2024 Kia Sorento -- Family Influence Brings Rugged Facelift


LOS ANGELES -- Boxes are in these days, it seems.
OK, that's probably a bit of an overstatement -- there are plenty of crossovers on the market with swoopy styling -- but the facelifted 2024 Kia Sorento is definitely following the rugged/boxy trend.
Kia's wording for the front of the Sorento is "boxy, upright hood" and that's quite accurate. Looking at the press images -- I will be seeing the Sorento up close later today -- I am getting serious "baby Telluride" vibes. Given the popularity of the larger Telluride, this is probably not a bad thing from Kia's perspective.
Keeping with the "rugged" thing, there will be an X-Pro package that's off-road-oriented.

Speaking of trims, the entire trim walk is as follows: LX, S, EX, SX, and SX-P, with X-Line and X-Pro packages available -- the X-Line will be available on the EX and above while the X-Pro will be available on SX-P.
The front end isn't the only part of the Sorento that's influenced by Telluride -- the vertical taillamps from the Telluride also make their way to the Sorento. By the way, Kia straight up admits the Telluride's influence in its press materials.

And the EV9's -- the new Sorento's grille and vertical LED headlights are influenced by the upcoming EV SUV.
Interior updates center around the available new curving display that houses two 12.3-inch screens (the standard display has a 4.3-incher and 12.3-incher) .
X-Lines get a center-locking differential, roof rack, 20-inch gloss black wheels, a gloss-black grille unique to this trim, and trim-specific interior badging.
X-Pros get 17-inch wheels, BF Goodrich all-terrain tires, and a towing capacity of 4,000 pounds. That number tops the Sorento range.
The X-Line and X-Pro have slightly different interior treatments and unique available exterior paint colors.

Other key available features include a faster navigation/infotainment system that now has over-the-air updates, a digital key, a slew of USB-C ports, forward collision-avoidance assist, lane-keeping assist, lane-following assist, intelligent cruise control that learns to match your driving style, highway-driving assist with automatic lane change, a digital camera rearview mirror, and 360-degree camera. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard.

The Sorento remains available with front-wheel or all-wheel drive and either a 2.5-liter four cylinder that makes 191 horsepower and 181 lb-ft of torque or a turbocharged 2.5-liter four that makes 281 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque. The former engine pairs with an eight-speed automatic transmission and is used for LX and S trims. The other engine pairs with a dual-clutch, eight-speed automatic.

The 2024 Kia Sorento goes on sale in the first quarter of 2024, with hybrid and plug-in hybrid models expected to follow later in 2024 as 2025 models.
[Images: Kia]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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It's got that Toyota lower "fat lip" look. Why would they copy that?
They went all in on the photoshopping of it in the wild. I'll sh!t myself if I ever see one in the back country.
Don't really care for the sheet-metal (pre or post refresh), but the revised dash is a major improvement (getting rid of those awful center vents).