2024 Kia Sorento GT-Line diesel review

This fourth-generation Kia Sorento is really something. The old car was pretty good, but it didn’t look all that great and was behind on tech, a long way by the end. Then came the edgily styled MQ4 in late 2020, taking the Sorento from dowdy-and-worthy to cool and really rather good. 

It looked amazing, had a huge bump in tech, and the interior was really nicely put together. We politely ignored the thirsty carryover V6 petrol and the scratchy plastics down near the floor. While the lower end of the range was all about space, the upper end, particularly the GT-Line, was the luxurious and high-tech flagship.

Nearly four years in – and a couple of false starts for zeitgeist-ey hybrid and plug-in hybrids – we have a mildly facelifted Sorento, a forthcoming return of the electrified models, and significant price rises for the whole range. That tips the GT-Line diesel I had for a week over the $70,000 mark on the road. We’ve liked this car in the past, but can the updated model uphold the Sorento's high standards?

The all-wheel-drive GT-Line diesel lives at the top of the Sorento range from $72,690 drive-away, $3000 more than the front-wheel-drive petrol. That’s up $3700 on the 2023 model-year Sorento GT-Line.

The extra outlay is offset by some improvements in specification, but whether that’s enough we’ll soon see. Your money gets you 20-inch alloys, LED projector headlights, powered front seats with heating and ventilation, heated outboard rear seats, quilted nappa leather on the seats, head-up display, 360-degree camera, the clever remote parking system, 12-speaker Bose-branded stereo, power tailgate, satellite navigation and a full-size spare.

Given the big price jump, it’s worth noting the new side parking sensors, digital rear-view mirror, the already mentioned LED projector headlights and safe exit assist. $3700 worth? Hmm. Maybe?

The Kia is in the mix with its twin-under-the-skin, the new-generation Hyundai Santa Fe, which has switched to an all-hybrid line-up, priced slightly above the Sorento – both he diesel and hybrid GT-Line models.

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Mazda’s CX-90 is the weird newcomer. Weird in the sense it bucks the trend by throwing a quite powerful straight-six into the mix, reasonably plush interior and a lovely driving experience. It’s a good match for the Kia until you get to the pricing.

The Sorento casts a huge shadow, rolling close to five metres – 4.815 metres to be exact. That’s a lot of car, but it does deliver a heap of interior space. With all three rows in place, the boot has enough for a few bags of shopping with 179 litres. 

Not much has changed in here, and I’m pretty pleased about that because it’s a ripper of a cabin.

Fold the third row away and there’s a whopping 608L in play, which is a lot of space to put small flat packs and other stuff or luggage for a family of four or five. With the middle row out of the way, you’re at nearly 2000L, which is positively huge. You can move a lot of stuff in here, and if you’re brave, bed down for a night in the back if you’re my height, which is 180cm. So you’re all sorted for a trip to Megalong Valley during a rain event.

We’ll head down the back to the third row again. As ever with these seven-seaters, that final row is for occasional use, but not as occasional as some. I can actually squeeze in there for a short trip because there’s somewhere to put your feet, your coffee and your phone.

Two cup holders in the third row, along with trays that will fit a larger phone, is pretty good and you also get controls to adjust the fan speed, but not the temperature. There are also USB-C ports for charging said phones. It does feel uncomfortably close to the rear glass, however. That’s hardly Kia-specific, of course.

The middle row has got it all. The two cupholders are cleverly integrated into the armrests in each rear door, leaving the way clear for a middle passenger if the outboarders have drinks to store. The shoulder room is not bad with three across, but you’ll want to be pretty narrow in the middle seat, which is less than ideally padded.

Those outboard seats are well shaped and padded, and you can slide the row back and forward as well as adjust the backrest to your taste without bothering any other passengers. The two USB-C ports are built into the sides of the front seats, and you have a climate zone to play with at the rear of the centre console, which also hosts a 12-volt port.

Folding the seats out of the way for third-row access is with the press of a button, and it’s as easy as you can imagine, just don’t be in a huge hurry.

The head room is great even with the sunroof paraphernalia. Speaking of which, it’s a proper cover that blocks out the sunlight rather than just reducing it.

And finally the front row. While the middle row is pretty comfortable, there are few cars this side of a hundred grand that make for such a compellingly comfortable drive. The front seats have plenty of adjustment, aren’t too wide or too narrow, and would even have Goldilocks lost for words. The driving position is excellent because all of that adjustment works for a wide range of heights and widths.

The updated double-screen set-up looks great and feels well resolved. I’m very impressed with the new look and feel of the media screen too. 

Front occupants have access to two cupholders, a big centre console bin, a wireless charging pad and USB-C ports.

In what can only be described as the kind of relief one feels when arriving home to find you had, in fact, not left the gas on, a top-of-the-range Kia now has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, suddenly making sense of its wireless charging pad. I’m aware of how ridiculous that sounds, but for years we’ve had to explain plug-in capability only, all the time thinking 'Why is this still happening?'.

Also along for the ride is built-in sat nav, AM/FM and DAB+ radio, and Bluetooth phone and audio streaming. The Bose-branded system fills the car with sound, and given how quiet the car is, the little extra quality is noticeable. I’m no audiophile owing to tinnitus, but nobody complained.

The twin 12.3-inch set-up is set up in a nice, curved panel to make it look like one big screen and reminds me of the BMW design. The new media system (called ccNC) is terrific to use, with far fewer menu items presenting on the main screen, but without it looking Fisher Price like, say, Honda’s system.

Kia Connect online services are standard on all Sorento variants, which offer in-vehicle online services and app-based connectivity to the car via your smartphone. You can fire it up, set the climate control, lock and unlock, open and shut windows, set the nav and check the fuel from your phone, plus access over-the-air updates and SOS call functions.

The Sorento was originally tested in 2020 and carries this rating over to the most recent update, having not been retested against the updated rule set. This rating will expire in 2026.

The fourth-gen Sorento scored 82 per cent for adult occupant protection, 85 per cent for child occupant protection, 63 per cent for vulnerable road user protection, and 89 per cent for safety assist.

The Sorento has seven airbags, but we note that the curtain airbags still don’t reach to the third row, as with the platform-sharing Santa Fe. Apart from that blot on the copybook, the Sorento is competitive with other cars in the segment on the airbag front.

Kia’s hugely annoying speed limit warning has been dialled back a bit, but should still be launched into orbit and allowed to burn up on re-entry. It’s not as bad as the notorious system on the Seltos, which means you won’t have a three-streets-from-home ritual of switching off the system.

The lane keep assist remains a little edgy at highway speeds but again seems to have been dialled back a little. 

In our week with the Sorento, we didn’t get any false positives or panicked brake applications, so the systems work well. The parking collision avoidance is quite good too – the car park at the gym is extremely tight in all directions and made sure I didn’t hit the bins.

The updated Sorento maintain Kia's seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty for privately-used vehicles, or seven years/150,000km for vehicles used commercially (including rideshare and delivery services). Kia also offers a shorter three-year warranty for audio and navigation system components.

Servicing is offered in a capped-price program. The first three years is $1398, which is okay, but starts to climb after that, with the average going from an already getting there $466 to $526 per year over five years. The full seven-year cost is $3787 or an average $541 per year.

An insurance quote came out at $2302 per year based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male driver living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

If you're on the fence about a diesel-powered family, you can’t argue with its thriftiness. In our time with the car we retuer – 8.1 litres per 100 kilometres is an impressive result for close to two tonnes of metal and glass getting around town and blasting along the motorway.

While it’s higher than the claimed 6.0L/100km, a slightly less enthusiastic driving style – and less time in Sport mode – might get it to within the 30 per cent tolerance that I tend to apply to ADR fuel testing. In the end it’s a pretty good result for a big unit.

Few cars have landed in my hands that nail the brief as well as the Sorento, at least as far as passenger comfort goes. In this form, the Sorento is an absurdly serene place to spend time on the road. Yes, it’s big and, yes, there are seven-seaters from far more expensive brands that are almost as comfortable but do other things better. But the Sorento’s comfort-to-buck ratio is higher than just about any of them.

While it’s almost five metres long, the various sensors and cameras make the Sorento an easy car to park. Failing that, if you’ve got a tight space – as I did during the week – you can line it up, lock it up, and then use the key fob to back it into said tight space. Not only is it hilarious watching other folks gasp in amazement, over time it proved far more useful than I'd first given it credit for. 

Around town, the steering is light and easy to live with, and the brakes have been honed to work without any awkward moments. In a car this big, it’s all about confidence and predictability.

Similarly, the eight-speed twin-clutch transmission is easily one of the best in the business, feeling so much like a traditional torque converter auto, I had to once again check the spec sheet that it wasn’t the transmission from the Carnival. 

Even the diesel engine – which isn’t my favourite – is a faraway gravelly hum in most situations. The transmission and engine conspire to behave in as pleasant a manner as possible, with the thing barely above idle when you’re cruising and therefore barely audible.

Its high-speed composure means highway driving is a doddle, the lane-keep assist making more sense with a softer calibration than I remember on the earlier cars in this generation. It powers along motorways and didn’t need any encouragement to haul up the hill to the top of the Blue Mountains.

Very occasionally you’ll get a roll back on an incline, the gearbox not always sure what you’re up to, but again, it outshines this type of gearbox from just about any other manufacturer.

There’s no real standout feature, it’s that the parts all combine to deliver a refined, quiet ride even on those huge wheels and with all that weight high in the air to control. It’s not a driver’s car, but it’s incredibly comfortable, which is exactly what buyers in this part of the market are looking for.

The Sorento is rated to tow 2000kg with a braked trailer and 750kg without brakes. The towball download is rated at 200kg. With a gross vehicle mass of 2630kg, you’ve got a lot of scope for loading up the car itself as well as towing a reasonably hefty load. However, that full 200kg towball download does reduce the payload figure to 456kg, so keep that in mind when apportioning load between car and trailer.

There wasn’t a towbar fitted so we didn’t test the Sorento’s capabilities. If you’re looking to tow, the diesel will perform better than the front-wheel-drive petrol as its strong torque figure outshines the V6.

The Sorento, in any form, is a very competent and comfortable car. However, we don’t think it’s worth choosing the petrol V6 because it’s front-wheel drive and a heavy drinker. It’s a lovely engine – smooth and refined but, yeah, the fuel usage is steep.

If you like what you see in the GT-Line but can’t quite get over the $70K mark, the Sport+ maintains a high level of equipment, and we all agree here at Drive that you’re not missing much stepping down a peg.

The bottom line is, a diesel all-wheel-drive Sorento is pretty good no matter which spec you choose.

The next step on the purchase journey is to speak to a few Kia dealers about availability of your chosen Sorento variant. You can also find Kias for Sale at Drive Marketplace.

We strongly recommend taking a test drive at a dealership before committing because personal needs and tastes can differ. You can find your nearest Kia dealer here. We’d also recommend test-driving the Hyundai Santa Fe, which swaps the frugal diesel engine for a frugal hybrid powertrain.

If you want to stay updated with everything that's happened to this car since our review, you'll find all the latest news here.