Kia Sorento

The Kia Sorento is a budget SUV that’s short on pretension and long in the tooth. Despite a recent facelift it isn’t the most exciting thing in the world. (That’s our entry for understatement of the year, by the way).

• Comfort

  Proof that soft suspension doesn't necessarily mean you'll be comfortable in the thing, the Sorento does absorb bumps, but pitches and flops about so much it leaves you feeling a tad queasy. Drive it slowly and it's passable. Really slowly, mind.

  

• Performance

  You can have a 168bhp, 2.5-litre diesel or..er..a 168bhp, 2.5-litre diesel. One engine then, with 0-62mph coming up in 12.0 seconds and topping out at a wince-inducing 106mph. The engine's a bit noisy and gets lost in a no man's land of turbo lag, but otherwise it's powerful enough to do the job.

  

• Cool

  As a furnace.

  

• Quality

  A redesigned dash and better quality materials can't disguise the fact that this is getting to be a mouldy geriatric in car terms. The general build quality shows improvement over previous models though.

  

• Handling

  The Sorento used to be stiffened to the point of injury to cope with on-road work. Not great. To solve that problem in the latest generation Kia has veered in the opposite direction, and made the suspension from blancmange. Fine for straight-line wallowing, absolutely useless for going around pesky things like corners.

  

• Practicality

  Keeping with the boxy theme, the Sorento has plenty of head and shoulder room for passengers and does a decent impression of a van when you fold the seats down - there's nearly 2000litres of capacity available. Proper cavernous.

  

• Running costs

  Fuel economy of 35.8mpg is actually pretty poor, but you do get a five-year all-in service deal that negates the loss (though doesn't help the planet). Residuals are OK. For a Kia.