The all-new 2021 Kia Sorento is finally here and man, are we impressed! Kia has jam-packed the new Sorento with a mountain of features, along with some segment first equipment. But, is it enough to justify a price hike? Paul Maric tests out the new Kia Sorento to find out!
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2021-kia-sorento-gt-line-awd-review/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=single-car-review
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 00:50
Interior: 03:14
Infotainment: 05:17
Safety Tech: 09:57
Practicality: 11:45
On the road: 17:12
Verdict: 22:31
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
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#kia #review #sorento @KiaWorldwideOfficial @KiaAustralia
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2021-kia-sorento-gt-line-awd-review/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=single-car-review
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 00:50
Interior: 03:14
Infotainment: 05:17
Safety Tech: 09:57
Practicality: 11:45
On the road: 17:12
Verdict: 22:31
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#kia #review #sorento @KiaWorldwideOfficial @KiaAustralia
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.
00:01 Now while I'm getting on in age, the Kia Sorento isn't especially this brand new one.
00:05 It is jam-packed full of tech, and I don't really understand how they can fit it all
00:09 inside a car that size.
00:10 And we'll go through it all today, because this is the top specification GT line of the
00:15 Sorento.
00:16 It competes with cars like the Hyundai Santa Fe, which is about to be replaced, the Kluger
00:20 - there's a new version of that coming - and the Mazda CX-9.
00:24 It's priced at just under $65,000 with this diesel.
00:27 There is a petrol version which is a little bit cheaper because it is front-wheel drive
00:31 only.
00:32 This one's all-wheel drive.
00:33 Today we're going to do a detailed review of the new Sorento.
00:35 If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review, you can use the time codes
00:38 up on the screen there, or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:42 And if you haven't done so already, I'd love it if you could hit subscribe and also press
00:45 the bell icon.
00:46 That'll tell you every single time we drive a jam-packed new car.
00:49 Righto, let's talk exterior.
00:51 The exciting news is you've got seven colours to choose from.
00:54 Gold but white is an additional $695.
00:58 Now onto styling.
00:59 I think this is probably the coolest part about this car.
01:01 It's a little hard to see from front on, but looking through there, you can see like a
01:05 chisel that comes down around the front here and then tapers in.
01:08 You've got this 3D-looking grille.
01:10 This car turns a lot of heads despite the fact it's a) a Kia and b) an SUV.
01:15 You wouldn't expect those two things a few years ago, so it's cool to see that they have
01:19 evolved the styling.
01:20 Now, it's interesting here as well that with these dark colours, there's a beautiful offset
01:23 between the body colour and then this piano black.
01:26 I'm normally not a fan of piano black, but it really works well here, offset against
01:30 those dark colours.
01:31 And then when I talk about technology, you can see the litany of sensors and cameras
01:35 that are all around this car, and I'll run through those in a bit more detail later on,
01:39 but it's good to see that they have got with the times here, and when you are spending
01:42 around the $65,000 mark, you're getting technology on this car that you would expect to see on
01:47 some high-end European cars, which is pretty cool.
01:50 In terms of headlight technology, full LED headlights.
01:53 This section down here is the LED daytime running light, but it's also the indicator,
01:57 so when you flick that on, that really lights up nicely and it looks really cool at night
02:00 time.
02:01 A little chisel in there with an air duct as well, and then around the side here, 20-inch
02:06 alloy wheels.
02:07 Normally that sends shivers down my spine because it means the ride is going to be terrible,
02:11 so let's see what it's like today.
02:13 There are 45 profile tyres, so there is a fair bit of rubber there, but 20-inch alloy
02:17 wheels on a family SUV can be a little bit dangerous, so we'll see how that goes, but
02:22 I like the design, it's like a sort of brushed shadow chrome, it looks pretty cool.
02:26 We'll jump around to the side of the car, a little bit more of that brushed chrome along
02:31 the side here.
02:32 Let me know in the comments below, what is that actually called?
02:34 It's, I don't think it's aluminium, but it's got that brushed look to it.
02:37 Indicator built into the mirror there.
02:39 You've got a panoramic glass roof, roof rails, privacy glass, and in terms of dimensions,
02:44 it's now 10mm longer and 10mm wider than the last generation of the Sorento.
02:49 Come around to the back here, I think this is the best angle.
02:51 Have a look at these lights, how sleek are they?
02:53 They sort of taper around the side there, and it has a bit of that American design built
02:58 into it, LED lights there in those columns.
03:00 You've got big Sorento badge down the bottom there, and then GT line as well.
03:05 It's quite a nice, accomplished looking rear end, and it gives this car a bit of masculinity.
03:09 It looks pretty tough out on the road, despite the fact it has the fat exhaust pipes.
03:14 Let's talk interior, and we'll start with the key.
03:17 This is a slightly different design to the standard Kia key, slightly larger.
03:21 So you can see on the back there, there is nothing.
03:23 If I tilt it around to the side, you have lock, unlock, and boot, which you can push
03:27 and hold because it's a powered tailgate.
03:29 On the front here, there's some secret features.
03:31 I'll run you through those shortly, but then a Kia logo down the bottom.
03:34 It's also a proximity sensing key, so you just leave that in your pocket, grab the door
03:38 handle and then once you're inside, hit the start button.
03:40 Now, what about styling?
03:41 When I first hopped into this car, I was really, really impressed with how high-end this looks.
03:47 When you're paying $65,000 odd for a top specification Sorento, you actually don't feel too bad about
03:52 it because it is beautifully presented.
03:54 It looks high-end and premium.
03:55 It kind of reminds me a bit of an S-Class in the way that those screens are set up with
03:59 those two big screens next to each other, but then beyond that, you have this brushed
04:03 sort of, I don't know what this is.
04:05 It's not aluminium, it's some weird material, but inside the door inlays as well, they light
04:09 up so you have a lot of ambient lighting that just looks fantastic at night.
04:13 Even the detail here around these air vents, they just look really cool.
04:17 Now, this is interesting as well, the gear shifter has gone, so the traditional one has
04:21 been replaced with this circular unit.
04:24 Obviously just works by turning it, but I love the fact that this is metallic and knurled.
04:28 Have a listen.
04:29 It just makes this car feel really luxurious, those little touches there.
04:34 It is let down by piano black and, I don't know, I've said this a million times, they
04:38 continue using this stuff and look at that, there are just fingerprints all over that.
04:43 I don't know, it just seems impossible to keep clean, so a strange thing to have.
04:47 What about the materials?
04:48 Well, all around the car here, everything feels nice and soft.
04:51 And then touch points, that's all nice and soft and then on the door as well, that's
04:54 all nicely padded.
04:55 But how soft is it?
04:56 Well, we've got our durometer here which tests from 0 to 100 and we've tested all the surfaces
05:01 around this car.
05:02 If you want to see how it compares to other cars, simply click on the link in the description
05:06 below.
05:07 Now what about build quality?
05:09 Look it seems pretty good.
05:12 This is a little bit loose around here, but for the most part, all of this fits in really
05:16 nicely.
05:17 Let's talk infotainment.
05:18 Earlier I mentioned that this car is jam-packed full of technology and a lot of it falls into
05:23 the infotainment category.
05:24 It all starts over here with the 10.25 inch infotainment system.
05:29 Today I'm just going to give you a brief overview of this.
05:31 If you want a more detailed look at it, you can click up here to watch our detailed review
05:35 of the Kia infotainment system.
05:37 So let's start here on the home screen.
05:38 Now you can't really see anything here because we're in the middle of nowhere, but this gives
05:42 you a shaded map overlay along with the clock and the time, plus your battery discharge
05:48 warning and also the driver profiles in the top left of the screen.
05:51 But if we swipe over, this is where you'll find the rest of the menus.
05:54 You have shortcut buttons on the side there, so you can go straight to your inbuilt satellite
05:58 navigation.
06:00 That doesn't require any internet connectivity or a phone connected to the vehicle.
06:04 And then in terms of radio, you have AM FM DAB plus digital radio, so it's a fully featured
06:12 system.
06:13 In the media menu, you'll find the ability to stream from your phone plus the external
06:16 connectivity options, which I'll get to in just a second.
06:19 And then you have manual knobs here for volume and also tuning.
06:23 In terms of phone connectivity, you have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
06:27 It's a wired system, so you've got to have a cable there.
06:29 And I'll show you what that looks like if we go to the home menu and then hit Apple
06:33 CarPlay.
06:35 The resolution is incredible.
06:38 If I get right in there, I can't even see the pixels.
06:40 It is super high res.
06:42 It takes up the entire screen.
06:43 That is a very, very impressive setup and absolutely love the look of that.
06:48 Now in terms of Android Auto, I'll show you what that looks like.
06:51 It's not that great because it's all compressed into that little screen.
06:54 It's not a full screen integration like Apple CarPlay, so it is kind of limited in that
06:58 sense.
06:59 So that's a little bit disappointing.
07:00 Now there are a couple of other really cool features I want to point out here.
07:03 So you've heard me speaking previously about the voice memo function.
07:07 So while you're out driving, if you get an idea that pops into your head, you can press
07:10 voice memo to record your voice and then play it back later.
07:14 But check this out.
07:15 I haven't seen this in a car before.
07:17 Driver talk.
07:18 So what this does is it uses a microphone at the front of the car to talk to passengers
07:22 in the second and third row.
07:24 So you don't have to yell at people.
07:25 You don't need to take your eyes off the road.
07:27 You simply talk and the people in the back can hear you.
07:29 So absolutely love that feature.
07:31 Now the other thing they have built into here is this random function.
07:34 So watch this.
07:35 Sounds of nature.
07:36 You can play a rainy day, which makes you want to wee.
07:40 Or you can play open air cafe or a stack of other sounds to keep you going while you're
07:46 out on your drive.
07:48 Strange.
07:49 Let me know in the comments below if you can think of a reason why they have this fitted
07:53 to the car.
07:54 Finally, if you do have kids in the car, but you still want to listen to my segments on
07:58 AM radio, you can use quiet mode.
08:01 You press this and all it does is plays music in the front seats.
08:05 Rear seat passengers won't be able to hear anything.
08:07 They will hear a little bit, but not as much.
08:09 So the kids will be able to sleep.
08:10 And I think a lot of this technology here is going to be spread out across other cars
08:14 in this segment as people realize how handy these features are when you do have kids in
08:18 the car.
08:19 Moving on from the central infotainment screen, ahead of the driver you have this 12.3 inch
08:23 display.
08:24 Another high resolution screen.
08:25 On the left hand side you have a speedometer.
08:27 On the right hand side you have a tachometer.
08:29 Now if you scroll through the center here, you'll be able to see the different context
08:33 menus.
08:34 So you have a display there for the speedometer and a tension level display.
08:38 And then it goes through and gives you other options for a compass, the driver assistance
08:42 controls, tire pressures, so on and so forth.
08:44 You can then also change what the display looks like as well using this screen.
08:49 So if we come over here to settings and open up display, you can change the theme.
08:54 So you have that blue sky theme, or you can go over here to like a, I don't know, electricity
08:59 sort of theme.
09:01 And then over to a sporty theme.
09:04 And then finally this sort of clean looking cluster.
09:07 So that's all pretty good looking.
09:09 And then ahead of the driver you also have a head up display that shows you your speed,
09:13 also the radar cruise and lane keeping assistant.
09:16 The other interesting feature there is the blind spot monitor appears not only on the
09:20 head up display and in the wing mirrors, but also in this cluster here.
09:24 And we'll have a look at that when we go for a drive.
09:26 In terms of audio, there is a 12 speaker Bose branded sound system.
09:29 And for connectivity you have one USB port that's available for smartphone mirroring.
09:34 You have two charging USB ports, a wireless phone charger of a Qi standard.
09:40 Now you may be wondering where is the 12 volt outlet here?
09:43 Well, nowhere to be found.
09:44 This is the first car I've seen without a 12 volt outlet up front.
09:46 There's only one in the second row.
09:48 So it's interesting that moving on from that, and I don't really have an issue with that.
09:51 Can't think of many devices that we have in our lives anymore that require a 12 volt auxiliary
09:56 socket.
09:57 Let's move on to safety technology and there are a couple of segment first here.
10:00 So autonomous emergency braking, low and high speed and also vulnerable road user detection.
10:06 You have an exit assistant.
10:08 So if one of your kids tries to hop out before you're done parking, or if there's another
10:11 car coming or a cyclist, they won't be able to open the door into them, which is excellent
10:16 news.
10:17 There's also a warning that pops up in the cluster ahead of the driver when you're done
10:20 driving.
10:21 Reminds you to check for kids in the backseat if they are detected there.
10:23 You have a center airbag.
10:24 So this is a first for the segment.
10:26 This prevents the two front passengers hitting each other in the event of a side impact.
10:30 Sometimes heads can collide.
10:32 So that stops that from happening.
10:33 There's also a knee airbag down here.
10:35 So the driver is fully enclosed in an airbag environment.
10:39 You have radar cruise control with a semi-autonomous steering function.
10:42 There's also a junction assistant.
10:44 So if you are turning across an intersection and there's a car coming and you haven't seen
10:47 it, the car will stop for you.
10:49 Blind spot monitoring, which I mentioned earlier.
10:51 And what about the reverse camera?
10:52 Let's have a look at what quality is like on that.
10:55 The quality is really impressive.
10:57 It's super high resolution and the 360 camera that you see from top down looks really good.
11:02 Then on top of that, you can actually select different angles depending on what you want
11:06 to see around the car, which is great.
11:09 In addition to all of that, you also have a reverse AEB and rear cross traffic alert
11:13 that'll stop the car if you don't.
11:15 So as you are reversing, if a person or car comes into field and you're going to hit them,
11:19 it'll slam the brakes on for you.
11:20 And you remember before I mentioned the key?
11:23 This allows you to remotely park the car.
11:25 So from outside, it will drive out of the parking bay on its own using these buttons.
11:30 Look, I love that this technology is here, but I just think it's a bit of a gimmick.
11:34 I've used this on my Tesla before and I used it once to show someone and never again because
11:39 you would never ever park that close to anyone anyway.
11:41 So good to see that it has it, but one of those features you're probably never going
11:44 to use.
11:45 Moving on to storage, where are you going to put your phone?
11:49 Well, it neatly lives in there.
11:50 You've also got your wireless phone charger and just next to it, you have another little
11:53 slot as well.
11:55 Then bottle storage.
11:57 I like that.
11:58 Easily fits a bottle of virtually any size.
12:01 It's got teeth on the side.
12:02 If you jump over to the door pockets, you have a bin there for the bottle and also storage
12:07 alongside it.
12:08 Centre console, you have a generous storage space there.
12:12 I'll give you an idea of how deep that is.
12:14 Plus a little tray.
12:15 And finally, you have this, the glove box, plenty of room for the manual and your water
12:20 bottle.
12:21 In terms of comfort, you have dual zone climate control, heated and cooled seats, plus a heated
12:26 steering wheel.
12:27 A litany of seat adjustments here in terms of electric control.
12:32 On top of that, they are Nappa leather seats, so that is high end stuff.
12:37 I like the way they're designed as well with these perforations, really nicely ribbed.
12:42 Comfort wise, they feel good.
12:44 They are a little bit firm.
12:45 I'd be keen to go for a longer drive in this to see what it's like, but for the most part,
12:50 they feel nice.
12:51 They don't really hug me in too much.
12:52 They feel like they're built for slightly bigger people.
12:56 Steering wheel sits nicely in the hand and then you have the paddle shifters stuck behind
12:59 there as well.
13:00 OK, moving on to second row of Sorento.
13:03 I'm surprised by the amount of leg room that I have.
13:05 Check this out.
13:06 Plenty of knee room, loads of toe room and headroom is a little bit cramped, but OK for
13:12 someone my height.
13:13 I think if you're a little taller, you're going to be rubbing up against that.
13:16 But there are a lot of highlights here to talk about.
13:18 So, mat pockets in the back of the seats.
13:20 You have air vents as well.
13:22 You can adjust the passenger seat.
13:25 You can move that forwards and backwards as required.
13:28 Then you have this clever placement for two USB ports for charging as well, plus an additional
13:34 USB port down the bottom and a 12 volt outlet.
13:38 Over on the doors, you have these shades that come up like that.
13:43 More of that sort of cool textured material in the doors there.
13:46 You have heated seats for the two outboard seats in the second row.
13:49 That's activated by using the switch on the door.
13:51 In terms of bottle storage, we have a center armrest here with two bottle holders.
13:57 They fit fairly easily.
13:58 And then inside the door, you have a bottle holder up the top, but then an additional
14:02 one down the bottom.
14:03 So, they really have thought about everything here in terms of making it comfortable.
14:06 If you do need more room in the second row or for your third row, you can move the second
14:10 row forwards and backwards.
14:11 And then it also reclines as well, which is handy.
14:15 You have ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats.
14:18 And the really cool thing here is that all three rows have ISOFIX points and you also
14:22 have two top tether points in the third row as well, making this an SUV that can actually
14:27 have baby seats all the way in the back there.
14:29 Speaking of which, third row, can you fit adults in?
14:32 I have a feeling it'll be a kid only zone, but it's worth a shot.
14:35 Now, they have developed a clever system here and increased the amount that the second row
14:39 slides forward to give you access to the third row.
14:42 You can either push this button down here or the same button up the top.
14:45 One push of that drops and slides everything forward.
14:49 Then once you're in there, you pull the seats up either from the boot using this lever or
14:54 from here, which is a little trickier.
14:56 They lock into place and then you climb in, which is a bit of an awkward task for an adult.
15:04 Okay, I'm in.
15:07 Headroom's pretty compromised, but I'm in and I'm fitting okay.
15:10 Let's see what it's like if I slide this backwards and then lock that into position.
15:16 That's actually not too bad.
15:17 I've got knee room there.
15:18 Toe room is a little compromised, but I'd be okay if I had to sit here.
15:21 Igor, can you just give us a look at how much knee room there is there?
15:25 Okay, so it's not the most knee room in the world, but it's more than enough for me to
15:29 be able to be comfortable here, which is a little surprising.
15:32 In terms of connectivity, you have USB points attached to here, a 12-volt outlet, your own
15:37 blower controls, your own air vents.
15:39 You've also got two cup holders, a little storage tray and then a grab handle for the
15:43 kids to reef themselves inside.
15:45 But there is a downside.
15:47 While you have curtain airbags, they only go up to around here, which means your third
15:51 row passengers won't actually have airbag protection around the side of their head.
15:55 So that is one of the biggest downsides with Sorento and I can't understand why they're
15:59 not able to extend the airbags so it actually covers the third row as well.
16:03 Let's talk cargo space.
16:04 Often with these three-row SUVs, power tailgate, you don't really have much room behind the
16:09 third row.
16:10 Here you have just under 200 litres of cargo space.
16:13 We'll try our luggage in a sec, but under here you can store your cargo blind, which
16:16 is a really good feature.
16:17 You have some netting, the jack for the full-size spare tyre and a little bit of spare space
16:22 there to keep your belongings away from prying eyes.
16:26 Let's see how we go.
16:27 So laptop bag fits in fine.
16:29 We'll see if it fits our suitcase.
16:32 It does, but will it close?
16:35 That is the ultimate test.
16:38 Let's see, fingers crossed.
16:39 No, it's not going to close.
16:41 That's okay.
16:42 So you cannot fit luggage in there behind the third row, but you probably could fit shopping
16:46 and stuff like that.
16:47 What happens when you drop the third row?
16:49 Well, you have just over 600 litres of cargo space and we can quite easily then fit everything
16:58 in, which is easily done.
17:01 And then finally, if you drop the second row, which is done using these buttons just here,
17:07 you have a little over 2000 litres of cargo space.
17:09 We've just hit the road in the Sorento and let me run through the drivetrain under the
17:15 bonnet here.
17:16 So 2.2-litre turbocharged, four-cylinder diesel engine, makes 148 kilowatts of power and 440
17:23 newton metres of torque.
17:24 So not a big step forward over the last generation, but that's not such a bad thing because the
17:29 engine itself was always fine to begin with.
17:31 What they have changed though is the gearbox.
17:33 It now uses an eight-speed dual clutch.
17:35 It's a wet clutch.
17:36 This is a brand new gearbox to Hyundai and Kia and it's been developed with performance
17:40 applications in mind.
17:41 So a slightly varied version of this is going to find its way into the new Hyundai i30N
17:47 with DCT.
17:48 So we can just see how it goes in a performance application.
17:51 Here though, not a huge, huge fan of it.
17:55 So as we slow down, it can be a little bit fussy at low speeds.
18:00 So it kind of lurches forward and it's not overly responsive until you get stuck into
18:05 it and then it kind of just gives you everything.
18:08 And then on hills as well, it can be a little bit funny too.
18:11 So look, it is a big improvement, but I think there's probably still a tiny bit of work
18:15 to be done to it.
18:16 When you do opt for the diesel in the GT line, it's an all-wheel drive system and there's
18:20 actually a clever display ahead of the driver that shows you how much torque is going to
18:24 the front and rear axles.
18:25 If I bury this, you'll see it splits that a little more evenly.
18:29 And that's especially handy if you are going off-road and I say that because you're not
18:32 going to be doing any major off-roading, but it is good to know you have that display.
18:35 If you do opt for the petrol V6, yes, it is a punchier engine, but it is front-wheel drive
18:40 only.
18:41 We don't have an official 0 to 100 number from Kia, but I thought we'd test it out anyway.
18:45 So I'm going to pop that into sport mode and let's see what happens.
18:52 Yeah, look, it feels pretty punchy.
19:03 The engine itself has never been an issue and now the gearbox is actually really quite
19:08 responsive.
19:09 It doesn't have any torque holes in it.
19:10 If I slow it down a little bit here and then just give it a little kick, yeah, it's really
19:15 fast to respond.
19:17 I like the way this works once it's moving.
19:19 Not so great at low speeds, but once it's moving, it's pretty impressive.
19:22 So speaking of drive modes, there's this little switch here and it's quite interesting because
19:26 it goes between smart, which is what we're in now, sport, eco and comfort.
19:30 But then if you want to go to your four-wheel drive controls, you simply push it and then
19:34 it allows you to select between snow, mud and sand.
19:37 And it's in those modes that it's able to activate the hill descent control and also
19:40 adjust the variability of the stability control to give you greater comfort and traction in
19:45 those environments.
19:46 So I like the way that's set up.
19:48 It's all very easy and straightforward.
19:49 Let's talk fuel economy.
19:50 Kia claims an official combined fuel consumption of 6.1 litres per 100 Ks.
19:56 So over the last 100 Ks, been averaging 10 litres per 100 Ks.
20:01 So that is significantly more than the claim.
20:03 And we've been doing a fair bit of highway driving as well, so it's interesting to see
20:07 the figure is actually that high.
20:09 Let's talk about the ride.
20:10 Kia does all of its ride and handling tuning for its cars here in Australia.
20:15 So this car has a bespoke tune for Australia that is developed for the Australian market.
20:19 A lot of people ask, why are our roads any different?
20:21 Are they bad?
20:22 Are they worse than other roads around the world?
20:24 Well, no, they're not, but the problem is we have a greater variability of roads.
20:29 So you need to be able to tune this car for gravel, for bad country roads, for smooth
20:33 city roads, and also for roads with built up gravel on the side.
20:36 So it is quite a complex requirement for a car to be able to cross all of those measures.
20:41 And we kind of have a unique environment, and for that reason, they do all of their
20:45 tuning here for these cars.
20:47 What does it feel like?
20:48 Well, it's really interesting because the car has what I would describe as a European
20:53 feel.
20:54 Now, this sounds a little bit cheesy, but it feels as good as the European competitors
20:58 in this segment because the ride quality is fantastic, regardless of which surface you
21:03 pick.
21:04 So here we are in a pretty poor country road, and as we cruise over some of these bumps,
21:08 it's soaking everything up nicely.
21:10 The damping is nice and progressive, and the spring rate is on the firmer side of comfortable,
21:15 but it doesn't leave you jarred or feeling like this is too sporty.
21:20 The only time it does struggle a little bit is on cobblestones and low-speed stuff around
21:24 the city, where it can feel a little bit brittle, and you are picking up a whole lot of those
21:28 imperfections.
21:29 In terms of towing capacity, if you do want to do any towing here, 2,000 kilogram brake
21:33 towing capacity with a 200 kilogram down ball weight.
21:37 And in terms of noise, it is quiet in the cabin, but we are picking up a little bit
21:41 of wind noise, and the diesel engine can be a little thrashy at the top end of the rev
21:45 band.
21:46 On the outside, it is a little bit noisy too.
21:48 Now, let's talk visibility, and watch this.
21:50 As I put the indicator on, check that out.
21:53 So that is part of the blind spot monitor.
21:56 The second you put the indicator on, you get a camera pop-up.
21:58 It works on the left-hand side as well.
22:01 I love this technology because I haven't seen that before on any other car in the Australian
22:06 market, and it works really well.
22:08 It's a super high-resolution screen, and then if I go to indicate and merge into someone
22:12 while there's someone there, it vibrates the steering wheel as well.
22:14 So this has you covered regardless of what you're doing, and it's great to see them integrate
22:19 that.
22:20 And on the visibility front, I can see clearly out the front there.
22:22 At the back, it's not too bad.
22:24 It's quite a narrow envelope, but the wing mirrors are really big on the sides, and of
22:28 course I've got front and rear parking sensors, so parking is fairly straightforward.
22:31 So the Kia Sorento, what do I reckon?
22:34 This is a huge, huge step forward from the last one.
22:37 It is jam-packed full of technology, and like I said in the intro, it's got so much technology
22:42 that you would never expect to see on a car in this price bracket.
22:45 So from that point of view, it's really good.
22:47 It's got the seven seats.
22:49 Obviously with the seven seats, it is kid-friendly only, and of course the airbags don't extend
22:53 all the way, so that is a consideration if you do have kids in the back.
22:56 But those things aside, I think it is really good value for money, and if you have a look
23:00 at the competitors in this segment, none of them really come close to this in terms of
23:04 technology at the moment.
23:05 So let me know in the comments below, have you bought one of these?
23:07 Are you looking at one of these?
23:08 And if not, what did you buy instead?
23:11 So let me know in the comments below, do I look like a giant next to this?
23:13 It's the magic of cinema, the car's a little bit lower, so I'm not actually a thousand
23:17 metres tall.
23:18 Thank you for watching.
23:19 If you did enjoy this, hit the like button, and also please don't forget to subscribe
23:23 and also press the bell icon.
23:24 It'll tell you every single time we test an all-new family-friendly SUV, but until next