I'm really excited I have just ordered a new Santa fe after test driving one 2 weeks ago and now can't wait till it arrives which should be May fingers crossed.
My 5 year old Sorento has just had its gearbox die. On Monday enroute to the garage to have new front brakes fitted it started jumping out of gear and it sounded like the old fashioned fly wheel spinning. Presssed the clutch a few times and it went back into gear for a mile or so then did it again. I made it to the garage and asked my mechanic to have a run up the road and see if it did it again. He could not even get the car into any gear.Anyway to cut a long story short, its awaiting a complete rebuild at a gearbox centre cost £1300. New clutch £750. Labour for the gearbox out and back in around £1000. All in all an expensive trip to the garage. The main thrust is when my mechanic rang the gearbox specialist to book it in for a diagnosis the first thing the guy asked was ,"Does he tow a caravan with it". When he was told yes I did, he said "that explains it". I have driven for 35 years, towed for 15, and never had to change one clutch or gearbox in my life. Have I just been unlucky, considering the Sorento was tow car of the year not so long ago.
May just be bad luck - how many miles has your sorento done? And how many were towing your van? And how heavy is your van? If all these figures are on this site for your particular gearbox problem, and anybody elses we can comment on similar problems, as a community we can discover if this fault is the norm or the exception - as long as enough sorento owners post their troubles too!
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The car has just done over 60K miles. I bought it 2 years ago with the towbar already connected and according to the garage it had towed a horsebox prior to me owning it. My van is well within the towing limits, as for mileage towing well that's a tricky one. We spent in excess of 50 days away last year, our main summer holiday involved around 1500 miles which I suppose 1000 was towing as it was to the North of Scotland from the Midlands. I still think the Sorento is a great tow car and will be keeping it for quite a while now to recoup the outlay. The point of my posting was the comment from the gearbox specialist which may have just been hot air as I could not find any corroborating evidence elsewhere, and do not believe if there was an issue it would have been voted tow car of the year.
As SWMBO says "If you can change it, change it. If not then live with it".
I dont know why people think Kia's are cheap and value for money when a top of the range one is very close to £30K which is disco/xc90/et al territory. I know they come loaded with kit but they aren't cheap. I loved my Sorento when we had it but got cheesed off throwing £70 of diesel in it every ten days.
Discovery 4 starts at almost £34k. Volvo xc90 starts at £31k. New Sorento starts at under £21k. Only one has a 7 year warranty. Its the same one that has a poor image. All of them eat diesel faster than i can eat pies lol! I love my Kia. No faults apart from image. I buy Asda jeans and wear Primark sweatshirts. If you like D&G you may well want a Land Rover or a Volvo. Unless you are a farmer then it must be a land Rover nomatter what you wear! Kia are no longer cheap. They just offer a good product at a reasonable price. And they seem to be reliable. All of these cars are great for towing. in order of desireability top = Disco, middle = Volvo, bottom = Kia. Reverse this order for affordability. So if you are paying get a Sorento and enjoy it! If your boss is paying talk him into a Disco and show off as much as you can!!
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Do Kia still have an image problem? I seriously considered the C'eed hatch/estate when swapping my wifes car. Most of the new models get good right ups in the motoring press. I may have one of the new Sorentos when it comes to changing my car as they now appear more fuel efficient due to lighter weight. I looked at the sportage but its appearance doesn't appeal to me.(No offence to anyone who has one) I love the new Freelander but again it would have to be a used one. I dont know how people manage to afford to spend £30k+ on a car. You would have to be earning serious money or live like a hermit to afford one!
AAARRGGGHHHH Don't, please don't tell me that I have damaged my image by owning a Kia Sorento. All those years cultivating my wind swept and interesting man about town and international gigolo image only to have it dashed by driving around in a KIA.
It always makes me laugh and shake my head when I see people criticising cars like the Sorento.
If you can't afford to spend £70 on fuel every 10 days, then don't buy a 4x4, any 4x4! Simple!
And anyone who spends nearly £30k on a Sorento is obviously seriously lacking savvy, and needs urgent lessons on negotiating! And yes, the top of the range new Sorento has been significantly bumped up in price, but anybody who pays nearly £30k for one is seriously lacking in the aforementioned skills!!
Re the 60k mile Sorento needing a new gearbox etc, I traded in my first one with 61 or 62k miles on the clock, and never had any problems with the auto box, and in fact had next to no problems of any sort. Something I could never say about any of the 4 Jeeps which preceded the 1st Sorento.
Hi David, I didn't say I couldn't afford it,just fed up with the economy 23mpg solo or towing against 42mpg solo low to mid 30's towing with current car. I must have had a rogue Sorento as people claimed anything from 28-38mpg on Sorento forum site
RE Kia image. The bling factor is zero. Image lovers will always buy the unreliable (apparently, according to the reports on the web) Mercedes, the imperssivley expensive Range Rover/Land Rover (again, reported on the web for being less than reliable), or the pricey Volvo xc90 (are they now owned by Ford?). The whole image thing then frowns at a Toyota Land Cruiser (too Unicef), and amongst others the poor image Kia Sorento (cheap and nasty? lol). Seems to me that the lower the image, the more suitable for towing the car is! So buy a Toyota or a Kia if you want it to actually do what it says on the tin. If you want to show off, lean on it and/or polish it to death then buy a 'quality' 4wd. BMW X5 - great on-roader (for an off-roader... what is that supposed to mean). Porche Ceyanne (? or whatever) - great on road but pretty good off road for a price! For a tow car - why bother with them? Get a Korean 'tractor', or a Jap 'tractor', enjoy the ride and let the badge snobs spend their cash on less reliable 'great on road off-roaders'!! And if you do buy a Sorento you will have fun chatting to the family that you will stop next to in the caravan parking area at the motorway service station with the very same car - i have yet to meet one who says it is pants - some say it is not perfect (what is?), some say it lacks style (who cares), some say it lacks character (including me). But it does not lack in towing ability and reliablility - both of which are close to my familys hearts...
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Topic: Sante fe or Serento
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