How I ended up owning a 1 of 1 Kia Sorento SUV in Europe

This car was never meant to be a forever car and merely a stop-gap while I waited for the Jeep Wrangler.

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Circa 2017:

It had been 5 yrs since I moved to a small city called Vaasa in Finland...

..and 4 yrs since I had replaced my Stick Shift Citroen Xantia:

I loved the Xantia for its stupendous ride quality which, till date, has been the best I've driven but wife wanted a larger car because family <insert vin diesel family meme here>

In came a Honda CRV:

t was big alright but it was a stick shift and a LHD at that because Europe. Overwhelmed my wife enough that she didn't even try driving it. Replacing the CRV was imminent and it had to be an automatic this time around.

So, there started a lookout for an Automatic SUV. I drove by a KIA dealership frequently and saw the 2016 Sorento in the showroom. Loved KIA's new design language at the time and the Sorento UM (2014-2020) was the 1st of the new design language which looked sculpted and frankly quite appealing.

The look is decidedly upscale with elegance and balanced proportions inside and out and a preponderance of premium look and feel materials cheering the cabin.

But, that was not the car in my radar. It was going to be a new LR Discovery Sport. Got one for a full day test drive and drove around a bit and loved it:

The Sorento was nice but the Discovery Sport was nicer. So that's the choice I went with and soon forgot all about the Sorento and started working on the plan to buy a 2017 Discovery Sport.

In the meantime, unbeknownst to me, destiny had other plans career-wise. When I moved to Finland, this was not the country of my choice to settle down in. It was always going to be US. However, my employer gave me a net total of 2 choices to make to move out of India - Finland or Finland. Finland it was in 2012 but in 2017, around the same time as making the car replacement plan, I was able to secure a location change to US.

Considered Finland a 'break journey' and soon started to look at the much wider multi cuisine a-la-carte menu of cars in US. Obviously the Sorento and the Discovery Sport went out of the window. Or so I thought...

Come Summer 2017 and the Visa process was underway.

In the meantime, I started to narrow down on the choice of car and it had to be a 4 Dr Jeep Wrangler. That's it. It was the car I'd always wanted and drove many times during previous US Stints as rentals. Loved it.

End of June '17, I sold the CRV to a used car dealer a day before our flight to Detroit, Michigan.

Landed in Detroit, picked up a Dodge RAM I'd rented since I had a lot of excess baggage. Checked into hotel and quickly started working on the basics - Search for home & car, bank account, check in at work etc etc.

It turns out, the account I was going to manage (I'm in IT Sales) was swapped out at the last minute. FCA, now Stellantis, was my customer !! Thrilled me all the more since it gave me access to the very people working on the new Jeep JL whose launch was around the corner. I started talking to a few on the nuances of a Jeep JK (outgoing model) to help me buy a used JKU (JK unlimited- 4 Dr). All I took away from those conversations were - ''wait for the JLU (JL Unlimited). It is way better than the JKU''. I was even able to secure Directors discount that a few directors in the HQ can give out.

Now, all this was in July '17. JLU was going to come out only in April '18. I had a long time to go before I could get a JLU. Went back to used car dealers searching for a low miles reasonably priced JKU. Turns out, the combination of low miles and reasonable price doesn't exist. More so for the Jeep which has always had a very good resale value. I didn't have a big budget to start with since I'd just then moved into the country and therefore I convinced myself to wait 1 more year to have a Jeep in my driveway.

In the meantime, the RAM was still around ferrying only a baby stroller in its huge cargo bed. That too uncovered. More than anything, it was getting too expensive to keep any longer. Had to get me a used car ASAP. Gave myself a budget and a search criteria limiting me to only American SUVs and went dealer-hopping and narrowed down to a 2015 Low miles Ford Edge sport with a 280 bhp NA V6. I kinda liked the styling but I didn't like the price. While I was going back and forth on the price, lo and behold, a 2016 KIA Sorento drove in. Apparently it was just then added to the inventory. One of my criteria was "No Asian cars". Didn't give it a second look and continued haggling with the dealer for the Ford Edge.

Wife and daughter, now bored with my negotiations, wandered off into the parking lot and came back liking a different car- the 2016 KIA Sorento that just drove in !!

It broke the 1st Criteria but hey, wifey liked the way it looked and that changed everything. To top it all, at 14k, it had the lowest miles of all my searches. The dealer was now ready to negotiate on the Sorento as well.

How was this happening?

Was it destined?

From first seeing it in Finland and then family liking the same car in US, It had to be some sorcery. It chose me. wait a minute. Wasn't it going to be my decision?

Whatever it was, it was soon in my driveway:

However, it wasn't going to be for long as the plan was to replace it in June 2018 with the JLU.

Did this happen? We'll see.

So, what did I get?

Well, the Sorento had always been a well packaged all rounder.

Its a decent 3 row SUV sharing its platform with the KIA Carnival YP and the Hyundai Santa Fe DM.

The car that chose me was a LX trim which means it is a mid level spec:

• AWD with Central locking Differential.
• Cruise control.
• Traction control.
• Stability control.
• ABS.
• TPMS.
• Power Windows with 1 touch for Front windows.
• Power Seat.
• 6 speed Automatic transmission.
• Heated Seats.
• 3 row seating with the 3rd row fully folding into the boot.
• Fold flat middle bench with 40/20/40 split.
• Fabric seats.
• Bluetooth audio with 6 speakers.
• Electrically adjustable mirrors.
• Day/night rear view mirror.
• 17" alloys
• 2.4 Litre NA petrol Engine with 185 bhp..
• Auto Headlights.
• Front side airbags, and front- and second-row side curtain airbags.
• Rearview camera.
• Rear parking sensors and Uvo eServices (geo-fencing, speed alert and curfew alert for secondary drivers).

The feature list in the upper trims take this car up several notches into the premium German car category.

My take:

The Korean-American is quiet well appointed inside even in Mid level LX Trim.

It has a roomy interior to be a comfortable 5 seater and a large boot big enough to have my Labrador along with some of my kids' toys or groceries or any other shopping:

It has comfortable and supportive front seats, is stable and composed at speed, and feels very solid:

The second row has good legroom, while being able to slide, recline and fold flat via levers in the cargo area. This versatility is present regardless of seating configuration, which isn't always the case in competing SUVs:

As for the third-row seat, kids and smaller adults have additional space and it isn't the penalty box you'd imagine:

Most surfaces in the 2016 Kia Sorento are soft to the touch and richly textured, while the two-tone color schemes accentuate these quality materials.

There is a sense of sophistication to the 2016 Kia Sorento's ride as it manages to soak up bumps without harshness. Kia's midsize crossover is also impressively quiet making it very comfortable for family road trips.

The 185 bhp 4 cylinder engine is alright but its the drive modes that change the characteristics quite dramatically. Every Sorento comes with Driver Mode Select, which features three modes (Normal, Sport and Eco) that alter transmission shift points and steering effort. ECO/Normal mode are practically the same. No difference. The car feels sluggish with lazy shifts. Its ok to potter around but jab some juice on the highway and it gets weazy.

However, its the sport mode that makes the car alive. Shifts hold till 6500 rpm and the engine is buzzing with life gathering momentum rapidly. Suffice to say I preferred to keep it in Sport mode as much as possible.

All-in-all its a decent car. No complaints. Then again, this car was never meant to be a forever car and merely a stop-gap while I waited for the JLU.

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