KIA Sorento and Sportage

MaxFirst · March 4, 2019

Hey Guys ,

I am planning to sell my hatchback and move on to a crossover .

Maximum I can afford is around 5.5 million. So currently considering KIA Sorento and Sportage as my options.

I'll be using the vehicle daily and would run maximum about 500 km per month . Also would be using for the occasional outstation trip.

1. I would like to go for a petrol vehicle with AWD but everyone keeps recommending me the diesels sighting reliability and fuel consumption. Is there a truth to these claims , are the diesel engines more reliable than the petrols engines on sorento and sportage ?

2. Which offers more performance ? Heard diesels have good pickup making overtaking fairly easy . How does it compare to petrol ones , are they sluggish ? I would like to have one with good pulling power . (Sorento seems to be 2400cc and sportage 2000cc)

3. Is it possible to expect 6 KMPL on a petrol AWD Sorento ?

Since none of my friends or relatives own petrol ones your feedback would be really helpful.

Thank you.

TheFlyingFox · March 4, 2019

Today’s turbo diesels are much better when it comes to overtaking than petrol. More accessible power than a petrol. I drove a 2012 sportage diesel and pulling power in short bursts is really good ! I’m not sure about reliability vs petrol but economy wise it is much better than the petrol, specially in long journeys.

The petrol variants will be of course less noisy and more refined , the vast majority of petrols are faster too but lacks the near instant torque the diesels have which aids in overtaking.

alpha17 · March 4, 2019

Sorento is the big brother of Sportage.So the Sorento would be more comfortable.I haven’t driven both so cannot comment on them.

But generally petrol engines are more reliable than the diesel ones. Most of the newer diesels are equipped with the common rail technology and require super diesel. Due to the lower quality of the fuel available in SL market, those common rail engines are not as reliable as the old diesels. Some diesel engines (navara,mazda bongo,toyota coaster as I know) are equipped with dpf and it requires various steps to clean them. The navara has to be driven for 20 minutes around 70-100kmph to clean the particles for every 200 or 300kms.Bongo and coaster has a switch to release the particles as a smoke.

Newer common rail engines are likely to be much better than the ones came in 2007-2008, but again cannot comment about the reliability of the Korean made engines.Generally petrol engines are easier to maintain and much more refiened. Another fact:diesel engines produce ultra low frequencies (less than 20hz) which cannot be heard from human ear. Those frequencies are absorbed by the human body and it makes us feel tired after long journeys. Most of the newer cars might have been fixed of this issue

MaxFirst · March 5, 2019

Thanks a lot for your input guys . Did not know 20hz frequency thingy . I assume petrol variants do not require 95 octane although diesels require super diesel.

MAS · March 8, 2019

What years are you looking at ?

MaxFirst · March 10, 2020

Due to a sudden financial requirement I had to delay my decision . However started looking at sportages once again and prices have been fairly depreciated to 3.8M for petrol ones and diesels seems to hover around 4.5M to 5M. Can anybody please tell me does Sportage petrol ones needs octane 95 or octane 92 ?

MaxFirst · March 10, 2020

On 3/8/2019 at 8:26 PM, MAS said:

What years are you looking at ?

Looking for 2011 upwards

Thilinadinith · April 24, 2020

I'm also having the same questions mentioned above.

im also looking to buy a sportage from 2011 onwards.

what should i consider?

what are the common issues that sportage gets?

and also the fuel efficiency?

how about the maintain cost and the parts availability?

Any other tips that an experienced kia owners would be highly appreciated !

Kavvz · April 24, 2020

On 3/4/2019 at 11:44 AM, TheFlyingFox said:

Today’s turbo diesels are much better when it comes to overtaking than petrol. More accessible power than a petrol. I drove a 2012 sportage diesel and pulling power in short bursts is really good ! I’m not sure about reliability vs petrol but economy wise it is much better than the petrol, specially in long journeys.

The petrol variants will be of course less noisy and more refined , the vast majority of petrols are faster too but lacks the near instant torque the diesels have which aids in overtaking.

Not true, at least in my experience.

I don't have any Sorento and Sportage seat-time other than driving the odd Sorento rental, so I can't help you there but the post above contrasts starkly with my experience and makes me want to speak out:

I've had seat time in petrol and turbo-diesel versions of similar vehicles from the same brand, (slightly different AWD bodystyle, but same chassis underpinnings and roughly the same weight) and in my experience the petrol version is better.

The diesel (which I owned and have now sold for a petrol) certainly had lots of torque and was awesome to drive but I won't say it was any better than the Petrol version of the same vehicle, nor did it have noticeably superior over-taking prowess or any noticeable performance capability over the petrol version. Even though the diesel has more torque available at a lower RPM; when passing other cars during daily driving the Petrol engine was better as after around 50-65kmph the petrol engine pulls harder (the petrol torque band is more practical for overtaking and daily driving). I don't know about you but most of my overtaking is at around 50-65kmph and the petrol engine is a better fit. Plus at highway speeds the petrol engine is quieter and has more available torque making overtaking at 100km + way more smoother in the Petrol.

The only strong point of the diesel engine was the lower daily running costs (the lower cost of diesel fuel).

On 3/10/2020 at 9:30 AM, MaxFirst said:

Due to a sudden financial requirement I had to delay my decision . However started looking at sportages once again and prices have been fairly depreciated to 3.8M for petrol ones and diesels seems to hover around 4.5M to 5M. Can anybody please tell me does Sportage petrol ones needs octane 95 or octane 92 ?

Petrol Vs Diesel choice: Based on the fact that you drive only 500km a month if I were you: I'd get the cheaper (and in my case at least, the better) petrol version and save money. You'll be getting a better / the same SUV for cheaper. (The cheaper cost of diesel is irrelavent as you don't drive enough to make it the main criteria for this purchase and I've expained the basis of my opinion when it comes to petrol vs diesel above)

95 Octane and 92 Octane: I'm going to get slammed for this but since I'm being truthful: I pump 92 octane when I don't have access to 95 all the time despite the owner's manual explictly recommending 95 for best performance. (Its beome so common place based on my driving habits that I don't even give it a second thought now.) To the best of my understanding, using 92 octane instead of 95 should not be a debilitating factor as the knock sensor will retard timing via the ECU to compensate for the lower octane level. The performance maybe lower due to the reduced compression level but honestly I don't notice a difference. It's been about two years since I purchased the car and so far no issues at all due to switching back and forth between the two different octane levels.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Kavvz