SOME full-sized 4x4s may be so upmarket as to be unattainable unless you have more than £40,000 to shell out. But this is where up and coming world brand Kia steps in with its value all-wheel-drive Sorento.
The Sorento, which sells from £20,695 to £27,495 has been around since 2003 but a substantial update in 2006 has given it the market magnetism to stay up there with some tough competitors.
Although one of the cheaper options, the Sorento has been a consistent award winner throughout its life.
Classed as a premium SUV, it is its competitive price coupled with Kia's rapid rise in build quality and image that is causing many heads to turn.
Kia's brief was to combine the best elements of traditional, rugged 4x4s and more modern so-called 'soft-roaders,' making the Sorento at home in most kinds of terrain where you would take a wheeled vehicle.
It is built around a sturdy ladder frame chassis and is equipped with a low-ratio transfer gearbox giving it a genuine go-anywhere capacity denied to many far more expensive competitors.
With all-independent suspension, and an electrically-activated four-wheel-drive system or Kia's torque-on-demand full-time four-wheel drive the Sorento offers a sophisticated and comfortable alternative to an estate car on-road.
It is remarkably comfortable with full marks for ride quality. It features amazing performance from its 168bhp 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel engine which on the XS version as tested was returning an easy 35mpg.
The CO2 rating on the XS is not bad either at 209g/km which places it in band K, meaning £215 road tax. But choose the automatic and you are immediately transported to Band L where you have to shell out £400.
I found that the manual version was an easy and pleasant drive aided to a great degree by a smooth five-speed gearbox.
As with any Kia, specification is lavish across the range. When the Sorento was updated, an MP3-compatible radio and CD player with eight speakers was standardised , while XS models gained dual-zone climate control in place of the air conditioning system on the XE versions.
Some still think that Kia is a peripheral brand with average build quality. They are so wrong. Kia is now one of the fastest developing makes on the market and its current range of cars is light years ahead of the cheap and cheerful models of some years ago.
FAST FACTS
Kia Sorento 2.5 CRDi XS
Price: £23,695
Mechanical: 168bhp, 2497cc, 4cyl diesel engine driving four wheels via 5-speed manual gearbox
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