New Kia Sorento and Land Rover Discovery Sport vs Honda CR-V: costs
The market for large hybrid SUVs is reaching boiling point with the arrival of these new contenders from Kia and Land Rover. The car they have to beat is the Honda CR-V...
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
However you slice or dice the numbers, the CR-V is the most affordable of this group. It’s easily the cheapest cash buy after Target Price discounts, plus it will cost you the least to insure, and both it and the Sorento are far cheaper to service than the Discovery Sport. And then we come to fuel economy. The Discovery Sport averaged a dismal 25.2mpg in our real-world test, whereas the Sorento achieved 37.9mpg and the CR-V an impressive 45.7mpg.
The CR-V is also the cheapest if you’re buying on PCP finance, with the Sorento being the priciest. The Discovery Sport is easily the most expensive to lease and, with the highest CO2 emissions and list price, is the priciest option for company car drivers.
All three come well equipped, with climate control, power-folding door mirrors and heated front seats among their tally. The Sorento adds a heated steering wheel, while the Discovery Sport comes with a heated windscreen and joins the CR-V in throwing in leather seats. The CR-V is the only one with keyless entry and, along with the Sorento, adds adaptive cruise control (part of a £1350 pack on the Discovery Sport).
As for safety equipment, they all come fitted with automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance and traffic sign recognition, to which the CR-V adds standard blindspot monitoring.
After crash testing the cars, Euro NCAP awarded all three of them its maximum five-star rating, although the Discovery Sport was tested way back in 2014, whereas the CR-V and Sorento were tested in 2019 and 2020 respectively, when the tests were far more stringent.
Finally, there’s reliability. This is a Land Rover weakness, with it finishing in last place (out of 31 brands) in our 2020 Reliability Survey. Kia (seventh) and Honda (eighth) were much better performers, but the Sorento adds extra peace of mind with its standard seven-year/100,000-mile warranty. Those from Honda and Land Rover last for just three years.
Used alternative
2017 Volvo XC90 T8
For between £35,000 and £38,000, you could put a three-year-old version of the plug-in hybrid Volvo XC90 T8 on your driveway. This large and lavishly equipped SUV offers a huge, classy interior with seven very usable seats. On top of that, it’s quick, fairly comfortable at speed and impressively quiet, plus it can run on electric power alone for 20-25 miles in real-world use.
