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>> Brian: You know the Kia Sorrento it's the car the sock monkey and his friends take to Vegas.
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>> Brian: But I'm guessing the inanimate set probably didn't check the tech very well. We'll take care of that now in the 2011 Sorrento EX front-wheel drive.
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>> Brian: Now, you can bet that nobody either cloth or human ever rolled like that in the previous Sorrento a dowdy dough ball of a thing that nobody noticed. But this second generation vehicle which has been in the U.S. now as of 2011 looks alright. Part of that is thanks to a design by Peter Schreyer [assumed spelling], best known for doing the TT while he was over at Audi.
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>> Brian: Now, look around this Sorrento; this is not the Kia Sorrento you'd of seen before it's not really what you think of in a Kia. The interior materials, the feel, the soft plastics, the fake metal, the leather seats are significantly nicer than other cars in this price class 'cause Hyundai Kia knows they've got some image catching up to do, and they're working on it pretty hard and I'd say rather successfully. Now, we've got the advanced head unit; this is an optional thing part of a limited package but it gives you, of course, navigation right off the bat. And I like this NAV the screen's not that large but the rendering, the graphics, the style of the information on it is, I think, very easy to digest with a quick glance. I understand how they're representing traffic that makes sense. I know that red means traffic. There are some other systems that use red to mean road that makes no sense to me. But while that NAV system, which is good looking and operates well is an optional piece the audio sources are all standard and they're pretty darn good. First of all you've got AM/FM radio but no HD radio, satellite; you've got Sirius for that choice. Now, under CD AUX we have access to our USB or our AUX jack right next to it or with the Kia cable it becomes an iPod connection. I don't have a Kia cable. Now, it either didn't come with the car or somebody lost it, so here I am trying to use my iPod white USB cable, nope doesn't work. I tried to add an AUX cable with it, nope that didn't make it work either. Then I opened the manual and it says, don't do this 'cause that may burn something up in the car. Whoops pulled that right out. My point is this I'm not crazy about system that require you to have a special auto maker USB iPod Aux cable to use your iPod or your iPod Touch, that's not a good thing to me 'cause you're gonna lose that cable and got to buy another one, and they're more expensive than the one you might get down at Radio Shack. Phone, this is a nice one. Look at this I've got my Blackberry paired and the A2DP stereo Bluetooth streaming, again, standard with this car. And, of course, if you've got Bluetooth streaming you definitely have Bluetooth hands-free for calling. All of that bundled in whether you get the upgraded head unit or not that's a nice array of entertainment options. Now, I've got a rearview camera on that same screen as well but that's not part of the navigation package. You've got to get another package to get that. It's in the premium package which includes roof rails and leather seats. What's the connection? Don't do that guys. Roll in the rearview camera with the upgraded head unit package don't make it part of upholstery, that doesn't connect except with my wallet and I see right through it. Now, our Sorrento EX is missing one option an engine. Well, I guess that's an engine looks as though they forgot to put it in though. There's enough room in there for another engine. I kind of wish we had 2 because this is a gutless little thing 2.4 liter inline 4, 175 horsepower, 169 foot pounds of torque. It's not up to the job. Now, the good thing about putting in an underachieving power plant is you can often get some overachieving MPG and we do pretty well in that count, 21/29 on this guy, front-wheel drive, 21/27 if you go for all-wheel-drive. I would trade a few MPG, just a few, to have a little more power. There's a V6 version of this car. Drive it before you decide to buy one of these. One gear box choice in our Sorrento EX, a 6 speed automatic with the usual shift ability. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference with this engine.
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>> Brian: Driving the Sorrento with the 4 cylinder is an exercise in thinking ahead about when you're gonna need power 'cause it doesn't have it when you need it. It doesn't matter what you do with the gear box. I'm in drive, I'm in the sportmatic mode, I've shifted it aggressively and it just doesn't matter. It's a slow responding, slippery, out of breath powertrain. The ride quality's tight as a drum, no rattles, no squeaks, no floater flop, it's a nice independent suspension but it's almost too simply taught. It feels too much like you're riding on springs as opposed to a more sophisticated compliant underpinning. So bottom line is you're not gonna get that feeling of a budget Lexus RX on this vehicle the way you might think, but it's still a good value for the money. Okay, let's price this 2011 Kia Sorrento EX front-wheel drive is $25,600 base, that includes destination. Now, to CNET this guy up you start with the limited package for $2,000, that gets you the NAV with traffic, the Infiniti audio upgrade, though the sources are the same as base, and these, do they really still think those are cool, chrome wheels. If you want to get the rearview camera you've got to go for the premium package which also adds in leather and the roof rails. You're gonna be annoyed by that right down to the last minute. And for the world's smallest 3rd row seat add 700 bucks.
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