Road test review: Kia Sorento Premium PHEV

Thursday, 20 May 2021

Kia has revealed its new-look for the Sorento SUV, inspired by the small Seltos that has just arrived in New Zealand.

Kia Sorento Plug-In Hybrid AWD Premium
Base price: $89,990
Powertrain and economy: 1.6-litre turbo-petrol inline four plus electric motor, 195kW/350Nm (combined), 6-speed automatic, AWD, combined economy 1.6L/100km, CO2 37g/km (source: RightCar).

Kia’s handsome Sorento now gets the electrified powertrain we thought it should have had all along. Sort of.

Vital statistics: 4810mm long, 1900mm wide, 1700mm high, 2815mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 604 litres (third row folded), 19-inch alloy wheels.
We like: Plug-in hybrids offer the best of both worlds at the moment, Premium really means premium here.

Pumping out a combined 195kW, the Sorento PHEV’s hybrid powertrain is good, but other PHEVs do it better.

We don't like: Range could be better, can’t force the powertrain into electric-only mode, despite what the dashboard says.

Kia has introduced the Sorento in plug-in hybrid form to the Kiwi market. Will this be Sorento’s ticket into the top fifteen monthly sales charts, maybe even beating the Hyundai Santa Fe?

Yes, it has a plug, but it also has seven seats, making it one of the few seven-seat PHEVs on the market.

Is the powertrain the only difference?

Yep, along with the little changes necessitated by electrification. The set-up for the Sorento PHEV is pretty simple – it adds an electric motor between the engine and the transmission which is powerful enough to drive the SUV by itself. Kia doesn’t say exactly how much power it produces, but it feels quite grunty.

The PHEV gets the same brilliantly stylish interior as the pure-ICE versions.

* Road Test Review: Kia Sorento Premium

* Kia confirms local Sorento hybrid and PHEV pricing

The Sorento PHEV might be just a whisker under $90k, but it is absolutely packed with standard kit.

* Kia Sorento SUV goes plug-in

* Five big-selling SUVs that have more than five seats

While it might have a few niggles, the Sorento PHEV is still a strikingly handsome and beautifully built SUV that also happens to be remarkably frugal.

Consider the fact that, while you can’t simply add electric and combustion outputs together (apparently this is because they reach peak power at different times as well as other smarty-pants reasons), Kia’s 1.6-litre makes 132kW and the Sorento PHEV offers 195kW of combined output.

Paired with a 13.8kWh battery means the PHEV can drive on electric power for “up to 57km”, Kia says, although this is closer to 47 in reality.

Those other changes include a button that switches between electric, hybrid and petrol power and a few different EV-related screens, but for the most part, the Sorento Premium PHEV is identical to the diesel-powered Premium, as well as the lesser hybrid Premium.

So it really is just a Sorento with a plug?

Yup, and that’s a very good thing because, as we said when we reviewed the diesel-powered Premium, the lack of electrification is (was) the Sorento’s only real weak spot.

The Sorento as a whole is brimming with tech and high-quality materials. It’s handsome, with a chunky, grumpy grille and three distinct bulbs per headlight cluster, splashes of chrome without being excessive, thick creases through the doors, vertically stacked rear lights and a really rather pretty interior.

Quality levels, particularly inside the Sorento, are on par with the Europeans, which says a lot. It’s also one of the only plug-in hybrids with seven seats.

Factor in cutting-edge tech like a ‘front centre side airbag’, all the standard active safety gizmos like lane keep and adaptive cruise and a ride that offers just enough reactivity to offer a bit of fun through the corners without sacrificing comfort.

That would make this the perfect Sorento then?

Well, almost. See, the usual benefit of plug-in hybrid cars is that you can drive along in electric-only mode for your daily stuff, while having the combustion engine as a back-up. Unfortunately, Kia’s implementation doesn’t force the powertrain into electric-only mode.

That means, despite the EV-mode-toggle button, there’s a good chance the petrol engine will fire up when you don’t want it to. A particular problem area here is in the mornings. Almost every time I got into the Sorento to drive to work, the engine would start up and only shut off when it wanted to, regardless of my toggling.

It seems to be in an effort to warm the engine up because the problem isn’t as evident when the car has been driving for a bit. Even then, if you select Electric mode and flatten the accelerator, the engine will still chime in. That’s more understandable, but it still shouldn’t happen if the driver specifies Electric mode.

A six-speed automatic also feels somewhat antiquated, though it’s still adequate for Sorento duties. The ratios are spread enough to ensure the engine is revving too highly when it’s in use, and it’s quick enough on the downshifts.

At least the electric motor is powerful. Pick-up off the line is superb, as you might expect. You can provoke a bit of hesitancy when battery charge is low, as the Sorento figures out which source of power it should use.

Okay, so it’s not perfect. But what about towing?!

Fear not – the Sorento PHEV can tow up to 1350kg braked and 750kg unbraked. No, it’s not as much as a typical ute, the diesel Sorento or the plug-in Mitsubishi Outlander, but it’s still pretty good. That’s enough to handle most weekend DIY jobs or helping someone move house.

Any other cars I should consider?

Are there any other seven-seater plug-in hybrid SUVs in New Zealand? Barely. There’s the Volvo XC90 Recharge, which starts at $144,900… and that’s sort of it.

But if you expand your search to include hybrids and combustion-only options, you could look into the Sorento Hybrid ($82,990 for the AWD Premium), the Hyundai Santa Fe ($89,990 for the AWD diesel Limited) or the Toyota Highlander ZR Hybrid (74,990).