My wife and I are in need of a larger SUV with a third row of seating. We test drove a 2012 Kia Sorento and loved it. But when I got home and did research on the reliability of Kia, I came across many negative reviews. Yes, they offer a great warranty, but I am concerned that the Sorento might break down a lot. On the other hand, I know Hyundai and Kia have been improving their quality over the last few years, so maybe these reliability concerns apply more to older model years.
If you own a 2011 or 2012 Kia Sorento, I would love to hear your experience with it’s reliability (whether good or bad). Thank you,
joebruin77
Thank you, Andrew J. I saw the CR ratings, which for me do bring up concerns re longer term reliability.
Texases, we test drove the SX trim and liked the sporty feel. I would consider the Highlander, but my wife likes the design of the Kia. Turns out head of design at Kia used to be director at Audi.
I’m not real familiar with the Sorentos but a friend of family has one ('07 model) and it’s been bulletproof in spite of being neglected and driven hard.
You should always take any complaints made about a vehicle with a grain of salt. Sometimes those complaints are well deserved and in many (the majority IMO) they are not.
There’s always 2 sides to a story and a complainee is only providing one. Quite often when the rest of the story is known it turns out the complaint is not justified at all.
The only thing I have heard really negative with friends who own Kia is not the vehicles themselves. They have had poor experiences with their dealerships(4 different ones) and especially warranty items under that long powertrain.
My parents are considering either a Toyota Venza or 2012 Kia Sorento-both safe and critically acclaimed vehicles. Did you buy the Kia or another vehicle ?any post purchase thoughts that might help my parents decide? Basically they are looking for a fuel efficient suv that sits up high,has AWD, and can carry 2 car seats and space for a third older child.
Thanks in advance for any help
Your parents should also be looking at the Subaru Outback. It meets all of the criteria that you mentioned, has significantly better gas mileage than either the Venza or the Sorrento, and is higher-rated by Consumer Reports and a few other publications.
I used to work for Kia (the company) and had a sorrento as a company car. It was awesome, I had a 4-cyl loaded ip ex and it got high 20’s real world on the highway and was very comfy. Highly recommend !! Plus they seem to be holding there value well which is really Kias Achilles heel. my wife has a 07 sedona which has been bulit proof. Like others have said 2006 was a turn around year for Kia. Reliability went way up after that.