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Comments
I am in the market for a new Sorento- also considering a Highlander
Can you give me some opinions and feedback
on the Sorento? I would want an EX w/moonroof- dont care about leather
whats a good price- are they discounting at all? hows the service?
i currently drive a 2000 windstar in ny.
thanks for the great info here
Shooter
I've now had mine right at 13 months and 18,000 miles. It's a 2003 EX 4X4 with the lux. pkg and ABS. I couldn't be more pleased. Aside from regular maintence ( oil change,etc.) I've had it into service twice. The first time was because my key fob remote door locker quit working. It was a dead battery replaced at no charge. The second was this afternoon. My check engine light came on late Friday. I suspected I didn't click the cap enough when I got gas on Thursday. Took it in and yep that was it.
Aside from being a little heavy on the gas consumption I couldn't be more pleased.
On price I paid about $200 over invoice on mine but again that was 13 months ago.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Duncan
how do i find out what invoice is?
joe
You can get it off of Kelly Blue Book ( kbb.com) but once you have that use Edmunds TMV. Great tool to use.
Duncan
tidester, host
yeah i use the tmv
so your saying edmunds tmv is a good price to pay?
tx
joe
Also if you are going to sell or trade the Windstar go to Real World Trade values thread here at Edmund's. Several people will be able to give you a realistic price on what it's worth trade or private sale. Address it to Terry ( rroyce10), he is a dealer who is fabulous and right on the money.
Just my .02
Duncan
thanks again for your time and effort- reading some of the kia problems on this site scares me- but you really like the car and think you made a wise choice, right?
joe m
I still enjoy it today and haven't second guessed myself once. My almost 11 yr. old daughter wants me to keep it until she's ready to drive so she can have it. :-)
Bottom line is go with your gut. If owning the Sorento scares you because of past reliability and other factors from KIA's past don't buy it. Piece of mind is worth more then any car. All I can say is I took the plunge and couldn't be happier.
Duncan
P.S. You are welcome for "my time and effort". That why I hang around these boards . To help if I can or to gain knowledge.
dbgindy - My daughter will turn 2 this summer. I bought it when she was 4 months old. I am not sure I can keep my Sorento until she can drive it. Seriously, she is already enjoy turning the steering wheel only with my present. Maybe I will trade it for another one. Hey! You can't go wrong with the long haul warranty, loyalty program and the factory incentives.
i have an accord and love toyota but the value and
looks of the kia kinda hooked me- like you db- prople
whose opinion i value say im nuts for even looking at one-
but im gonna take the plunge-
hey once folks wouldnt be caught dead in a civic,
or buy a japenese tv, right-
thanks again to all-
joe m
I thought I would throw in some more support here. I own a Soreneto EX 4X4. I paid $250.00 below invoice for my Sorento, though I will admit to having a friendship with the owner of the dealership. We play hockey together. Anyway... I have just over 40,000 miles on my Sorento. Yes, I drive it a lot. In 40,000 miles I have had a few issues. Two of the major issues have been the replacement of all four brake rotors and calipers (because they were warped). And I had a door replaced because of metal deformation that was accuring when the temprature dropped into the teens. I had to replace the tires at 26,000 miles. Those Michelins are great tires for the road, but I didn't like the way they dealt with more aggressive offroad roads or trails. And they wore out quickly.
I average about 19 mpg. Most of my driving is on the highway... everyday.
I considered all the competition. Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans, Jeeps.. even the Hyundai Santa Fe. I drove everything... and to be honest, I wasn't even considering the Sorento. Then I drove it. That sealed the deal for me. I was astonished at what a great truck the Sorento was. It fit into my budget and I loved the way it looked.
It's kinda funny. For so long I feared what 'others' might think of me buying a Kia. But as the months and mileage flew by. My apprehensions about the quality of my Kia and the nervousness of how others percieved my Kia waned. Suddenly the Kia is what all my friends want to take when going camping or biking. Just throw the bikes onto the roof, throw the gear into the back... and head out for fun. No worries.
This Kia kicks [non-permissible content removed]... and I'll challenge anybody that thinks different!
Good luck in your research and future purchase.
What would you suggest? I used touch up paint before on my old car, and they looked terrible. Should I have it price at the dealer and see how much to buff out the chips or just touch up on it?
What other routes would you suggest that I should go? I hate to see tese chips every day, it drives me nuts. They are not noticeable, but for my brand new Sorento, they are noticeable enough for me!!
Sonny
Please do come back and share your experiences (in buying and owning). :-)
Duncan
Duncan
thanks ill stay in touch great feedback
so ivy what was the cost for the ex 4x4-
if you dont mind my asking
joe
martdad626 - Unlike ivygrnsorento, I don't know anybody. Seriously, I paid $26K for my '03 EX with 4WD, luxury package, ABS, cargo tray and self-levelizer. I didn't want this but dealer had only one fully loaded back in Dec '02. It wasn't any factory incentive, just dealer discount, about $1200 off MSRP. I think people can buy one (without self-levelizer) for around $26K these day because the price has been increased since it first came out. It probably costs $23K for plain EX 4WD. There are $1000 cash back for '04 Sorento and $2500 for '03 model if you can find one. Good luck.
I purchased a LX 2x4 model. Here is the reason why I went with the Lx model: I am not big on the 2-tone color and I don't care for the leather seats. In fact, The Sorento has an EXTREME Comfortable clothed seats. Test drive one and you will know what I am talking about. For another couple of thousands of dollar less, I decided not to get the 4x4 model. I have 2 young kids and a wife, so how often would I go 4-wheeling? Never, and its not my cup of tea. I also live in Mid-West, where they clean the roads up nicely during snow storms. If the weather is bad, I don't go out anyway. This means that I will only use 4x4 may be once or twice per year, not enough to justify to pay extra for it. That's just my opinion.
I purchased the 2003 model with $2,000 cash rebate, came with a roof rake, tow kit, alloy wheels and ABS. My price before trade-in was $19,500. It is just fine
BTW, did you guys see that Kia Sedona is 1 of the top 5 mini-van (#4)? It's only just a little behind Nissan Quest, and not too far behind the #2 Honda and #1 Toyota Sienna? That is awesome. You can get a fully loaded Sedona for about $21,000. A fully loaded Toyota Sienna is $35,000-$38,000. It is a no-brainer for a family of 4 and up!
Sonny
Is your LX has the lumbar support on driver's seat? I found it has little support on my EX.
martdad - Did you know Hyundai is the world's 7th larger auto marker now? And it is still growing. I don't know the first six companies. But I assume the American big three and three others in Japan.
Thanks. Yeah, the LX has lumbar support on the driver's seat. It is not noticeable, but it works fine for me. I have lower back pain and the Sorento is more comfortable than my Accord if I ride it for more than an hour.
Did you know that Chrysler now owns part of Hyundai?
Also Hyundia may be the the 7th largest auto builder but it ranked 2nd tied with Honda in the JD Power's rating for owner satisfaction behind Toyota. In your face Honda. Kia was listed lower as the ranking is from last years survey.
Now why I bought my Sorento. It was everything we were looking for. We traded in a 99 Forester that gave us nothing but problems from the second week we owned when the tranny self destructed and it just went down hill from there. Gas mileage went from mid twenties to 16-17 on the highway and the engine pinged, to terrible service and no response from Subaru of America reps. They even had the moxie to tell my wife that our mileage was the result of living in hilly New England. As the warranty was nearing the end and it hadn't cost us in repairs we decided to go shopping. We looked at every SUV known and just per chance I read an article on the Sorento. My daughter having a Hyundia and he husband getting into a serious accident where the car became an accordian he was able to walk away from it with some scratches. They bought another one. So this kind of swayed us as Hyundia was giving direction to Kia. We bought our Ivy Green Sorento which was larger than the Santa Fe, in Nov of 2002 and paid slightly under MSRP because the dealer was not dealing but was known for great service, though he did give me more than book on the Forester in trade. Gas mileage for the Sorento is even or better than the Forester was and we really like this vehicle. I have even taken it out riding some old tank trails near where I live and it has withstood the ride. the only thing to have gone bad in almost 19 months of ownership is that we had teh master switch console on the drivers soor replaced becasue on of the window switches was not working. Buy another Kia yes I would and if they could make a AWD sedan it would greatly sway us. One more thing everyone thought we were crazy to buy a cheap Korean car but we really enjoy it when some yuppie in teh niehborhood says "I didn't know Lexus made a green SUV". Sorry for the rambling on.
hicaffa - And wait until the Hyundai build their first cars (next Sonata and Santa Fe) here in the states next year.
Steve, Host
The service tech told me that the lug nuts had been overtorqued at some point. Though I have my doubts this could actually cause the kind of warpage I had, it's what they told me. I gather from that conversation they didn't feel it was my fault, and is why they decided to fix everything at no cost to me.
I've been told by some people that rear rotors will warp when you apply the emergency brake when parking. This causes the rotors to cool in an un-uniform manner.
Personally, I think I just had a bad set of rotors... or they were damaged during shipping or production. Who knows.
Anyway... I think the person you have talked to should stand firm and make Kia replace and pay for everything.
ivygrn or anyone - Anyone has a problem with the door hinges? They get dry so quickly even with some lub spray and grease. And it has squeaking sound when close and open.
Lok what is drying up is the plastic covered slide hinge no the actual door hinges look at the back doors you cans use them better than the fronts. Don't use a spray like WD40 but get a good silicon based or moly based spray. They will still dry up but it will last longer.
04 Sorento, Silver/Pewter, Canadian EX-L
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040511/latu054_1.html
I brought up the rust issue (along with the fuzzy image on climate control LCD screen) to my service manager on late April. He first responded it wasn't rust, but I insisted. Then he scheduled a Kia rep to look at it. About a week later, he gave me a short notice and called me about the Kia rep visit, which is the same day while I was at work. I called him back and said this is crazy. And he was going to find out the next Kia rep visit, probably once per month. This is sucks! And I already contacted Kia Consumer Affairs about this.
I am going to the service tomorrow about the airbag light. I finally have it on after months of reading other people's complaint. I am sure there is a lose cable connector underneath the driver's seat.
I think the rust problem should be resolved by replacing the metal strips which attach the body cladding to both rear doors. Kia should figure out any rust proof work on these area. I always hand dry my car including the door sills after car wash. But you can't really do much on rainy or snow day.
You know what am I thinking. Since we are living in a snow countries, I always find road salt residue on the areas where rust occurred. The combination of road salt, moisture and metal is the reason. I will find out that.
Thanks for your help!!!
thanks..
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
When you look, you will find the moldings for both front doors cost around $160 and both rear doors cost around $170 plus the cost of the screws, nuts, clips, grommets, fasteners, etc. These moldings are ready to paint to match the body color. It requires some 3M tapes, but you also need to drill in order to install the clips & other mounting hardware.
In my opinion, the side molding wouldn't help much
to keep the dings off, the side step bars may stop some shopping carts.
So, I called Kia and find out about the Yakima 'Load Warrior', that's the one you always see them advertise. Check this out, in order to install the 'Load Warrior', you will need to have the 'Load Rider' and the 'Cross Bars' to secure it. The 'Load Warrior' is $275, the 'Load Rider' is $175 and the 'Cross Bars' are $42. We are talking about $500 before you can start carrying cargos!!! And I haven't even add in the cost of the Roof Rack!!
Anyway, anyone knows a very cheap accessories for tying stuff down to the roof rack without costing an arm and a leg?
No wonder I've never seen someone driving around in a Sorento with the Yakima 'Load Warrior'....what a ripped off....
sonnyrocker - I found the RackScak from www.autoanything.com for $90. It made with water resistant fabric and it holds four suitcases (13 cu. ft). It is soft so it won't damage the vehicle finish. Or even Sears has a 20 cu. ft. top carrier with complete mounting kits for $155. Couple more clicks and you will find more from the internet like Thule, Yakima, etc. Hope this help.
Yeah, I actually went to Walmart and purchased a Cargo Bag, it is only $25 and fits perfectly for the Sorento's Roof Rack. The Cargo Bag requires a use of 4-way Roof Rack and that's exactly what I have.
It holds up to 15 cubic feet. It says that it is Weather Resistance, but not Water Proof. That's fine. I have plenty of plastic bags to wrap my clothes in. For $25, I can live with that.
As for scratching the roof service, it will be okay once the Cargo Bag sits snuggly into the 4 way roof rack, it is not going to move.