There's a word in Korean for the massive conglomerates that dominate the business world: chaebols. These are controlled by a few families who own everything from the maternity hospitals to the mortuaries in the Asian state.
One such family operation is the Hyundai Group, which counts among its wares a department store, a football club, a shipbuilding company and LG semiconductors. In all, there are 42 subsidiaries in the Hyundai chaebol, controlled by its septuagenarian chairman, Chung Mong-koo. Two of these are the eponymous car company and Kia Motors.
Part of the chaebol that controls Kia must be a paper company. Either that or the engineers want to laugh in the face of tree cuddlers such as Gerry Adams. It's one thing to build an SUV, already the ogre of environmental campaigners, but the Koreans then go and stuff the glove box with a 1,000-page handbook on the sat nav. Just to be clear: this is not the handbook for the car and all its complex engineering. If you want to know how to change a light bulb, find the jack or change the washer fluid, then that's an entirely different book (and one that wasn't provided in our test car). No, this book simply explains how to work the sat nav, a function most should have mastered from our smartphones or Google Maps.
I guess if you do break down, you can always read up on how the sat nav would go about locating you if the electrics still worked. You could also use it to brush up on the Arabic for road block, or the Greek for alternate route. In all, the weighty tome boasts 13 languages.
Surprisingly, the big selling point for the new Sorento is not its sat nav but its affordable off-road credentials, strong brand recognition and quality finish.
Road presence
On looks alone, this is a substantial SUV, with the sort of presence on the road and on the driveway that SUV owners look for in their transport. It’s smart enough to sit outside a posh hotel but sturdy enough to survive the rigours of farm life. The latter point is underlined by the fact it comes with four-wheel drive as standard, something many of the suburban set forgo in favour of lower emissions or cost savings.
In terms of interior space, the five-seat version is as roomy as you’d expect. While seven seats – likely the most popular model – steals a lot of boot space, you can squeeze two adults back there if they have the flexibility to climb in in the first place.
On the road, there’s a touch of body roll – unsurprising given the car’s height – while the steering is smooth, if a little numb. There’s an optional Sports setting for the steering, but aside from bringing up the word “sport” on the dash, it was hard to notice any difference in the Sorento’s steering or handling.
Its 2.2-litre diesel is a decent workhorse. It’s not too noisy and it delivers a nice linear power flow, much in the same way that all its rivals do. In power terms, it doesn’t stand out from the crowd, but then again in its price range it’s hard to think of a similar SUV that does. And it is a crowded market: I counted 21 direct rivals on the Irish market, and I’ve probably missed a few. At the bottom end is the Ssangyong Rexton, but that’s really not worth considering. At the upper end, you could scrape into a BMW X3, an Audi Q3 or a Range Rover Evoque, but even the briefest dalliance with their options list will burn a hole in your budget. The biggest boon for this car is that for families with budgets that don’t stretch to the new Volvo XC90 or its ilk, the Sorento starts to make a lot of sense.
However, its chief competitor will be one from within the chaebol: the Hyundai Santa Fe.
Hyundai’s grand strategy is that Kia will ultimately be a mainstream rival to the likes of Ford and Toyota, while Hyundai will move closer to a quasi-premium portion of the car market. Those are the long-term goals at least, though achieving them remains some way off.
So, aside from the badge up front, what are the main differences between these two Korean models? Well, apart from the looks and the branding, the Santa Fe is offered with seven seats as standard and in either two-wheel or four-wheel drive format. The Sorento has five or seven seats, but four-wheel drive as standard.
And then we come to price. If five seats will suffice but you need four-wheel drive, then the manual Sorento is the one to choose, at €38,995. However, the best all-round option in the Sorento range is the Platinum version with seven seats, at €43,995. It’s really well equipped for this price, with plenty of comfort features to make you feel closer to the premium end of the market.
Equivalent Santa Fe
That’s pitted against the equivalent Santa Fe – with four-wheel drive, seven seats and SE specification – at exactly the same price. Same road tax, same engine. There is a lower-priced Santa Fe for €43,245, which comes without the electrically-adjusted heated front seats, the panoramic roof, rear park assist and separate rear air-conditioning system. Those are the additions you get for the extra €750, at least from what I can make out after wading through the long list of features for both cars. How much value you put on a warm bottom and a view of the stars is what could decide between the two cars.
Both have history on the Irish market: the Santa Fe has been a suburban family favourite for more than a decade, while the Sorento was the best-known Kia model at the start of the building boom, when it was popular among contractors for its ability to mix the rough and tumble of life on the site with respectability on the family driveway.
The Santa Fe has arguably a stronger lure for Ireland's largely suburban SUV set, who would regard seven seats as more important than four-wheel drive and, as such, will opt for the SE version at €39, 245. I have to admit that I'm a fan of the Kia brand, because its styling is much sharper than that of its chaebol counterpart. The Optima is more striking than the Hyundai i40, the C'eed is better-looking than the i30 and the Soul is a much-underrated star.
However, in this category the difference is too close to call, so it’s hard to argue against buyers who don’t need four-wheel drive and opt for the better-known and well-regarded Santa Fe. Still, it’s staying in the family, I suppose.
Lowdown: Kia Sorento Platinum 2.2 D AWD
Engine: 2197cc diesel putting out 200bhp at 3,800rpm
0-100km/h: 9.0 secs
Top speed: 203km/h
L/100km (mpg); 5.7 (49.6)
Emissions (motor tax): 149 g/km (€390)
Price: €43,995 as tested (seven-seater); starts at €38,995 for five-seat version