Those with Kia Sorentos help please!

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LizzieRC1313

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Hi I am interested in getting a second hand Kia Sorento & wondered if people with one could let me know what the best type would be to get in terms of best fuel economy and basically keeping costs down as much as possible? I've heard diesel over petrol, but is that better than maybe LPG converted?
what is the difference between the XS and the XE?
The car will be the main car and would be used to tow two large horses. Budget around 6-9000.

Basically if you have a great reliable kia sorento that isn't crippling you financially then I'd love to know the details of it!! :)
 
Two large horse? I hope you don't have any significant hills as you will be disappointed - and your car will be struggling. I have 2006 XE diesel and long hills are a slow nightmare, often accompanied by a burning smell. Thankfully big hills with both my two are a rare occurrence. I have a 15.2hh (650kg) and a 16.2hh (600kg) in a bateson ascot trailer (930kg) so total 2180kg. The limit is 2800kg so I'm well under it. I'm not sure I would buy another for towing such a load. All other aspects of the car are great though. I get around 30mpg.

ETA: XS is just a more upmarket version than the XE with more features (and more expensive).
 
Mine was going to be fairly financially crippling. It needed over £4k of work doing within 4 weeks of purchase. Luckily we bought from a dealer so it went back pronto!

Have got a Nissan now and it gets better fuel economy due to the part time 4x4. Never towed with the KIA(thank goodness) so don't know what it was like.
 
I tow an Ifor 510 with our Sorrento but have only ever had one horse on board- a 16 3 reasonably chunky part bred Arab. The lane leading to the yard is quite hilly and must admit I cant even feel i am towing anything so imagine would be okay with another on board. The older Sorrentos like mine can tow up to 3000kg -ours is 4 years old -manual diesel. I get about 30 mpg . The new Sorrento does not tow as much. We have been really pleased with ours. They are quite hard to get hold of though as they are quite popular with caravanners i believe.
Ours is the XS i think -has leather seats/cruise control etc as standard.
 
I have the xs auto model, diesel - have owned it since new and is now 7 yrs old. I absolutely love it and think it is actually quite economical for a 4 x 4. The xe is a less 'luxurious version' , and the xse is the 'all singing and dancing' model. Mine has cruise control, sun roof, climate control which comes as standard.

Mine tows like a dream and we live up a steep hill. It has also coped with the snow and ice we have had of previous winters really well, and prevented us from getting snowed in on several occasions.

The older model has won many awards for towing, predominately form caravanners. However I believe the new version has less towing capacity, so would stick to the original model.

Despite 96k on the clock I have only ever had one bill for it, bar normal servicing and mots', and that was for a blocked turbo valve.

Really rate mine and will be sad when it goes.
 
Absolutely love my 59 plate Sorento XS. I tow an Ifor Williams 511 with a chunky 16.3 warmblood and hardly notice the difference.:)
 
I have a 55 plate Sorento which I have had no trouble with and easily towed 2 horses with - this is the older model with higher tow capacity of 3000KG (2.5L engine). It does cost a lot to fill the tank but I get similar mpg to my husband's sporty hatchback!!!
 
Thanks for all the replies, so helpful. I have heard such good things about the Sorento, but am worried about the running costs of a 4x4. We wouldn't be seriously towing, we are midlands based so fairly flat and would mainly be to fun rides/better hacking and the odd show here and there. We would also share towing with a friend so we wouldn't always be the ones towing. Just want a good reliable car that doesnt cost a fortune to run but can tow the horses every once in a while. Sorento seems to suit that fairly well. I'd probably be looking for one 2006/2007 plate and probably around 45,000 miles.
So I should probably look for a 2.5 CRDI XS? Thanks for all your help!
 
I love my Kia Sorento but I've only ever towed one horse in a lightweight single horse trailer so can't comment on its capacity.

Can't tell you which type it is but its a 54 reg :)
 
Sidney said:
I have the xs auto model, diesel - have owned it since new and is now 7 yrs old. I absolutely love it and think it is actually quite economical for a 4 x 4. The xe is a less 'luxurious version' , and the xse is the 'all singing and dancing' model. Mine has cruise control, sun roof, climate control which comes as standard.

Mine tows like a dream and we live up a steep hill. It has also coped with the snow and ice we have had of previous winters really well, and prevented us from getting snowed in on several occasions.

The older model has won many awards for towing, predominately form caravanners. However I believe the new version has less towing capacity, so would stick to the original model.

Despite 96k on the clock I have only ever had one bill for it, bar normal servicing and mots', and that was for a blocked turbo valve.

Really rate mine and will be sad when it goes.
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Just as above, we've had ours from new and it's now nearly 10 years old - its the automatic petrol xs - it's happily towed our caravan and our trailer with no problems and has cost us nothing to maintain (touching wood as MOT due August) we totally love it, although i'm guessing it may cost a little more to run being petrol - but haven't really noticed it
 
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The Nissan Xtrail which is a very popular towing vehicle for those with a B licence towing a single horse has a good reputation but as far as I can find out the max towing capacity is 2200 kgs which may not be enough for your needs
 
I've got a 57 Sorrento xt which I love. Very comfortable, lots of toys and tows brilliantly.
I tow an Ifor Williams 510 and have towed 2 x 16h medium weights easily. I'm not sure about mpg but I get just over 400 miles from a tank (about £90) using it on a mixture of A roads & town driving.
 
LizzieRC1313 said:
Kat, which Nissan do you have?
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A Navara, so it gets commercial tax rates. The towing capacity is a bit lower than some of the sorrentos but plenty for my needs, our yard is on a very steep hill and although we only have one horse in you barely notice it is there. There is HUUUGE load space in the flatbed too (we have a hardtop on it to keep stuff clean and dry), and we still have 4 seats.

The excellent fuel efficiency for a vehicle of its size is due to the 6 speed box and the part time 4x4. I guess the smaller non-comercial 4x4s might be even better, there are a few with x-trails, terranos etc on our yard who tow happily. I don't know anyone with the Pathfinder which is the really big 4x4.

It has a fab spec too, better than the Sorrento XSE we had. One thing everyone said about the sorrento was that the spec was really good compared to its competitors but in our commercial nissan we have full leather, a tilt and slide sun roof, dual climate control, cruise control, cd, auto windscreen wipers, auto dim rear view mirror, electric adjustable driver and passenger seats, heated seats etc.
 
I have a 54 plate XE model and absolutely love it.

So nice to drive and to tow with.

I've towed 2 in a 505 with no problems at all - yes you need to slow down a bit going up hill but not so much that it caused a problem.

I've previously had a SWB Shogun and an Xtrail and would pick a Kia Sorento over them every time.

It is obviously more expensive to run as a day to day car but I don't do much mileage during the week (100 miles per week roughly) and that costs me about £30 - £35 per week.
 
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