This beauty (especially when compared to our current vehicle!) was delivered to us one chilly morning in November by the wonderful people of Kia Motors for us to experience for a full 13 days. We went from driving a 1993 Buick LaSabre, to THIS in a matter of minutes. The difference was drastic!
Here’s a quick look at some of the features we loved.
Here you can see that the Sorento came fully loaded with Sirius satellite radio (something our Buick was lacking – the speakers are going out). We had so much fun browsing the stations and being able to listen to music for a change instead of either silence or ourselves talking. The kids loved it, especially the Disney Radio station. We didn’t travel too much, just our normal routes, but the navigation system was fun to play with. We have a GPS unit that when we’re driving, sits in between us or I hold it when following directions that are turn after turn. To have the GPS right there, for both of us to see was really nice. The only annoying thing was that our oldest kept mimicking it and talking in a voice like the GPS. *shakes head* Kids.
My husband liked the Bluetooth connection, and being able to make a hands-free call by just saying the name of who he wanted to call. The call quality was good, even with two kids being noisy you could hear the person you were calling. Honestly, he would call me on his way to work and I couldn’t tell the difference between him holding the phone to his ear and using the in-car Bluetooth setup.
Another feature we really liked, especially with our own children and a neighborhood full of little kids, was the backup/rear view camera. Not only was this nice, but with the weather not being bad out, kids were outside playing all the time. I have seen way too many of these neighbor kids running out into the street, and running up and down the alley not paying much attention. This gave us a tool to see if anyone was behind us, or if a trash can was behind us, or even a cat. It was also nice to use during parking while out doing holiday shopping, since so many people don’t pay attention to when vehicles are trying to back out and leave a space!
Here’s a great shot of the center dashboard, with all the bells and whistles. You can see that we had heated seats (the driver seat also cools, must be nice!). It took a few minutes to learn how to adjust the temperature controls and fan speed, but that’s standard in an new vehicle. There’s volume control for the radio here, and also on the steering wheel.
Such a pretty steering wheel and dashboard.
Here’s a look at the front seats (above, obviously) and the back seats (below). These were really comfortable (and I make a great judge since I’m pregnant!) We didn’t take a picture of the back seat with B’s booster seat, but it fit great. I don’t believe he was able to have the center cup holder down though, but his seat has it’s own attached one so he was fine. The car seat and base fit great as well, and were easy to install thanks to the LATCH system.
And here is the awesome third-row seating option (with just one side up for a better visual). you can see that when it is down you have tons of room and with it us, well you lose a LOT of that. We did have B ride back there on Thanksgiving, and used the available space to hold the diaper bag and crock pot and whatever else we had (I can’t remember now), and he loved it. So if needed for long trips, there’s still room for luggage, a cooler, a stroller, and to use just half of the third-row seating.
Here’s a great comparison from just one half of the seating up and both of them up. See how much space you lose? It’s still great to car-pooling and quick trips, but for longer you would have to use a luggage carrier on top of the Sorento. With kids though, since their feet don’t reach the floor yet, you can still stash small coolers and bags behind seats (like the things you would need in an emergency, snacks, toys), and the luggage of clothes and whatnot up on top. Still totally doable!
While we had the Sorento in our possession, we did a little Christmas shopping (like we bought a new artificial tree!) and it fit in the back so easily! We were able to use that large box to conceal other bags that we left in there when we went to pick up B from his Grandma’s, and he had no idea! With all of the available room, we could have easily filled that trunk with all our Christmas purchases! Oh how I miss it. We even had our jogging stroller back there, and it was so easy to get in and out versus our current vehicle. Every time I open our trunk now I get a little sad.
Overall, we really enjoyed the 2012 Kia Sorento! We are actually considering one of our own since we will need more room once baby #3 arrives in April!
A HUGE thank you to Kia Motors for letting us use the Sorento for 13 days to facilitate this review. The vehicle and a gas card were provided to us, however all opinions and photos are our own.