Special Details

Nothing says all-new like the 2011 Kia Sorento. Not much more than the name is the same.

The 2011 Kia Sorento has a new chassis and body. The look of Kia's mid-size crossover sport-utility, inspired by Kia's KND-4 concept vehicle, has changed from SUV-traditional upright to less truck-like with a greater emphasis on horizontal lines and an emphasis on the sport. It also sports (ha!) Kia's new corporate grille.

The new Kia Sorento's final design came wholly from Kia's design staff in California. It's three inches longer, all behind the A-pillar for more usable space, and overall it's a half inch lower, and more importantly for a tall SUV-like vehicle, is a center of gravity two inches closer to the ground for better handling. There's new for you. There was no change in width, though, because Kia thought the Sorento was wide enough, and wider would mean a tighter squeeze in parking lots. A turning radius of 37 feet is about a foot larger than the 2009 model's--new if not in the better direction, though the measurement is still good by SUV standards.

Underneath is all new. Replacing the chassis frame with nine cross members construction is a steel unit-body which is 70 percent high tensile strength steel. The body also incorporates improved pedestrian safety, required by the new European Union rules that make getting run down by a car not as painful, or at least that's the idea.

The 2011 Kia Sorento is slightly bigger, enough so that Kia was able to fit part-time third-row seating, something new for the Sorento.

The front and rear suspension are new, the front struts replacing a double A-arm arrangement, which Kia says reduces cost, and a new fully-independent rear suspension replacing the cheap but primitive beam rear axle.

The Kia's optional V-6 engine is new, too, the 3.5-liiter six replacing a 3.7-liter V-6 but making more horsepower (if down on torque) while yielding significantly better fuel mileage.

**Horsepower and Torque, 2009 vs 2011 Kia Sorento V-6**
	Horsepower	Torque	mpg 4x2	mpg 4x4
2009 3.7L V-6	262	260	15/21	15/20
2011 5.5L V-6	273	247	20/28	18/27

The base engine of the Kia Sorento is a 2.4-liter four. The engine isn't new, already used in other Kia models, but it is the first time the Sorento has had a four cylinder engine. It replaces a 3.3-liter V-6 used as a base engine in the 2009 model year.

The 2011 Kia Sorento, like its predecessor, is primarily a front-drive vehicle with full-time all-wheel drive as an option. There's no low range, but the Sorento has a low-speed locking center differential for slippery surfaces and getting unstuck. Hill descent mode--a sort of traction control that maintains a low constant speed on downhill slick or slippery surfaces--is new for the Sorento and standard on all models.
Standard with the V-6 and optional with the four is a new six-speed automatic transmission. It's really all-new and in fact is a transmission engineered and manufactured by Kia. Most manufacturers use transmissions made by independent companies.

However, what isn't new is, to use the words of Kia product planner Steve Hirashiki, abundant features inside. That's a Kia tradition and isn't likely to change. One new feature is cleaning cabin air not by a filter but rather an ionization process. Bluetooth availability is new, and in fact, Kia made it standard across the line, while a rear-view camera optional on all but the four-cylinder/manual transmission model.

All in all, Hirishiki told auto writers in a press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 28, the 2011 Kia Sorento represents a radical makeover, and one which Kia Motors America marketing VP Michael Sprague called a game changer, and one that would make the Sorento attractive to the 29 to 39 year old, children under 15 New Adventurers. He defined those as snowboarding dads and tech-savvy moms, and though every manufacturer touts their product as being for the active lifestyle customer, it's something new for the Kia brand which has more traditionally attracted the primarily budget-minded.

And with a under $20,000 base price--translate: $29,990--to about$30,000 with every whistle and bell offered, the Kia Sorento won't leave the abstemious behind. But new in just about every other way, it will chart new territory for the Kia.

But wait, there's more: The Kia Sorento isn't new just for what it is. It's new in where it comes from. The Kia Sorento is made in Kia's first ever--read new--manufacturing plant in the United States. Located in West Point, Georgia, just west of Atlanta, the Sorento is made there from rolls of steel that arrive in one door while the completed vehicle goes out the other. The engines come from a foundry in Georgia that Kia shares with Hyundai, and the mass of assorted other bits come from various other primarily U.S. sources.

So new? Yeah, the Kia Sorento is new, just about as new as a new vehicle can get.