My weekend with the 2019 Kia Sorento
Recently, my 2016 Kia Sedona was in for some warranty repairs and was not done in time for the August long weekend. Kia of Saskatoon had my back and let me borrow a 2019 Kia Sorento EX in Blaze Blue with 11,000 km on it and a list price of $40,460.
I got picked up from work by the Kia shuttle driver and when I returned to the dealership I noticed that my van wasn’t sitting out in the lot like it usually is after a service. When I walked into the service area I was immediately greeted by Sarah from the service team and informed that my van wasn’t done yet. She did however have the car seats removed from my van and sitting next to a blue Kia Sorento next to us. After signing the paperwork and putting the seats into the vehicle I was off.
First off, I was impressed that all 3 car seats could fit in the second row. This is harder than one would expect, and not many vehicles can accomplish this feat due to the hip space needed.
The EX model of the Sorento has a lot of standard equipment such as leather seats, heated steering wheel, Android Auto and wireless charging. It also has a lot of safety equipment included such as blind-spot monitoring, an excellent backup camera and rear cross-traffic collision warning. Overall I was impressed with the level of equipment available in the vehicle. I was very impressed with the quality of both the digital gauge cluster and the infotainment screen. The resolution was very crisp and the screen was extremely responsive to the touch.
I took my kids camping for the weekend and I was able to pack all of our camping gear, clothes, food and beach toys in the back with the 3rd row seats folded down. Had I needed to have the 3rd row of seats up I never would have been able to get everything in there! Getting packed up was fine but I wish that this particular Sorento had the power tailgate as this would have made getting in and out of the back that much easier, especially with 3 kids running around “helping”.
I was extremely impressed with the ride quality and steering feel. The electric power steering had a nice weight to it and I felt a bit more connected to the road than in other vehicles I’ve driven. The ride was unbelievably smooth, but not in a floaty Rolls Royce kind of way. I felt connected to the road but didn’t feel every bump in the road.
There were a few things that I didn’t like about the Sorento. The first was the lack of a power tailgate. The model I had on loan was the EX, a mid-range trim level, but yet there was no power tailgate. Personally I’m not overly bothered about the power tailgate, but at this price point and at this trim level I would have expected it.
The second thing was the easy entry/exit on the driver’s seat. This is the feature that moves the seat back automatically so it is easier to get in and out of the vehicle. With the car seats in the back it made it impossible for the kids to get in and out of the driver’s side rear door and so I had to constantly prevent it from going all the way back. The second reason I didn’t like this feature was because I had trouble pushing the brake pedal to start the engine when the seat was all the way back. I’m 6’1″ and I still had to stretch to reach the brake, so I can’t imagine how hard it would be for someone shorter than me. I’m sure there is a way to change this setting but it wasn’t immediately obvious when I looked through the infotainment system.
And finally, the third thing I disliked was my inability to get the Android Auto to work. I had never used Android Auto before but I downloaded the app, read instructions in the manual and connected my phone via the USB like I was supposed to. After several attempts over 3 days I could not get the infotainment system to connect the Android Auto. I initially suspected it was something I was doing wrong but after all of my trying I am not convinced. I’m not saying that this is an issue with all Sorentos but it seemed to be an issue with this particular one.
Overall I really enjoyed my time with the 2019 Kia Sorento. I spent nearly 4 days with it and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. It was able to fit all of my kids, all of out stuff, had a ton of tech and was very appealing. If anyone is in the market for a mid-sized SUV at ~$40k price point this should be a vehicle on your shopping list.
