I have wanted a small or mid size SUV for a while. Well, the wife and I went looking at some late model vehicles. We spent all day at a local large dealership crunching numbers and fighting :twisted: At the end of the day I drove home in a KIA Sorento. 2004 model with the 3.5L 192 horsepower V6 A/C CD stereo, power windows, door locks, tilt, cruise, 5 speed manual trans. It's the lower trim package. 15,500 including all TTL. Payments are within budget. Blue book was maybe $200.00 under what I paid. had 23300 miles on the clock. still has 13000 miles on the bumper to bumper warranty and the 10 yr/100,000 powertrain. Ride is nice, not really car like but not very bouncy like a pickup truck, it still has a truck style ride. handling isn't bad for an "entry level" SUV. Seats are comfortable power seems adequate, no problems passing or accelerating on the highway. Gas mileage is not all that to write home about as the vehicle is 5300+ pounds rated at 19 city, but since I had been driving a 4cyl Hyundai I can't really compare it to that. 21 gallon gas tank. I spoke with the service advisor at the dealership and he confirms that the engine and drive train are designed by mitsibishi, same as the montero. Has side curtain air bags, 4 wheel disk brakes. Stereo sounds surprisingly nice. Of course it's only been a day but I like it even with 23300 miles on it, there are no rattles or loose trim. seems pretty solid. I know that the Korean cars use thinner sheet metal but still it feels solid.
I'm sorry. Shopping for a used car can be hell. Sorento seems ok but the big knock I recall was that MPG was kind of low considering it has the 6 cylinder instead of the 8. It sounds like you did some homework and that is really important when buy a car, used or new. Matches
I've read pretty good things about the Sorento - of course we expect a long-term test report later. Don't be surprised if gas mileage is disappointing, even if you have low expectations. I had a Saturn Vue for awhile; I liked it pretty well. I got the big 4-cylinder with manual transmission, hoping to escape the SUV mileage curse, but no luck - never got better than 22 mpg, even in highway driving. That was one of the reasons I traded it for a VW Jetta diesel in April 2004, thinking fuel wasn't going down anytime soon, and now with 43 mpg I'm feeling pretty good about that prophecy. :wink:
Going from a 2.0L Hyundai to a 3.5L Kia is a bit of a shock. I'm going from about 33 mpg to 20-21 :? Though tonight on the way home I kinda kicked it a bit on the highway :mrgreen: Lets just say it was nice to have some decent acceleration. After driving a Police interceptor and then going to a 4cyl, I was always feeling a bit impotent #-o :-#
Congrats! You made the right move not buying new!!! Kudos for being an intelligent consumer and letting the initial owner take the depreciation hit. Good work, again, congrats, CGuns
So far all is well, ride is nice . Gas mileage isn't all that nice (for an import). But, I knew that going in. It is a true truck though, not an SUV luxury body on a car chasis.
