2021 Kia Sorento GT-Line review: Farewell
After three months in the Drive.com.au garage, has the Kia Sorento GT-Line passed the Aussie family test? Glenn Butler reports.
- Room for real families
- Strong active safety list
- Good value proposition and warranty
- High boot loading height
- No window blinds on cheaper variants
Thanks to my recent and rapidly growing family, I seem to have landed more than my fair share of the Melbourne-based seven-seat car reviews during the last six months at Drive.com.au.
Don’t tell the boss, but it’s absolutely fine with me – as long as I don’t miss out on the odd saucy sports car as well. And so far I haven’t, as my recent road trip in the delectable Aston Martin Vantage Roadster testifies.
First, it was a Kia Sorento long-term test car. Then came week-long tests in the Honda Odyssey and Hyundai Palisade, followed by the Hyundai Staria and Toyota Prado. As I write this, there’s another Sorento parked in my driveway, this time it’s the new PHEV. That’s going back today and I’m picking up a new Mitsubishi Outlander seven-seater. In three days’ time, I pick up yet another Sorento, the Sport+ variant we haven’t reviewed, which I’m driving to Sydney (with the family) for Drive Car of the Year testing in a few weeks.
On that note, if anyone has any tips on packing a double pram and two single prams, two portable cots, a portable change table, three weeks’ worth of nappies (for two), two baby seats, and all the clothes and other life requirements for four inside an SUV, I’m eager to hear them. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing Luggage Tetris, but this could be my toughest game to date.
Please also send any tips on keeping a 16-month-old and three-month-old happy while stuck in car seats for hours as well.
| 2021 Kia Sorento GT-Line AWD | |
| Engine | 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel |
| Power and torque | 148kW at 3800rpm, 440Nm at 1750–2750rpm |
| Transmission | Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic |
| Drive type | All-wheel drive |
| Kerb weight | 1908kg |
| Boot volume | 187L to third row, 616L to second row |
| Turning circle | 11.6m |
| ANCAP safety rating | Five stars, tested Aug 2020 |
| Warranty | Seven years / unlimited km |
| Tow rating braked, unbraked | 2000kg, 750kg |
| Length/width/height | 4810mm, 1900mm, 1700mm |
| Main competitors | Hyundai Palisade, Mazda CX-8, Toyota Kluger |
For this trip, I specifically requested the Kia Sorento – even though there are newer vehicles out there. I needed a car big enough to cart all of us to Sydney and back comfortably, but not so big that it was intimidating for my wife to drive once we got to Sydney.
While we are in Sydney, I will be heading into the office for a week and then off judging Car of the Year for the second week, but my wife needs to be able to get around with the boys safely and with confidence during that time.
Rachel is not scared of big cars. But traffic lanes on many of Sydney’s roads are narrower than Melbourne, and there’s more traffic. Car parking is often also tighter, so it’s not always easy to find a spot with the room to open the tailgate and unload a 12kg double pram. And driving on unfamiliar roads adds to the stress, not to mention two babies screaming at the top of their lungs.
So, we need a big car that can carry a big carload and drives like a big car on the highway, but feels like a smaller car around town. Easy, right?
This conflicting set of criteria ruled out the five-metre-long Hyundai Palisade and the 5.25m-long Hyundai Staria, both of which would have swallowed the tribe and all its luggage with relative ease. The Staria was also passed over because I’ve got a long-termer coming in the next few months, so didn’t want to double-up.
The challenge of loading and unloading our boys from their car seats knocked out the Toyota LandCruiser Prado, which is quite a tall vehicle due to its off-road design. That’s a shame because the Prado is a ridiculously comfortable long-distance tourer and has a more spacious back seat, which makes installing and tightening the baby-seat tethers easier. But boot space is compromised by a third row that doesn’t fold properly flat and by wheel arches that eat into load width. Oh, and the barn door needs a lot of swinging room.
The Honda Odyssey would pass all those practicality and manoeuvrability tests, but its busy suspension and lacklustre 2.2-litre engine would, I believe, fail the long-distance touring test. So no go there either.
I considered a Toyota Kluger, but at 4.97m it is almost as long as a Hyundai Palisade, and 16cm longer than the Sorento. Plus, I haven’t tested one in the last 12 months, so wanted to stick to something I know.
The last time we did this trip, Ford loaned me an Everest 4WD, which I really liked on the open road. But, like the Prado, its off-road-friendly ride height would be too much for my average-height wife – 161cm – to lift 13kg Arlo who loves his food… Except broccoli.
The one car I overlooked – until right now when I’m writing this, which is too late as we depart in two days – is the Mazda CX-8. It appears to strike the sweet spot I’m aiming for: good cargo space, not too big a footprint, good touring credentials. It’s 90mm longer than the Sorento, but 60mm narrower, which might have been a problem with our double pram. Maybe it can do next year’s trip.
No, if my three months in our long-term Sorento GT-Line has taught me anything, it’s that the Sorento is the right car for our needs. The turbo diesel engine and eight-speed transmission will eat the distance with ease, and we will be incredibly comfortable inside the quiet cabin. The front seats have support in all the right areas, and there’s plenty of stowage options for the inevitable McDonald’s takeaway.
The in-car infotainment system will do justice to whatever we pipe from Spotify – and it won’t be Baby Shark – and the 360-degree cameras will make Rachel’s driving in Sydney a little less stressful.
I’m keen to see how low I can get fuel consumption from the Sorento’s 2.2-litre turbo diesel. Kia claims 6.1L/100km for the combined cycle, but the best I’ve done so far is 7.5L/100km. For that challenge, I’ll have almost 900km of Hume Highway at my mercy. If you’re keen to see how I went, search for my Kia Sorento Sport+ review (publishing December 2021).
The Sorento is not perfect. For example, the boot floor is not people-mover low, so it does take a bit to hike the double pram up and in. And the Sport+ doesn’t get the GT-Line’s retractable window blinds to keep the sun off the boys during long drives or the wireless charging mat.
No car is perfect, after all. But unless the Sorento unexpectedly missteps in a massive way on our family trip to Sydney, it has proved to me over three months and many thousands of kilometres that it ticks a lot of the boxes important to Australian families like mine.
MORE: Long-term report one: Introduction
MORE: Long-term report two: Family life update
MORE: Sorento news and reviews
MORE: Everything Kia
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