorento’s seven.

If you like the space on offer in the Sorento but want a more upmarket image, then a Land Rover Discovery or Audi Q7 are the obvious choices, but you can expect to pay a hefty premium for a car of a similar age and mileage.

Alternatively, the Mitsubishi Outlander offers seven seats in diesel guise and has a good reputation for reliability, but is noticeably smaller than the Kia, particularly in the third row of seats, and again its warranty wasn't as long.

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