2022 kia sorento hybrid full#

And because our Sorento was a 2 trim level, we didn’t have an inbuilt sat-nav as a back-up.īut as for our earlier second question: has any journey stood out? Did it travel with as much effortlessness as its practicality would suggest? The answer is no. Technology is meant to help, but in this case it wasn’t reliable enough to be trusted.

It was fine for a week but then slipped back into its old habits, to the point where I simply no longer made phone calls on the move because I was worried that either the phone or nav signal would drop out. Boongate Kia in Peterborough reported no issues and told me to connect wirelessly. If you’ve read my previous reports, you’ll know the Sorento went into the dealer to try to fix this. Plugged in, wireless connection, listening to podcasts, just using Google Maps – every single scenario got ticked. The connection kept dropping out, with zero consistency as to when it did it, so it was difficult to be specific about when it might happen. We did have a small issue with one of the middle-row seats refusing to fold flat, but a trip to our local Kia dealer soon put that right.Īnnoyingly, that wasn’t the only reason we ended up in the garage, because Apple CarPlay had some serious bugs.

2022 kia sorento hybrid full#

There aren’t many PHEVs with seven seats, on account of the batteries taking up vital space, but because the Sorento’s 13.8kWh battery is under the front seats, the full MPV/SUV experience is possible here. And it’s a tribute to the Kia boffins that it’s got seven seats in the first place.

There’s certainly no fault with the Kia’s engineering. If I’m honest, we didn’t use those seats that often, but that’s a reflection of us, not the car. Top tip: only put the ones who can do their own seatbelts up in the rearmost seats, as it’s a back-snapping stretch to lean in. They were easy to fold flat and the kids could pile in there without too many issues and were happy when they were installed. No, this is not sexy (neither the pants nor the practicality, come to think of it) but it’s the sort of thing that matters when your car needs to cope with ordinary. The cupholders in each rear door and the decent cubby space up front ensured everything was easily to hand and not buried under 15 pairs of boxer shorts. Of course, we filled the boot and could have done with a trailer or roof box as well, but that’s more a reflection on the Ward clan’s need to take enough clothes for a full wardrobe change every half an hour. Its adaptability and practicality have surpassed expectations, with the sort of space and storage solutions that meant our family holiday this summer was pretty effortless. The Kia has certainly fitted into our family life effortlessly (mostly – more on that later) but is it a car that we’ll look back on with particularly fond memories? Has any journey been seared into our consciousness? All that the likes of the Sorento can do is to refine the formula and that’s where it gets tricky. Those cars got there first so they were the pioneers, in the mainstream at least. Kia Sorento PHEV 1.6 T-GDi 2021 UK first driveĮver since the Mk1 Volvo XC90 and the Land Rover Discovery 4, seven-seat SUVs can no longer redefine the sector.