2025 Kia Sorento

Pros

• A lot of features, some of which are common and some of which are not.
• The second row has enough space for everyone’s legs.
• Stylish and easy-to-use entertainment system.
• Cabin in the woods by the road. 

Cons

• When raised, the third row makes it harder to move freight.
• When the ground isn’t smooth, it rides a little stiff and awkward.

To find out what it was like, our writers drove a Kia Sorento for a year. Check out our in-depth coverage of the Sorento to learn more about their adventures. Even though we tried a model from 2021, most of what we found still applies to the current Sorento.

Just tell me how to drive a Sorento. We were thrilled when we tried the Sorento’s available turbocharged engine. For such a small SUV, it goes very fast. The car went from 0 to 60 mph in a record-setting 6.7 seconds. We were also impressed by how the power grew as the speed rose. But this Sorento is three seconds faster than a Volkswagen Tiguan of the same size and only a few seconds faster than a Honda Passport with a V6 engine. It’s easy for the Sorento to merge and pass on roads.

You can confidently slow down in the Sorento because the brake pedal is well-balanced and easy to use. The Sorento stopped from 60 mph at 121 feet, shorter than class average. The handling is still great, but the steering could be more accurate.

How does the Sorento make you feel? The comfort of all three rows of seats is better than expected for a small SUV. Our top-of-the-line test car had front seats that could be customized in a lot of ways and were heated, cooled, and ventilated. On lower trim levels, a bench seat is normal. The second-row captain’s chairs were harder than those in similar SUVs, but they were still more supportive and comfortable. Even though they are small and close to the ground, the third-row seats are very supportive for kids. The two-zone temperature control system works well and is easy to use, even though the touch-sensitive controls don’t respond as quickly as regular buttons.

At lower speeds, the car experiences a steady stream of vibrations, which means the ride comfort is less comfortable. The big 20-inch wheels and low-profile tires on the Sorento could be to blame for the louder road noise at highway speeds. The Sorento rides well on the highway, giving off an air of steadiness and confidence.

How is the state of the inside? The Sorento’s third row of seats is great for kids and teens, while the first two rows have plenty of room for everyone. Getting into the Sorento is not hard. A lot of the tools that make the Kia easy to use are also in the Sorento. The big windows and clear lines of sight throughout the car also make visibility pretty good. The high-definition views from the optional surround-view camera system are useful in some scenarios. We think the setup of the climate controls is very smart—the touch panel controls turn into media controls when they’re not in use—but we can see why some people might not like it and prefer buttons.

What’s wrong with the tech? Two digital screens and a better Bose sound system were installed in our top-of-the-line test car. Some of the buttons on the screen seemed a little small to us, but the patterns were creative and eye-catching. The Bose sound system was a little less impressive because it never found a good spot for a wide range of songs. The speech command system in the Sorento is the least impressive piece of tech because it is so basic. It can’t adapt to new situations or understand common languages.

Guests can keep their tools charged with the wireless charger and several USB ports. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are built-in tools that make smartphones work with cars. The Sorento has some of the most advanced driving assistance technologies on the market. Aside from a back cross-traffic warning system that was too cautious, we didn’t run into any other issues or get any wrong alerts.

What’s going on with storage? When the third-row seats are folded down, the trunk space is reduced to 12.6 cubic feet, which is about five shopping bags lined up. But this is enough for a small SUV with three rows of seats. If you move the second-row seats forward a certain amount, the Sorento can hold between 38.5 and 45 cubic feet of stuff when the third row is put down. It costs a little more than the RAV4 and CR-V, which are smaller SUVs with two rows of seats. The Sorento also has great storage space inside. There is a lot of well-thought-out storage room in all three rows.

How much fuel does it use? The all-wheel-drive Sorento with the turbocharged engine that we tried is expected to get 23 mpg on the highway. During our mixed-driving test trip, we got an average of 25.2 mpg. The Sorento with turbochargers also doesn’t need expensive fuel, which is a plus. While the Sorento didn’t get as good of gas mileage as the Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V, it did better on our test route than the similarly powerful Honda Passport and Subaru Ascent.

How much is the Sorento worth? The Kia Sorento is well-made and comes with everything we need. It fulfills each and every one of our expectations. Even though there are rough pieces of plastic all over the car, the Sorento has some nice touches and is well put together. The Sorento seems like a good deal, even though some of the more high-end trims can be pricey.

The Sorento comes with a 10-year/100,000-mile engine warranty and a 5-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. Both are known for being of the highest quality. You can get regular roadside help for five years or 60,000 miles.

If you add the extra 2.5-liter turbocharged engine, the Kia Sorento is the only small SUV that will have as much fun going straight as this one could. The incredible power of the Sorento and how easy it is to speed up are both addicting. The rest of the Sorento trip is like a short version of the well-known Telluride.

As of this writing, Kia hasn’t made any public announcements about the 2025 Sorento. We’ll update our suggestions if anything changes, but based on last year’s Sorento, we think the EX trim is the best deal. This trim level features the popular turbocharged engine and also gets the best gas mileage.

Styles of the Kia Sorento

It fulfills each and every one of our expectations. It comes in five main trim levels: LX, S, EX, SX, and SX Prestige. In some trim levels, you can also get the X-Line and X-Pro versions. The Sorento Plug-in Hybrid and Hybrid versions also have their reviews on Invoice.