New car news

02 April 2009 - 11:00

So’ forth

Does the excitement pouring out of the Seoul show know no bounds? First, the plastic-bottles-and-plant-extract Hyundai Blue-Will concept, and now this, the all-new Kia Sorento!
 
Stay calm. It really is all-new: Kia has ditched the ladder-frame structure of the old Sorento - the new one gets a proper monocoque shell, bringing it slap-bang into the 21st century. Well, late 20th, anyhow.
 
There are new engines, too: the current Sorento is only available in the UK with a 2.5-litre diesel or a 3.3-litre V6, but the new version gets a 2.4-litre, 173bhp petrol and a far more tempting-sounding 2.2-litre, 194bhp turbodiesel. Oh, and a 2.7-litre, LPG-powered V6 which, with any luck, we won't see in the UK.
 
The new Sorento is bigger than the old model - it's now a seven-seater, though two of those had better be of the gnome variety - and will be available with two- or four-wheel drive.
 
There's lots of other deeply exciting stuff, too. You know the sort of thing: better emissions, reversing cameras, hill-start assist. All good. We'd love to spend longer telling you about it, but we've urgently got to be, er, over there somewhere...