WHEN you think of Kia, you imagine a motor that’s practical rather than posh.
Somehow the new Kia Sorento PHEV manages to do both thanks to a swanky teched-out interior.
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Sorento is the hulking mid-size SUV in Kia’s line-up, and I’ve been trying out the hybrid edition.
Brilliantly, that means it’s both the most powerful and lowest-emitting version of the Sorento.
And yes, it has decent power.
This six-speed automatic has a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine, paired with a 13.8kWh battery.
That gets you 261 horsepower and a respectable 350Nm of torque.
It’ll take you from zero to 60mph in about 8.4 seconds – not blisteringly fast, but quick enough given its hulking size.
After all, it weighs just over 2.5 tonnes with a length just shy of 5 metres.
No records are broken with a top speed of 119mph either, but when are you realistically doing that in this car?
This is a massive SUV designed to cart the whole family to the shops – or on your summer staycation in the rainy Pennines.
EV? Easy
In either case, the electric portion of this car is brilliant.
You get a combined miles-per-gallon of 176.6. That simply won’t be possible if you’re never charging – but will save you loads of cash if you plug in regularly.
Importantly, you can go 35 miles on electric charge alone (rising to 43 miles if you’re exclusively cruising around the city).
That covers your school run, trips to the shops, and quite possible your commute too.
Charge at home, near the office, or at one of the many free charging poles at UK supermarkets and you’re golden.
It’s the first time we’ve seen a hybrid powertrain on the Sorento – and it’s an obvious match made in heaven.
Of course, even in EV mode, if you slam down on the throttle, the engine will kick in and give you a pleasant roar.
You’ve got loads of drive modes, navigated using a posh dial in the even posher central console.
They include the fairly standard Smart, Eco and Sport.
But off-road chops are evidenced by the inclusion of Snow, Mud and Sand modes too. Nice.
The rest of the interior is also very swanky – it could almost being a Range Rover, if you squint.
Sorento smarts
Centre-stage is a generous 10.25-inch touchscreen that’s easy to navigate.
Better yet, it supports Apple CarPlay, so you can simulate your iPhone instead of using the regular infotainment.
You’ve also got voice control, so you can change songs with touching anything. Sci-fi or what?
The Sorento is fitted with all the usual camera and sensor systems to help you park, including a top-down view and 360 degrees of vision.
There’s also a very cool blind spot camera, which feeds live video straight onto your instrument cluster when you indicate.
This is brilliant when you’re merging on to a road, saving you from vigorous neck-craning.
Almost every driver assistance imaginable is fitted to the car.
It includes adaptive cruise control (matching the speed of cars in front), lane assists and automatic speed limiters.
You’ve got posh additions like a 10-way power-adjusted driver’s seat that’s ventilated – and a panoramic sunroof on the top model too.
The Bose Premium Sound System uses 12 speakers to knock your socks off, though it’s a family car so will mostly be used for the Frozen soundtrack.
Oh, and there are USB ports in the front AND back. What more could you want?
Whatever you think of the brand, the Sorento PHEV is hard not to love – especially if you’re a gadget fan.
You might say it found the Kia to my heart…
The Sun tried the Kia Sorento ‘4’ 1.6 PHEV T-GDi Auto AWD, with an on-the-road price of £53,755.
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All prices in this article were correct at the time of writing, but may have since changed. Always do your own research before making any purchase.
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In other news, the new Lamborghini Huracan Evo can clean your house and sort your dinner.
The new Porsche Panamera has “night vision” and even does Shiatsu massages.
Ford’s Mustang Mach-E is the electric car of your dreams.
Check out the new Bentley Bentayga Hybrid – a silent 17-foot “dream machine”.
Vauxhall’s new Mokke e can take you 200 miles for about a tenner.
The new Mercedes S-Class has sci-fi sat-nav arrows – just like a video game.
Take a look at the gadget-mad BMW X5.
And Audi’s Q7 hybrid is huge, terrifyingly fast and filled with sci-if tech.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
