Kia Sorento PHEV UK Review - Best Plug-In Hybrid Seven-Seater for Families?

Here's a very different kind of Kia Sorento. It can run most of its suburban life on electric power, manage a three-figure fuel return and deliver a CO2 reading that'll decimate the size of your company car taxation bill. Yet it'll seat seven people, take you to a mountainside weekend country cottage and cruise in luxury. There's a price to pay for all this capability of course. But it's undeniably impressive.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00​​​​ Introduction
00:36 Background
03:36 Driving Experience
11:39 Design & Build
25:43 Market & Model Range
42:55 Cost of Ownership
56:47 Summary

Background

We're told that electric cars are the future. But family customers have to live in the here and now. And in in the here and now, it's quite simply very difficult to justify an EV that gives you range anxiety over anything but short-to-medium distances. It's also extremely difficult to find an EV with seven seats. A far more sensible solution that'll still probably see you driving largely on full electrification is this car, the Kia Sorento PHEV.

There are a number of mid-sized-to-large family-shaped Plug-in hybrid SUVs on the market, so why this one? Well, a number of the PHEVs in this segment can't be had with seven seats, a failing this Kia avoids. And most of them are more expensive too, including this car's mechanically-identical cousin, the Hyundai Santa Fe PHEV. Not that this Kia is exactly cheap; you could easily find yourself paying £50,000 or more for a well specified one. You probably never imagined yourself paying that much for a Kia Sorento. But could you justify such a spend on this one? Let's find out.

Driving Experience

On the move, this PHEV plug-in model's 90hp electric motor does a reasonable job of powering the car in battery motion mode and when the 13.8kWh battery pack runs out (after about 35 miles) and the 1.6-litre T-GDi turbo engine cuts in, the combined power output - 261bhp - is more than enough for most safe overtakes, or pressing on when you're late for the school pick-up. 62mph occupies 8.4s en route to 119mph; you certainly wouldn't want to go any faster than that in a car like this. You might wish for a bit more pulling power through the six speeds of the drivetrain's auto gearbox though; there's only 350Nm of it, which isn't a great deal to propel along a 2.1-tonne 7-seat family SUV. That's why towing capacity is limited to 1,500kgs.

This car still retains a reasonably degree of 'off piste' capability though. Its standard 4WD system incorporates three bespoke 'Terrain' drive modes which you select from this centre console dial - 'Snow', 'Mud' and 'Sand'. But there's not really enough ride height to venture anywhere too gnarly with this Kia, so the 'Terrain' side of the drive mode dial will probably remain largely unused. More everyday useful settings come when a push of the same dial clicks you in to three separate tarmac 'Drive' modes that alter steering feel, throttle response and gear change timings. Most of the time, you'll leave the car in the 'Smart' setting, basically an auto mode that sorts everything out for you. There's also an 'Eco' mode. And a 'Sport' setting for when you want to push on, though you won't want to do that terribly often in this kind of high-sided SUV.

Design and Build

There are no outward giveaways as to this model's plug-in status, unless you happen to notice the badging or the extra filler flap. Previous generations of the Sorento have been a little anonymous and forgettable, but this fourth generation design is out to rectify that. In profile, you get a sense of the continuing growth that's characterised the Sorento model line throughout its various generations. This MK4 design is 5mm taller and gains another 10mm of length.

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[timdaniel]

998 litres of space? ... OK what's that in useful terms front to back and side to side please? Feet & inches or metres if you must! All the seats flat. Thanks.