Launched in Mzansi : Kia Sorento

The Sorento boasts the brand’s newest fascia look, first seen in the overseas Telluride models. The lights feature a vertical star map arrangement, as Kia calls it, and the new badging on the bonnet gives a cleaner front grille. The front fenders and radiator have also had a slight retouch. It grew taller to 1,695 mm.

The rear now has a wider skid plate with integrated black cladding, a high-mounted stop lamp, and revised sleeker rear fog lights.

Interior design : the cabin remains as roomy as ever, ensuring all passengers are comfortable during travel. The layout changes as the dash gains a panoramic curved display and a new digital infotainment/climate control switchable control panel that works wonderfully well.

The Drive

We left the Cape just as a cold front entered the coast, changing the conditions to a rather unfavorable climate for driving; however, the Sorento held its own quite nicely. To combat the cold conditions we faced, the car afforded us immunity in the form of the seat and steering heating functions, which worked quite well. I especially enjoyed the throttle modulation; the torquey diesel engine didn’t have a jolty power delivery, but instead, there was a gradual buildup to refrain from jumping or sliding when taking off from a standstill.

The Kia Sorento has a claimed fuel consumption figure of 6.0l/100km and I was tempted to put this to the test as the routes were using allowed a try, glad to report that we managed to get just about in the 6.4l/100km we received.

The car is powered by a 2.2-liter turbo diesel 4-cylinder engine producing 148 kW and 440 Nm, which can be distributed to all tires or just the front by an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Kia has priced this vehicle from R999,100 starting; the second model opens at R1,199,995, and the top-of-the-range model with all features is priced at R1,299,995. Without considering its close rivals, it is clear that it competes in a heavily contested price point.

The new Sorento has just three variants to choose from: the EX+, SX+, and SXL. The Sorento comes fairly loaded as standard, with plenty of features included, such as parking collision avoidance, head-up display, heated steering and seats, driver attention alert, etc.

– 5-year unlimited km warranty
– 5-year unlimited km roadside assistance
– 6-year unlimited 90k km maintenance plan

Kia was also delighted to announce that they will be very busy during 2025 and 2026, as they have plans to introduce up to nine models, some of which will be marketed as budget-friendly options.