Kia Sorento running costs and reliability

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• Petrol and diesel engines are relatively frugal
• Plug-in hybrid is best for town users
• Diesel remains favourable for long-distance drivers

How much does it cost to run?

This should be nice and simple. There are three engines – a ‘self charging’ hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, and a good old fashioned diesel.

The self-charging hybrid’s short bursts of electric power will benefit those who reside in towns and cities and encounter a lot of stop-start traffic. Those who venture further out and don’t mind spending a bit more money can benefit from the plug-in hybrid. This model can run on pure battery power for around 30-or-so miles.

MPG and CO2

Headline economy figures for the Sorento are:

• 1.6-litre T-GDI hybrid – 38.2-40.9mpg, 158-169g/km CO2
• 1.6-litre T-GDI plug-in hybrid – 176.6mpg, 38g/km CO2
• 2.2-litre diesel CRDi – 42.2mpg,176g/km CO2

The plug-in model’s on-paper figures are the most impressive on the WLTP Combined ‘real-world’ test. On our two-hour test route around London and Surrey in mostly stop-start driving, we averaged 80.2mpg, so those figures would be achievable on drives of less than, say, 50 miles.

Diesel is still the way to go on regular longer journeys if you don’t have access to somewhere you can charge. We managed 42.1mpg when on the motorway and would expect to see this to rise a little higher on longer trips. This does dip quite quickly on shorter, low-speed runs however. The 67 litre tank should also mean a predicted range of over 500 miles per tank. The diesel also comes with a 14-litre AdBlue tank.

How reliable is it?

• No major maladies so far
• Huge warranty
• Big service intervals for diesel

Backed by Kia’s seven year/100,000 mile warranty, the Sorento should offer peace of mind when it comes reliability. While there aren’t many owner reviews on our site, there were no major horror stories with its predecessor.

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Service intervals are every 12 months or 10,000 miles for the 1.6 T-GDi hybrid and 20,000 miles for the diesel.

In terms of safety recalls, there was only one relating to the safety systems struggling to identify pedestrians.