Test drive Kia Sorento 2002 - 2006 SUV

Master Tachwondo

Taykvondo, as you know, is the word Korean. What, don't know? But then they probably heard that it was perhaps the youngest of the eastern martial arts. Not? Well, then for reference: in 1955 he was invented by the general of the South Korean army, Jung Hong Ha. A simple ordinary, a native of some poor village, he turned into a formidable force that easily opposes to his teeth an armed enemy.

Why am I, actually? Yes, to the fact that at the wheel of Sorento I have repeatedly compared the Korean novelty with just such a soldier. At times, like many universal crooks, Kia seemed like a kind of awkward. And then it could have been more rapid than other temperamental SUVs. He surprised the generosity of equipment and caught himself unusual ergonomics. He did not have a serious all -terrain arsenal, but he felt good outside the asphalt. Finally, he so often attracted the attention of others with an intelligent, solid appearance, and at the same time sometimes, on the faces of the curious people, disappointment, they understood that they were looking at only Kia, and not the new Mercedes or Lexus.

Masks the first business
On our streets, he is still a curiosity. And at first glance it is difficult to guess what kind of giant in front of you. As if simple and concise, external forms to a certain extent conceal its actual dimensions. And taking a closer look, you begin to notice many aggressive, sharp dashes. Large slanting headlights with a spark of excitement, the kind of a fighter’s kind, instantly evaluating the enemy before the battle. A plastic body kit than not the protective costume of the master Tachwondo? Faced substetricians on the hood and wings just like muscles playing under tanned skin. A spectacular guy.

That's just the name disappeared at all not formidable. Sorento is not some brave General Jung, but just a sonorous word, reminiscent of a European of the charms of a sweet life in the Mediterranean resort.

And after all, this Korean seemed to be awarded a powerful gasoline six under the hood, but there are no corresponding characters. At the stern, instead of a more adhering occasion, 3.5V6 is not too intelligible EX nameplate.
 

What's how much
The most affordable 140-horsepower Sorento-LX with a 2.5-liter diesel and mechanical gearbox costs $ 30 thousand. The machine has a hydraulic wrap, ABS, air conditioning, electric windows of windows and heated mirrors, immobilizer, central lock, frontal airbags, wood inserts in the cabin, headlight washing and light alloy wheels. A car with an automatic machine is $ 1000 more expensive. For another $ 1,500 you will receive climate control, religious, electric drive and heating of seats, side airbags and foggy cushions. Sorento appeared in February with a gasoline six and so far the only EX equipment for $ 42,000 can boast of a leather trim, a cruise control, an electric drive and a stereo system. Soon it will be possible to buy a car with a 2.4 liter gasoline engine, 141 liters. With. It is this Sorento should become the cheapest.

Riddles of the Korean soul
Meanwhile, these letters mean that before us the most richly equipped Sorento. Leather seats, climate and cruise control, hatch electric drives, driver seats, mirrors, glasses, stereo with 8 speakers and so on. Inside is quite comfortable, and everything looks by no means cheap. At the assembly, the Koreans were clearly not hacking and tried to pick up the materials with taste.
 
Turn on the backlight, and the ingenuous, but perfectly readable dashboard becomes pretty


Places are full both in front and behind. Soft comfortable armchairs, pleasant armrests, half a dozen cup holders, many multi -caliber drawers and containers. And what a wonderful visibility! For many all -terrain vehicles on the five, to Sorento, not a single opponent behind is unnoticed by many alternates.
 
There is a mid-frequency in the back door, a bottle pocket and a red-white backlight

The glove box is a small but spacious shelf and fasteners make it quite practical and comfortable

 
On the ceiling console, there was a place for the eyelet, backlight lamps, as well as a digital compass, part -time barometer and altimeter

With such overlays, the door looks pretty and solid

 
The modes of the all-wheel drive system are switched by the handle on the front panel, and in a unified block with it, the headlightor-rector and the cruise control button

There are side safety curtains for all passengers


However, here is the time to moderate enthusiasm. Outside, Kia does not indulge in sophisticated finishes inside. He oh how far, for example, to BMW-X5. And the skin is not so thin, and the front panel is plastic. Do not knock on pseudo-driven panels on the console and doors of plastic into some root root will not turn from this.
 
Under the floor of the trunk, the second bottom compartments for keys and all kinds of trifles, but the spare was sent to an eternally dirty place under the bottom

It is convenient to load small things into the trunk through the opening glass of the fifth door

 

But something is alarming much more than the lack of fine-stringed Scottish wool in the decoration. Let's say the steering wheel is quite convenient, sheathed with skin, but for some reason it is regulated only in height. There is a backlight by all the windows buttons, and on the bulbs illuminating the buttons of blocking the glasses (they are easy to accidentally press the elbow) and the central lock, saved. To turn on the rear fog, you will have to look for a button hidden next to the climate control unit. The main control of the cruise control on the steering wheel, and you can only activate the system itself, by fragmentation with your left hand about the same where the headlights range have just adjusted. Why is everything so scattered? What is Korean identity? Or beauty for them is more expensive than ergonomics?

However, by and large, and these are all the little things. But even in the behavior of Sorento there are at first discouraging dashes.

Tachwondo lessons

I get out from the parking lot. How easily the steering wheel rotates. To the right, to the left of how much he will make a moment, until, finally, he will rush into the limiter? You will not immediately get used to measuring almost 4 times 360 degrees. True, when he was adapted, it turned out that a large car could rather yoke a rather yoke into the desired corridor in a close parking lot.

I remember that the amplifier works as actively on the BMW-X5, but with an increase in speed after 20 km/h, it is instantly poured with the right force. Here, decent feedback appears about 7080 km/h. What kind of fighter is this, ask? Everything is true, in any sports character does not fit in in any way with such behavior. But who told you that you can comprehend all the secrets of Tastondo in the first lesson?

I press the gas. How do 192 horses with a machine gun in the form of a bridle do there? It seems to be stagnated. And now they are eager for battle, so much so that they even scare. No, it is not an acceleration on a slippery road that is not easy, and Sorento does not have an anti-wings system that the all-around, in a poster-in-wheel drive, begins to throw the stern aside. Have you seen how another jeeper, who did not connect the front -wheel drive in time?

And I don’t need to connect anything. The system of electronic redistribution of torque TOD (Tork it is Demand or the moment on demand) itself should know when to join the work.

I only have time to adjust the skiing, when suddenly, after a second, my master Tachwondo launches his hand, that is, excuse me, the front wheels. And I didn’t wait for this anymore! I barely manage to make several revolutions of the steering wheel to return the car to the desired trajectory. Imagine if someone is frightened by inexperience and hit the brake with your foot! Such lessons in this school Tachwondo can stand expensive.

In a word, so far I am by no means enthusiastic. And Sorento seems to be glad to finish me off. You go slowly to please taste all the charms of a hard suspension. The frame design, gas shock absorbers, double transverse levers in front, an uncertain beam behind. I can’t wait for plastic, graceful movements from a hard Tachwondist. After all, he was not taught and not aikido. If the blow, then fast, hard, clearly on the target. I mean, you immediately understand the wheel hit the hole, that joint in the asphalt jumped up. And how to understand this mysterious Korean soul?

Useful training in the fresh air
General Jung taught the soldier not only to combat skill, but also to professional composure. So I try not to lose their emotional balance. I drove only about a hundred kilometers, and 20 liters of the 95th as it never happened. The control lamp caught fire unexpectedly, when there were still 12 liters of fuel in the tank, forcing me to worry. It even thought: the on -board computer would not allow such unpleasant surprises, clearly indicating how many more kilometers I will stretch before the gas station. No, saved it. But they installed a height, barometer, compass. I don't want to play.

But I recall General Chon: first of all, a cold mind, a calm soul. I pour 80 liters at once, and go. And let the car swallow the buckets of two per hundred (if you remember, Mitsubishi-Pajero-3.5 of the previous generation was distinguished by the same indefatigable appetite. There is almost the same on Kia). In a word, I soon learned to put up with this quality Sorento. In the end, he allows him to quickly and confidently go to the goal. To the landfill.

The asphalt here was covered with a dense layer of rolled snow. A more slippery coating is perhaps clean ice. Well, okay. As far as I managed to understand for a hundred of the near Moscow kilometers, when finally the recovered TOD comes into work, the car becomes the right all -wheel drive. Maybe now a blank will pass in a pure fan?

Trying. And there is. Here it is, fighting mood! It was just such a quiet, smiled stupidly, and now he was gathered and ready to attack at any time. Deprived of the bridle of all sorts of ESP there, under the gas of Sorento is almost perfectly clean, in a different way, turns turns. I reminded me very much athlete.

If we compare, for example, with Lexus-RX300, it turns out that the Kia responds faster to the steering turns, and the sensation of speed also conceals on it. I traveled a lot to Hyunde-Terrakan and the Ssan-En-River. These guys are much more thoughtful in turns.

And on a high -speed straight kia is kept well. You can safely give him will to disperse to 130140 km/h. For Sorento, this is, as they say, cruising, quite comfortable speed. Almost no annoying noise, you do not need to constantly steal. Submarine the gas pedal to the floor, the machine will led the third, bring the tachometer to about 6200 rpm and, allowing the machine to accelerate even more intensively, turn on the fourth.

And how good the brakes are! Only a little is not not available to those that passenger BMW, Volvo or Mercedes-Benz can boast. In front and behind, Koreans installed ventilated large diameter disks. There was no way to measure the reverse acceleration in the snow in the snow, but it, I assure you, is impressive. In a word, in the evening I easily found a common language with Sorento.

And here is a suitable tubercle. 30 degrees 30, no less. How is Hosinsul's all -resistant self -defense techniques, as the Koreans would say? Will I take it? The overhangs are quite short, the road lumen is greater than some professional crooks of 208 mm, the transmission has a serious (2.48) lowering, rear differential of high friction.

On the move, the storming obstacle, I easily find myself at the top and roll down. True, he still touched the front bumper at the congress. However, a wide elastic band passes around the perimeter, which works painlessly with a bulldozer. It is a pity, only the engine has protection. For some reason, they considered it superfluous to cover it with a handout with it.

With some cautiously, I start to storm the slope of the slope. Two, three meters, and, alas, Sorento gives up. I turn on the lowered, a few more attempts, the same result. Now there would be rubber of pellets, but here is either comfort at high speed, or cross -country ability.

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that Sorento's all-resistant abilities in ordinary life are quite enough. I posted the wheels due to the self -locking rear differential and a long -thinking, but quite effective electronic blocking, the machine was still chosen. He pierced a track in the snow, almost reaching the hubs, and Kia coped with this. In addition, it turned out that, due to the energy -intensive long -flowing suspension, he knows how to very famously drive even along the most broken road. I do not advise anyone to be so nimble on x5, RX300, CR-V or X-trail. A bent pendant lever or a broken bumper is guaranteed to you.

Saving in American

In the States, Sorento sellers say to customers: you can, of course, choose Lexus or Mercedes. But if you take our new alternate, you still have enough money to pay for your children in college. And after all, they appreciated the car there. The Americans called him the best all -resistant in the price range of up to $ 25 (!) Thousands. Yes, there, there the car costs from $ 19,900 for the rear-wheel drive modification up to 24,500 for the all-wheel drive Sorento-3.5-EX. Eh, will it be in Russia?

Special offer

A couple of hundred kilometers of asphalt snowy roads, of course, is not enough to thoroughly study all the nuances of the behavior of this machine. Somehow Sorento will behave on? On a very new car (on the odometer less than 1000 km), the steering rack began to tap, not the best handle of the left rear door was adjusted with its duties, it was not protected from water, and therefore, after washing, the telescopic antenna froze. I am glad that such little things will remain the problems of the dealer for a very long time. After all, a guarantee for Kia is 5 years or 150 thousand km of run.

What circumstance could not, of course, not affect the general impression of the car. Sorento, despite the fact that I could not get used to him for so long, liked it. Thanks to a very unusual, but very combat character, it is such a machine that is perfectly suitable for the role of an uncompromising athlete-surveyor. And in this regard, Sorento-3.5v6 is a unique offer. After all, all-terrain vehicles BMW-X5 and Mercedes-Benz-ML are also much more expensive for swift riding. And besides, Sorento, at least, will not lose to them off -road.

Nevertheless, I will not risk Sorento's glory of the bestseller. Not everyone will decide to give $ 42 thousand per Korean. Yes, and Recton or Terracan has trump cards more stronger than the fighting manner. The first with a 3-liter engine in 197 l. With. It costs $ 34 thousand, and the second with the same engine, and the same profitable five -year guarantee $ 38,600.

For a solid appearance, high -quality assembly, practical and roomy interior, good handling, maneuverability and dynamics, a painful motor, favorable maintenance conditions.

Against the low image of the brand, a large fuel consumption, delays in the work of TOD, high price in Russia.

Source: Magazine "Limousine" [04/03]