The 2015 Kia Sorento SX carried me Wednesday noon to Fort Lupton for lunch with Dick Johnson at the Wholly Stromboli. An unusual restaurant name, one not soon forgotten; I likened it to Harry Caray’s tavern in Chicago known as the Holy Cow.
Dick Johnson and I back in the early 1970s worked side by side on the Denver Post city desk. Dick soon turned his excellent writing skills to a career with the Post’s Empire magazine; I followed another fork in the road filled with automobiles. Dick’s gait has slowed a bit, yet he drives an automobile with as much command as ever from his residence in Denver.
The Sorento today is a smooth-operating crossover. Introduced with a truck-based configuration in 2003, the Sorento gave up its offroad aspirations in May 2010 when, as an ’11 model, it unveiled car-based underpinnings. The sales pace more than doubled almost immediately and Kia has sold more than 100,000 Sorentos yearly since.
The Sorento, which received major styling and power upgrades a year ago, shows minor refinements in its front end for 2015.
A large sunroof, 4 ½ feet long, is a brightener in daylight hours, for the interior of the Sorento review model is very dark, with black leather and even the simulated wood trim is of dark cherry finish. Manual sunshades can be raised on the rear side windows.
Lightly bolstered front leather seats, average-sized, are supportive and comfortable.
Legroom is somewhat tight in the second row. The seats slide fore and aft in order to create entry into the third row, where the smaller seats are decent but lack headroom. The third row, when in place, leaves scarcely any cargo space at the far back. Fold the third row and the cargo area expands to a roomy 37 cubic feet. The spare tire is stowed underneath the rear of the vehicle.
Delivering smooth traction with the SX all-wheel-drive crossover is a 290-horsepower, 3.3-liter V-6 engine and 6-speed automatic transmission, which emphasizes strong midrange torque, particularly when in manual mode. A May 11 snowstorm brought into play Kia’s AWD system, which proportions torque to the rear wheels as needed. The driver, with push of a button on the steering wheel, can engage electric-steering adjustments from normal to soft comfort to quickened sport.
Pushing an ECO button on the center console can increase efficiency by lessening downshifts and throttle response. This size vehicle, though – more than 15 feet long and weighing 3,900 pounds – performs most responsively and responsibly in normal mode.
Handling is impressive. The Sorento is shorter than much of its competition and it shows in a tight turning circle of barely over 35 feet.
With lots of in-town driving during the week, the ’15 Sorento averaged 20.9 miles per gallon. A similar model in testing a year ago averaged 22.7. High-performance dampers, part of a revised, stiffer chassis, lend improved control over road dips and bumps. The Sorento rides on Kumho Crugen P235/55R19 tires on nice 10-spoke mirror-finish alloy wheels.
An easy-to-uses UVO voice and touch infotainment and navigation system, with SiriusXM/Bluetooth/USB, is included with the Sorento SX AWD sticker price of $39,195. Other amenities include rearview camera, Infinity surround-sound, dual-zone climate control, cruise control, side-curtain airbags, heated and cooled front seats, push-button start, tilt/telescope steering wheel, blind-spot detection, rear air conditioning and power liftgate.Also available with cheaper versions of the Sorento is a 191-hp, 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine.
Notes from e-mail
Bud, I think you missed the 2015 Hyundai Genesis at last month’s Denver Auto Show. It is fully equipped at $56,000 and competes with European sedans that cost $30,000 more. – B.S.
Didn’t miss it, Bill; simply didn’t have space for all the impressive models on display. In fact, one will soon be heading my way for test-driving. Think it competes with European sedans costing $30,000 more? We’ll see.
Bud, I’ve been to Estes Park frequently and I believe you were in a “loading only” zone along Main Street in last week’s photo of the Nissan Frontier Pro-4X pickup. A red truck in a no-parking spot, risky. – S.T.
We parked out front of Granny Gingham’s only long enough for the photo, Steve. In driving on up to the Other Side restaurant, Jan and I pulled up alongside seven Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. Always a neat sight. As to your parking comments, five or six years ago, we photographed a new Chrysler 300 in the same spot, when main-street parking was legal.
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