Kia first brought the Sorento to Europe in 2002 as a mid/large sized 4x4. Revised in 2007 it had a separate chassis, beam rear axle and high/low ratios via transfer box.
Sorento II in 2009 (now a joint project with Hyundai’s Santa Fe) traded separate chassis and transfer box for front wheel drive with rear axle ‘kick-in’ if slip detected. Variable up to 60-40 front-rear, drive can be locked 50-50 (to 25 mph) if needs be. This and Hill Descent control meant a decent degree of ability off-road was retained.
Unitary bodywork with independent rear suspension brought improved steering, cornering and ride quality – it was lighter too benefitting fuel consumption and emissions. Sorento II also came with Kia’s 7-year/100,000-mile warranty.
Both Sorento and Santa Fe were renewed in 2013/14. Hyundai launched a new Santa Fe in 2018 but Kia went for a mild ‘facelift’, improved ‘spec’ and equipment for the Sorento. Main change: a new 8-speed autobox to replace the 6-speed unit.
A 6-speed manual gearbox, with a proper mechanical handbrake, remains available on KX 1, KX 2 and KX 3 variants (£30,250-£38,285). Auto-only ‘GT-Line’ and ‘GT-Line S’ (£42,950 & £43,585) have an electric park switch. A Sorento in GT-Line S, 8-speed auto guise was the choice for this year’s Franco-Spanish 3,000-mile trip.
A Dover-Calais crossing is the usual routine with two overnights in France on the way down and back, Chartres was both first and last stop this year. Four hours or so from Calais it’s close enough for a late-afternoon check-in (but early enough for a place in a hotel’s secure car park), a walk, drink and finding a nice place for dinner.
The cathedral, of course, is the centrepiece of the historic old town. On the way back we caught the annual ‘Chartres 1254’ festival – see below. Albi, first stop on the return drive through the south, another of France’s great cathedral cities and birthplace of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, was an overdue ‘discovery’.
The trip involves motorways, routes nationales, Pyrenean mountain passes and Aragon’s upland (unsurfaced often) caminos rurales in the foothills of the Matarranya region’s Sierra de Beceite.
The new Hyundai-Kia 8-speed autobox provides a broad range of ratios making for relaxed motorway progress. ‘Eco’, ‘Comfort’, ‘Sport’ or ‘Smart’ responses can be dialled in via the Drive Mode switch – Comfort the setting most of the time (but Sport useful if pressing on off-motorway). Ride-roadholding trade-off nicely judged overall, for what is still a tall vehicle, but badly-surfaced roads do make their presence felt.
Nonetheless, the Kia remained perfectly composed through a torrential rainstorm from north of Toulouse and around the city’s western ‘ring’. Taking the autoroute towards Pau we turn south at St Gaudens for the Pyrenees. This avoids Andorra to the east and takes in the Vielha tunnel - opened a few years ago and a real boon.
A 2.2-litre, 200ps, 4-cyl Diesel provides the kind of torque a sizeable SUV requires and the Sorento did not disappoint. Fuel consumption also quite reasonable. Front seats were comfortable with a range of power-adjustment but the squabs/bases could be longer - preferably also adjustable - for the taller, leggier occupant.
Not unlike some other ‘multi-ratio’ types, the autobox could hesitate when pulling away from stand-still/low-speed. Stop-start activated the car could also begin to roll back momentarily on an incline before the engine fired up again and gear selected.
A mild ‘idiosyncrasy’ to which a driver soon accommodates (there is an ‘Auto-Hold’ button) but the opportunity to jump into a gap in traffic at a round-about, for example, isn’t there in the way it would be with a manual ‘box poised in 1st-gear.
Kia’s next Sorento is due in 2020/21. Although the SUV sector continues to grow, the main thrust is from compact/smaller models. Demand is still on the up for ‘premium’ marques (Germany’s “usual suspects”, JLR and Volvo) less so for non-premium.
Hyundai and Kia have Europe’s 1st and 2nd place in this bracket. Although the sales curve might have flattened their market share continues to grow - deals should be keen in the run-up to Sorento IV. The current car is a polished, capable and spacious ‘SUV tourer’ with a high level of standard equipment. GT-Line S has all the “bells and whistles” but KX 3, perhaps, a more value-for-money proposition.
Facts & Figures: 127mph; 60mph 9.1-secs; 35mpg (brim to brim; best-39); 46.3 (official combined); CO2 161g/km; Road Tax £830 1st yr in OTR price; £450 there-after (GT-LS; others £140); Ins Grp 25; Braked Trailer Weight 2000kg (manual 2500).
Sorento II in 2009 (now a joint project with Hyundai’s Santa Fe) traded separate chassis and transfer box for front wheel drive with rear axle ‘kick-in’ if slip detected. Variable up to 60-40 front-rear, drive can be locked 50-50 (to 25 mph) if needs be. This and Hill Descent control meant a decent degree of ability off-road was retained.
Unitary bodywork with independent rear suspension brought improved steering, cornering and ride quality – it was lighter too benefitting fuel consumption and emissions. Sorento II also came with Kia’s 7-year/100,000-mile warranty.
Both Sorento and Santa Fe were renewed in 2013/14. Hyundai launched a new Santa Fe in 2018 but Kia went for a mild ‘facelift’, improved ‘spec’ and equipment for the Sorento. Main change: a new 8-speed autobox to replace the 6-speed unit.
A 6-speed manual gearbox, with a proper mechanical handbrake, remains available on KX 1, KX 2 and KX 3 variants (£30,250-£38,285). Auto-only ‘GT-Line’ and ‘GT-Line S’ (£42,950 & £43,585) have an electric park switch. A Sorento in GT-Line S, 8-speed auto guise was the choice for this year’s Franco-Spanish 3,000-mile trip.
A Dover-Calais crossing is the usual routine with two overnights in France on the way down and back, Chartres was both first and last stop this year. Four hours or so from Calais it’s close enough for a late-afternoon check-in (but early enough for a place in a hotel’s secure car park), a walk, drink and finding a nice place for dinner.
The cathedral, of course, is the centrepiece of the historic old town. On the way back we caught the annual ‘Chartres 1254’ festival – see below. Albi, first stop on the return drive through the south, another of France’s great cathedral cities and birthplace of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, was an overdue ‘discovery’.
The trip involves motorways, routes nationales, Pyrenean mountain passes and Aragon’s upland (unsurfaced often) caminos rurales in the foothills of the Matarranya region’s Sierra de Beceite.
The new Hyundai-Kia 8-speed autobox provides a broad range of ratios making for relaxed motorway progress. ‘Eco’, ‘Comfort’, ‘Sport’ or ‘Smart’ responses can be dialled in via the Drive Mode switch – Comfort the setting most of the time (but Sport useful if pressing on off-motorway). Ride-roadholding trade-off nicely judged overall, for what is still a tall vehicle, but badly-surfaced roads do make their presence felt.
Nonetheless, the Kia remained perfectly composed through a torrential rainstorm from north of Toulouse and around the city’s western ‘ring’. Taking the autoroute towards Pau we turn south at St Gaudens for the Pyrenees. This avoids Andorra to the east and takes in the Vielha tunnel - opened a few years ago and a real boon.
A 2.2-litre, 200ps, 4-cyl Diesel provides the kind of torque a sizeable SUV requires and the Sorento did not disappoint. Fuel consumption also quite reasonable. Front seats were comfortable with a range of power-adjustment but the squabs/bases could be longer - preferably also adjustable - for the taller, leggier occupant.
Not unlike some other ‘multi-ratio’ types, the autobox could hesitate when pulling away from stand-still/low-speed. Stop-start activated the car could also begin to roll back momentarily on an incline before the engine fired up again and gear selected.
A mild ‘idiosyncrasy’ to which a driver soon accommodates (there is an ‘Auto-Hold’ button) but the opportunity to jump into a gap in traffic at a round-about, for example, isn’t there in the way it would be with a manual ‘box poised in 1st-gear.
Kia’s next Sorento is due in 2020/21. Although the SUV sector continues to grow, the main thrust is from compact/smaller models. Demand is still on the up for ‘premium’ marques (Germany’s “usual suspects”, JLR and Volvo) less so for non-premium.
Hyundai and Kia have Europe’s 1st and 2nd place in this bracket. Although the sales curve might have flattened their market share continues to grow - deals should be keen in the run-up to Sorento IV. The current car is a polished, capable and spacious ‘SUV tourer’ with a high level of standard equipment. GT-Line S has all the “bells and whistles” but KX 3, perhaps, a more value-for-money proposition.
Facts & Figures: 127mph; 60mph 9.1-secs; 35mpg (brim to brim; best-39); 46.3 (official combined); CO2 161g/km; Road Tax £830 1st yr in OTR price; £450 there-after (GT-LS; others £140); Ins Grp 25; Braked Trailer Weight 2000kg (manual 2500).
cVille de Chartres – Guillermo Osorio.jpg
Chartres – The Chartres 1254 festival in May sees the whole place in mediæval guise, people dress up, and a marche artisanal recreated selling food, drink and other local produce. Period military hardware (siege machines, etc.) and aspects of soldiering are on show and there’s also a fair featuring games and competitions.
This is where Louis IX of France (1214-1270) and Henry III of England (1207-1272) met in 1254 to bring decades of hostilities to an end - it’s re-enacted. Although Louis had won on the battlefield things went well leading to a Peace Treaty in 1259.
Henry’s father, King John (1166-1216), managed to lose Normandy, Brittany, Maine and Anjou to the French leaving only Gascony and Poitou under English rule. Henry’s two attempts to recover the territories failed. He had to deal with a revolt in Gascony and a domestic situation where the barons, as in John’s reign, were on the point of rebellion. Peace with France made sense.
This summit was arranged by the two kings’ wives: Eleanor (Henry) and Margaret (Louis) - both sisters of the House of Provence. Henry’s older half-sister Siwan (1191-1237), ‘Lady Joan of Wales’ was the wife of Llywelyn Fawr (the Great; 1173-1240). She too was politically astute preventing a number of disputes from igniting war between Wales and England. Not the image of a “woman’s place” at the time.
Siwan’s great grandson, Owain Lawgoch (Yvain de Galles, 1330-1378), last of the Gwynedd royal princes, died in the service of Charles V of France (1338-1380) – his remarkable military career in exile was covered in last year’s trip.
By Huw Thomas
First published in Welsh Farmer, the newspaper of the Farmers' Union of Wales
This is where Louis IX of France (1214-1270) and Henry III of England (1207-1272) met in 1254 to bring decades of hostilities to an end - it’s re-enacted. Although Louis had won on the battlefield things went well leading to a Peace Treaty in 1259.
Henry’s father, King John (1166-1216), managed to lose Normandy, Brittany, Maine and Anjou to the French leaving only Gascony and Poitou under English rule. Henry’s two attempts to recover the territories failed. He had to deal with a revolt in Gascony and a domestic situation where the barons, as in John’s reign, were on the point of rebellion. Peace with France made sense.
This summit was arranged by the two kings’ wives: Eleanor (Henry) and Margaret (Louis) - both sisters of the House of Provence. Henry’s older half-sister Siwan (1191-1237), ‘Lady Joan of Wales’ was the wife of Llywelyn Fawr (the Great; 1173-1240). She too was politically astute preventing a number of disputes from igniting war between Wales and England. Not the image of a “woman’s place” at the time.
Siwan’s great grandson, Owain Lawgoch (Yvain de Galles, 1330-1378), last of the Gwynedd royal princes, died in the service of Charles V of France (1338-1380) – his remarkable military career in exile was covered in last year’s trip.
By Huw Thomas
First published in Welsh Farmer, the newspaper of the Farmers' Union of Wales
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