Another Sorento question

[MikeyW]

Hi Folks

I've read that the BHP of the 2.5 diesel Sorento went from 138 to 168 in the autumn of 2006. I was thinking of changing my towcar for a Sorento and my budget will stretch to a 2006 model. My question is which should I go for? My caravan MTPLM is 1565kg. Also out of interest auto or manual gearbox, or is that just personal choice.

Regards

Mike

 

[SteveW77]

Without a doubt the 168 bhp engine is far supererior to the older version, as for auto or manual, just personal choice, but, bear in mind that the auto uses more fuel.
I have had 3 Sorentos so far the mew version is something else again.

Steve W

 

[Dustydog]

Mikey
I have the 138 version which pulls our Wyoming, no problem. The "facelift " 168 is far better and has more refinements in the engine. . If a good model cropped up with reasonable mileage & FSH auto or manual wouldn't bother me.

Have a look at this site for more Sorento data.

http://kiasorento.proboards.com/index.cgi?

 

[MikeyW]

Thanks for the info guys, I'm going to look at a 168 BHP manual this weekend so hopefully it"ll live up to expectations.
Cheers for the website Dustydog, looks very useful.

Regards

Mike

 

[HenryB1]

Hi Mike. We have a 58 plate Sorento XS automatic. Great car plenty of power. We bought it on recommendation of at least 5 caravaning Sorento owners who all tow with automatics. If you get a chance to try an automatic give it a go. They can also be driven in manual mode, but I have only ever used this coming down very steep hills on a couple of occasions.

 

[drsorento]

You will get less MPG with the auto as is the case with most cars, 138hp will pull your van no problem. If you find a 138hp that really takes your fancy and is to good to miss but you want more power you could always add a power box these also improve economy.

 

[MikeyW]

Thanks again, I'm in no rush to buy so I'll try as many as possible, hopefully there's a bargain out there somewhere.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Dustydog]

You will get less MPG with the auto as is the case with most cars, 138hp will pull your van no problem. If you find a 138hp that really takes your fancy and is to good to miss but you want more power you could always add a power box these also improve economy.

I Have a Powerbox lying on a shelf in the garage. Initially it did make a difference but in time , even after readjustment, I didn't think there was any benefit.
I then had to change the turbo inlet pipes, intercooler thingie pipes and the exhaust gas recirculation valve because of black smoke. I've since found that the performance without the Powerbox is very good.
Other posters on here have derided the use of Powerboxes. I don't use mine anymore as in truth I don't think it made any difference. It was an early model that goes in between the pump and common rail system altering the timing of the injectors. A bit basic compared to say a full remap.
Logically in my dog sized brain I do wonder if you can gain power,torque and economy with a powerbox. I thought so at the time but I may have kidded myself??

 

[drsorento]

Hi dusty, an interesting post, I must confess I have never bothered to fit one as my sorento does what I want very well ,that said there are a load of power box users on the uk Sorento web site who swear by them, indeed a mate of mine keeps banging on about me fitting one to mine as he has one, I have driven his Sorento and there did appear to be more power.
You say yours was a basic one, was it the type with about 9 different settings ?

 

[MikeyW]

Hi Again

I've just test drove 2 Sorento's, an XS and an XT, both 2006 and found them both to be very kind of 'floaty' like being in a boat, is this how they usually drive ? Mind you it was on B roads. I am comparing them with my X-Trail which seems a lot firmer. Other than that both were very nice. Any comments greatfully recieved.

Mike

 

[NigelHutson]

Mike,
I first drove a Sorento (57 plate) during some tow car testing event, and if I'm honest it was a huge disappointment. Now I'm not for one moment going to slag it off because it was excellent value and lots of people swear by them. However, it did feel quite sloppy with a laden twin-axle caravan in tow compared to other vehicles. I mentioned this to someone else and they replied "yes, they're like driving a blancmange". Apparently the pre-facelift ones had quite a choppy solo ride, but were better with a trailer in tow. The facelift versions were more softly sprung which gave a better solo ride, but the towing ride deteriorated. Driven on its own, it would have probably been ok, but amongst others......... However, as I said earlier in the post, they were excellent value and depending upon what you want from a vehicle, they probably tick most (if not all) boxes. Judging by the number of happy owners, there must be something that Kia have done right.
Personally, I think the new one is a backward step. The original was a good, honest (descent looking) workhorse. The new one has got too expensive, and when tested was not the most stable of things. Considering that other vehicles were capabale of towing at indecently high speeds (on private test tracks), and were rock steady, the new Sorento had the caravan swaying at just above 60 mph, and when slowing from that, the swaying got worse. It was certainly the worst vehicle I have tested for stability. This view was touched upon in both the Practical Caravan/What Car?/C&CC test and the latest CC Towcar test. What one would be like with a smaller and lighter caravan I don't know.
I do hope that I have not offended any of the very happy Sorento owners, that certainly wasn't my intention. I am just reporting as I found, and it is only my opinion.
Nigel.

 

[MikeyW]

Hi Nigel
Thanks for your comments. I'm not sure if these are the facelift models. I understand the BHP increased in 2006 and I think the XT car I tried was the higher BHP but both cars I tried looked and handled much the same. Are there any distinguishing features to seperate facelift models or is it more technical spec.?
Thanks again
Mike

 

[SteveW77]

Hi Nigel.

Like you I to found the new Sorento a lot different to the previous models, but once I sorted the nose weight, things improved considerably. I have now done approximately 7000 miles towing my Swift Utopia 530 and I must say I have had no problems at all.
As a car, the new version out performs the older models in every way and in my opinion is a much better all round vehicle for a caravaner.

Steve W

 

[xtrailman]

Steve w
What did you have to do, increase the nose weight?

 

[Dustydog]

Hi dusty, an interesting post, I must confess I have never bothered to fit one as my sorento does what I want very well ,that said there are a load of power box users on the uk Sorento web site who swear by them, indeed a mate of mine keeps banging on about me fitting one to mine as he has one, I have driven his Sorento and there did appear to be more power.
You say yours was a basic one, was it the type with about 9 different settings ?

I bought it from Taff of Griffin Engineering on UK Sorento.com. It is one of the earlier models with infinite settings from 0 to 100%. I ran mine just on 50% with the K&N air filter for 50k miles until I had the black smoke problem which is now resolved.
As I say even towing the Wyoming I have never felt short of power in the standard 138bhp.
I know the latest Powerboxes are very different from my one and maybe they are an improvement?

 

[MichaelE]

Out of interest what car do you drive at present? if it is your first venture into the 4x4 market then yes they will feel boaty and wallowy unless you move up to the X5 and ML market which are road cars first and 4x4's second.
As said they are great value for money and will happily tow your van all day, you can see how popular they are by the amount of people who tow with them , in fact Kia did all their marketing based on this, shame cant be said for the new one as it doesnt seem to tow well (less weight) and feels twitchy and this is caravananners not just the magazines.
Apparently the Sante Fe is the new Sorento ,good tower and value for money.

 

[MikeyW]

Hi Michael E

I drive an xtrail at the moment., which I guess is more car than 4x4. I was looking at Sorento's and Santa Fe's but weight wise the Sorento is the better choice. As you said there's a lot of happy towers using Sorento's but after driving one I was a bit disappointed with the ride, maybe It's something I'll have to accept. For weight and my budget and without buying something to old or to high a mileage I don't know what else to go for.

Regards

Mike

 

[SteveW77]

I tried to re-arrange all the stuff one collects over years of caravaning in order to get the noseweight down to 80Kgs, but it just felt all wrong, a bit like walking a tight rope. So I took the decision to dump all the stuff labeled " That will come in useful" as after all these years no of it ever has and I then found I could get down to 80Kgs without any effort at all.
( Trouble is I am so bl**dy mean, I hate throwing things away)

Steve W

 

[xtrailman]

Hi Michael E I drive an xtrail at the moment., which I guess is more car than 4x4. I was looking at Sorento's and Santa Fe's but weight wise the Sorento is the better choice. As you said there's a lot of happy towers using Sorento's but after driving one I was a bit disappointed with the ride, maybe It's something I'll have to accept. For weight and my budget and without buying something to old or to high a mileage I don't know what else to go for. Regards Mike

Do you have the early xtrail T30? mine weighed 1650kg.
But the latest (or was been revised this month) the T31 weighs 1720kg.
Thats the 171bhp Adventura.
I fully intend to tow upto 1600kg with this car when i change, sometime soon.
Again not as firm a ride as the T30, but you do get a little extra comfort.

 

[MikeyW]

Hi Ray

It's a 2005 T Spec. The listed weight is 1520kg but I put it on a weighbridge and it was 1720kg. That works out at 91% towing ratio. I know that a lot of people would be fine with that but I'm not to happy. This is the third and heaviest caravan we've had and it's definitely the least stable. Loading, noseweight, tyre pressures etc.. are all right so I can only think it's the weight ratio.
I would also add that the weighbridge operator wasn't sure how accurate it was so my car could be even lighter than 1720kg.

Mike

 

[ChrisUK]

Hi Again

I've just test drove 2 Sorento's, an XS and an XT, both 2006 and found them both to be very kind of 'floaty' like being in a boat, is this how they usually drive ? Mind you it was on B roads. I am comparing them with my X-Trail which seems a lot firmer. Other than that both were very nice. Any comments greatfully recieved.

Mike

My experience exactly in 2008. Though I did find back to back drives of the Sorry and the S Fe showed the S Fe a much better drive of the two. The Sorry did not like B roads.

 

[xtrailman]

Hi Ray It's a 2005 T Spec. The listed weight is 1520kg but I put it on a weighbridge and it was 1720kg. That works out at 91% towing ratio. I know that a lot of people would be fine with that but I'm not to happy. This is the third and heaviest caravan we've had and it's definitely the least stable. Loading, noseweight, tyre pressures etc.. are all right so I can only think it's the weight ratio. I would also add that the weighbridge operator wasn't sure how accurate it was so my car could be even lighter than 1720kg. Mike

I thought the T spec was the top of the range?
The one i passed on to my lad was the Aventura, the manuel had that at 1650kg, but usually they all weigh more.

Trouble is the caravan could be weighing over, i certainly am not a fan of towing over 85%, i would tow at 50% if practical.

But i don't want a heavier car, as my xtrail (T31) has a claimed weight of 1720kg, i feel i should be ok to tow upto 1600kg, the caravan i nearly bought was 1565kg, the valencia but we decided the problems the alutec owners were having wasn't for us.
By the way i measured the witter bar at 40kg before it was fitted so its more like 1760kg!

 

[paulthomas]

It's true the Sorento has an "interesting" ride when driven solo.You just get used to it.In my book it's worth it because of its truly faultless towing ability.The ride is also significantly better when hitched to our 1600 mtplm caravan.We have just returned from a two month tour of Portugal and Spain and,having considered trading in our 2006,134 hp XS manual,I fell back in love with our "Sorrie."It just plugged away taking every gradient in its stride absolutely hassle free and with total stability.I'm keeping it!

 

[MikeyW]

I can't believe how much interest this thread has generated. I've taken the plunge and put a deposit on a 2006 crdi 2.5 xs manual and subject to a few things being sorted should get it in a couple of weeks. Thanks everyone who has contributed to this thread, it's definitely helped me make my mind up.

Thanks again

Mike

 

[seth1]

If your going to plum for a model fitted with auto transmission and the lower powered engine,i would'nt expect 30 hp to make much of a difference.Seems alot of the autoboxs change down needlessly anyway.