Despite still looking fresh and relevant, Kia Motors has decided to give its seven-seater SUV, the Kia Sorento a midlife refresh, distancing itself even further from its competitors. The facelift exercise sees the Sorento getting a refreshed exterior, more premium interior as well as a new eight-speed automatic gearbox for the 2.2-litre CRDi unit.
Changes to the exterior are mild but impactful, new items on the car include redesigned full LED headlamps and taillamps, dark metallic finish on the ‘tiger-nose’ grille, revised front and rear bumper. Customer will also be delighted to know that the Sorento now comes with new wheel designs ranging from 17 to 19-inch in diameter. Rich Expresso and Gravity Blue are new additions to the colour palette.
Additionally, for the bold and outgoing customers, the Sorento is now available in the sporty GT-Line which further enhances the car’s adventurous appeal. The Sorento GT-Line features quad LED fog lamps, red brake callipers, more prominent side steps and subtle GT Line badging. Diesel models of the GT-Line gets a twin-exhaust design at the rear.
Inside, there are more liberal use of soft touch materials and leather to elevate the premium look and feel of the Sorento’s cabin. Customers can have their leather or fabric upholstery to be finished in single-tone (black) or two-tone (black and stone beige) theme. Those who went for the leather upholstery gets additional colour choice of brown or light grey.
Other newly designed features include the steering wheel, driver instrument cluster, climate control display, four-way powered front seats, 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well as wireless charging tray. A 640-watt, 10-speaker Harman/Kardon® surround sound system is now offered as an option.
As before the Sorento is offered with two diesels and one petrol engine – 2.0-litre CRDi with 182 hp/402 Nm, 2.2-litre CRDi with 197 hp/441 Nm and 2.4 GDI with 185 hp/241 Nm. The 2.0-litre diesel and 2.4-litre petrol soldiers on with a six-speed automatic transmission while the 2.2-litre diesel gets an all-new eight-speed automatic or six-speed manual. The option for front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive remains.
The all-new eight-speed auto is developed in-house by Kia that promises quicker gearshifts and better engine response compared to the old six-speed unit. The extra cogs also help bring down fuel economy to 6.2 litres per 100 km (AWD model).
On the safety front, the Sorento facelift now gets the company’s latest DRiVE WISE Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that helps mitigate or avoid collisions completely. New safety systems include Lane Keeping Assist, High Beam Assist and Driver Attention Warning.
The Kia Sorento facelift will go on sale in Europe in Q4 of 2017 with pricing to be announced at a later date. Locally, Naza Kia Malaysia has just introduced the Kia Sorento 2.2 CRDi in the highest specification for RM192k.
