The new Kia Sorento has essentially put on a more mature face in its recent update for the 2024 model year remaining as one of the brand’s best-selling vehicles. With such an update, the Sorento has a better footing for attracting a wider swath of buyers considering the variety of trim levels offered, including a PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) line that I had a chance to review this week.
While the gas-only-powered Sorento offers two powertrain choices, the PHEV touts the latest in hybrid technology that permits you to drive solely on electric power for about 30 miles. The system, much like many competitive PHEV setups, puts its best efforts forward if you spend the time to charge up its battery, which the Sorento PHEV gets a 13.8-kWh pack that takes about three and a half hours to charge at home on a Level 2 charger. Spending that time pays off in the long run as you’ll match its 74 MPGe estimate in using up a 12.4-gallon tank full of regular unleaded fuel. Use the Sorento PHEV as a normal hybrid without charging up the battery, and you’ll expect to get the EPA-estimated 33 MPG figure, as I noticed. However, driving the Sorento PHEV conservatively with a conscious effort will return slightly better numbers, as high as 37 mpg around town, from my observation.
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See Also: 2024 Kia Sorento X-Line SX Prestige AWD Review & Test Drive
The latest plug-in hybrid system works nearly flawlessly for virtually seamless transitions from the use of the somewhat robust electric motor to using the gas engine to aid in moderate acceleration when it is demanded in any drive mode. The drive modes, Eco, Sport, and Smart, fill a gap where the Sorento PHEV does not have a power save mode to reserve battery charge. Instead, the Sport mode is almost the ‘save’ mode as it tends to charge up the battery pack, adding EV range, but at the expense of extra fuel burned by the engine.
The engine in the Sorento PHEV is a 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder that works well to join its output to the electric motor for a total output of 261 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. That power is directed through a 6-speed automatic transmission out to a standard all-wheel-drive setup. In Sport mode and powering out from a stop, you’ll hit 60 mph in about 7.4 seconds, which is about a second slower than its non-hybrid top-trim-level Sorento turbocharged engine sibling. The interesting part of how the Sorento PHEV feels out on the road is that it isn’t overly heavy, considering its weight penalty for being a PHEV and having a heavy battery and EV motor to tote around.
Overall, the Sorento PHEV drives well and only suffers from the PHEV system slowly reacting to abrupt power demands at low speeds where it takes a bit to fire up the engine and get moving. Otherwise, there’s an appreciation of its cohesive attempt at driving like its solely gas-powered brethren, exuding a compliant ride quality that is more on the firm side but not overly offensive for most.
Inside the new Kia Sorento is a spacious cabin with three rows of seats. However, in the PHEV trim setups, there’s only a 6-passenger offering but plenty of features to appease the driver and passengers, such as having ventilated and heated front seats and heated second-row seats. While the Sorento remains below the larger Telluride 3-row crossover, there’s not much of a compromise where many may cross-shop the two crossovers where the Sorento now offers up two trim levels of the PHEV setup, the base PHEV EX and my top-level Sorento PHEV SX-Prestige test vehicle.
The cargo space is down on the Sorento in comparison, but it does well to provide decently sized seating areas and a long feature list in the top trim. Both have all-wheel-drive, but the differences really shine inside of the cabin where the SX-Prestige adds in a full 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster joined with similar-sized infotainment touchscreen, a 12-speaker Bose audio system, ventilated front seats, and other desirables like a 360-degree surround-view camera system, a machine-learning navigation-based adaptive cruise control with highway driving assist 2, and a blind-spot view monitor that display a live camera feed in the digital cluster of your blind spot upon signaling.
As you’ll expect, there’s wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration along with a smartphone wireless charger. As mentioned in my previous Sorento review, the climate and audio controls can be a little quirky considering the odd toggle required to switch from audio to climate controls. As a PHEV, the Sorento undercuts many in giving buyers a valid step into the world of electric vehicles but with the caveat of having less EV-only power until the engine fires up upon moderate demands of power, even in the EV drive mode. Overall, the Sorento PHEV is somewhat of a rarity for its class, and that’s not a bad thing considering the value of the base Sorento EX PHEV. It’s not until you step into the Sorento SX-Prestige PHEV that the pricing starts to become somewhat of a headscratcher at the as-tested level of $54,690. Still, there’s a lot to offer in an attractive and versatile package.
