Kia Sorento mpg

[JD6620]

I am looking into buying a 2004 Kia Sorento CRDi XE manual as all the reports have it as a fantastic tow car. Just wanted to know what mpg to expect towing and solo as some of the reports I have read vary from 17mpg to 35mpg. As it seems such a popular towcar now I thought I would ask the question here as I'm sure lots of you must own one.

 

[otherclive]

Hi,

I have an 04 XS 5 speed auto and get between 30-32mpg solo, and 22-24mpg towing 1400kg. I tend to drive to the speed limits given the traffic and road condsitions but tend to be quite gentle when it comes to accelarating the 'lump'! If you look on the UK Kia Forum there is lots of useful info. You may see some who have lousy fuel consumption despite driving gently and it does seem as ifa few Sorentos were a problem. I cannot remember what year they were and whether it affected auto, manual or both.

I have had my car from new and its been totally reliable with only a recent repair bill for a new rear caliper (

 

[Max_5063914]

Julian, jsut a short note to say that I would concur with the observations re mpg from "other Clive". I have a '55 plate 2.5CRDI XS Auto.

Regards,

Max.

 

[dixie1]

Hi Julian

I have to agree with the others. ours is a 56 plate.. crdi xs manual and its good on fuel... I was lead to beleive that the manual is possibly better on fuel consumption than the auto but not by much. we love ours and would gladly have another.. we get mid 30s out of it and not far off even when towing.

carmen

 

[DavidKlyne]

About 10 days ago we towed up to Newcastle upon Tyne and it was a journey of about 250 miles and I got 21mpg and that is with an XE auto.

David

 

[SteveW77]

Just to put the other side of the Sorento saga, I drove 372 miles solo in my 56 plate XS auto last week and used 72 litres of diesel.

I never went over 60mph all week. overall result!!!23.49mpg

Steve W

 

[JohnDavo]

Julian, I have an 04 Sorento diesel auto and seem to get around mid 20s either towing or not. Great tow car though.

Out of interest, is there any reason why you are getting the manual? I have towed with manual and auto and in my view the auto is far easier to tow with and would never go back to manual. I realise that this a subject of some discussion however!

 

[JD6620]

I owned a vauxhall cavalier auto some years back, and was told when I bought it I would never want another manual. Although very easy to drive espeacially in traffic I still prefer the manual. No doubt auto box's have moved on a bit now, but my personal preference is a manual box. Better mpg too. Thank you all for your replys, the sorento I was looking at fell through when I found the mileage was more than 20000 miles more than the advert stated.

 

[Max_5063914]

Julian, I do find the subject of MPG interesting in that the feed back provided always seems to have large variations. I guess it's down to the individual drivers style and usual driving terrain. My XS auto has always been regular at around 30 mpg, although on one occassion I drove the 230 miles from Esat Sussex to North Yorkshie at a maximum of 60 mph using cruise control. The traffic was admittedly light and so reduced the need for breaking/acceleration. I got 37.7 MPG which was a bit of a shock! I usually drive at the legal maximum's which inevitably brings the MPG down alot.

Max.

 

[otherclive]

Max,

if you look at the UK Kia Sorento forum there is thread relating to some Sorentos that have been investigated for poor fuel consumption down around 22-23mpg. The drivers can't all be at fault as there were some who really tried hard to obtain max mpg and still could'nt. Suspicion fell on the ECU programming or a bad batch of injectors but I don't think that it was fully resolved. The problem when buying an early car is that they don't have trip computers so you can't even use one of those for guidance on an extended test drive.

 

[Max_5063914]

Max,

if you look at the UK Kia Sorento forum there is thread relating to some Sorentos that have been investigated for poor fuel consumption down around 22-23mpg. The drivers can't all be at fault as there were some who really tried hard to obtain max mpg and still could'nt. Suspicion fell on the ECU programming or a bad batch of injectors but I don't think that it was fully resolved. The problem when buying an early car is that they don't have trip computers so you can't even use one of those for guidance on an extended test drive.

Thanks for your note Clive. I have heard alot of gripes about the poor fuel economy of the Sorrento over the past couple of years but did not realise that it maybe as a result of a technical problem. My XS auto is a '55 plate, and has been ok as far as I'm concerned (given the car weighs over 2 tonnes!). I normally get 400 miles from a tank and then fill up. I have not done that much towing with it as we keep our caravan (1450 KG's)in the Loire. I think we got about 22/23 to the gallon when we took it down there last summer (cruising at around 65 mph on the autoroutes). We plan to do a lot more touring when we retire in a couple of years. We will however be hitching up and going further south into the Dordogne this summer.

As a matter of interest, has the technical problem re MPG now been resolved?

Max.

 

[Max_5063914]

Thanks for your note Clive. I have heard alot of gripes about the poor fuel economy of the Sorrento over the past couple of years but did not realise that it maybe as a result of a technical problem. My XS auto is a '55 plate, and has been ok as far as I'm concerned (given the car weighs over 2 tonnes!). I normally get 400 miles from a tank and then fill up. I have not done that much towing with it as we keep our caravan (1450 KG's)in the Loire. I think we got about 22/23 to the gallon when we took it down there last summer (cruising at around 65 mph on the autoroutes). We plan to do a lot more touring when we retire in a couple of years. We will however be hitching up and going further south into the Dordogne this summer.

As a matter of interest, has the technical problem re MPG now been resolved?

Max.

Clive, I have just tried the Sorrento forum, but there seems to be a problem with the site. It keeps flitting between the top and bottom of the frame. Will try again tommorow.

Cheers,

Max.

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Huy to all on this thread, I cant speak for the Sorento only for a BMW X5 Atomatic heavy fuel condumption yes but ....do try and use proprietary brands of fuel Shell .BP etc and you will find an increase on your MPG we have found that supermarket fuels are not so good yes you get more for your money but sad to say not miles for your money.

This topic has been discussed before and I think it may just go on a bit longer yet

I hope this is some help to you

Regards Sir Roger

 

[SteveW77]

I completely agree about not using supermarket fuel, but the figures from my Sorento, are those obtained using Shell diesel from several different sites, on supermarket fuel it goes down below 20mpg.

Steve W

 

[otherclive]

I also only use branded fuels and have a K&N filter fitted and use fully synthetic oil.

 

[JimC]

I have had two Sorentos an XE 2004 Auto 138 BHP and my present Sorento is a XT Auto 2006 Facelift model 168 BHP. My average consumption over almost 5 years is 21 mpg.Thats Towing and Solo combined. Just got back from Southport CC site round trip 230 miles plus a bit of running about solo. Trip consumption brim to brim 20 MPG.I always use premium fuel and drive steady.

I totally agree with Steve W I have read is comments also on UK Sorento .co.uk boards.

Brilliant tow car but dont buy one if you want good fuel consumption.

Regards Jim

 

[SteveW77]

Hi Jim C.

At last, someone who gets fuel consumption figures like mine.

You don't fancy taking up a main delership do you? then I might be able to get something done about my appalling returns, because at the moment, I think they think that I am making it all up. They never find anything wrong, but they won't try taking it for a 50 mile trip to check it out.

Steve W

 

[xtrailman]

If i was getting unusually low mpg, i would be looking for a tuning specialise, not to get more power, but to ensure the car was set to maximum efficiency.

Any savings in fuel would quickly cover the cost.

 

[SteveW77]

Until the car is out of warranty, I can not take it anywhere except to a Kia dealer, but the moment it is out of warranty it will probably just go all together.

Steve W