USED Kia Sorento 4x4 (03 - 10)

My car

Bought new in May 2009 as the noseweight on my replacement caravan was too heavy for my Accord Tourer.

BIG MISTAKE!!

My ownership experience has been one long nightmare.

Had a crash in August 2009, and it took Kia 4 months to find the front diff mounting. Kia dealer was not interested, and customer serice is the worst I have encountered in my buying of new cars over the years.

Since Christmas, the car has fused everything twice, but I am being charged as the dealers cannot replicate the fault.

The gearbox has also started jumping out of 3rd gear.

My first and last Kia/Hyundai. I am going back to Japan, as soon as I can afford in about 12 months.

The worst car I have owned, in my 20 car history.

My car

Bought my sorento 2.5 xe manual brand new in October of last year (56 plate) for £15000 which was a bargain, and it still had the plastic covering on the bodywork. great car to drive and be driven in. No problems so far, hasnt missed a beat. Interior is a high quality for the price of the vehicle and the seats are very comfertable. I Previously owned an 03 freelander before the sorento, had no problems with it. the freelander compared to this was awful, the interior was all cheap plastics, the ride was very hard and there was only 1 airbag for a middle of the range car! only grudge with this car is it can be very bouncy when going over speed bumps, it seems to roll around.

Excellent car and would definatly recommend it to anyone.

My car

I bought the Sorento new in 2005 and have put over 65,000 miles in that time. This is the sixth 4x4 i have had and by far the most bullet proof. I got 52,000 miles out of the first set of tyres, have towed twin axle trailers (usually well loaded) including a 1.5 tonne mini digger. The vehicle is used as an every day work horse (in the construction business) and has taken almost every knock possible. It carries cement mixers (leather seats usually folded down) tools tanks of diesel etc etc. Life on the open road has been no less harsh as I have a very heavy right foot, like to brake late and drive it as hard as a sports saloon. It often does a 400 mile same day round trip and never a peep out of it. This really is a superb vehicle and I have done everything possible to test its limits. I had a cherokee before and this makes that look like a total wimp.

My car

I bought a new 2.5D Sorento XE on 14/07/07.

On the day of collection, I recieved a phone call to tell me that the power steering was faulty, which I could not believe as it had only done around 20 miles.

When I went to see the car, the steering was OK while driving, but was heavy when still. So I agreed to take the vehicle and bring it back to be repaired if it did not cure itself.

There was also a small scratch on the back tailgate, which they promised to remove without me knowing it was ever there.

After seven visits to both the sales department and the service department (which is the local Ford dealer down the road!), my car has had, all on seperate occations, an electrical part fitted to the steering, a new power steering pump, and a new steering rack.

After every visit, I have had to clean out the dirt and mess they have made, and give it a wash to get the grease off the bodywork (has never been valeted by Kia yet).

It is still in the Kia dealer because the scratch has been removed, but the tailgate has been partially resprayed in a different colour to the rest of the car, and has been resprayed with the Sorento badge still on but masked up, so there is a different colour showing through the gaps in the badge!

After these problems and after taking it back so many times in such a short time, I now wish I had bought something else.