Facelift for Kia Sorento

Kia has revealed an upgrade for the 2018 Sorento.

Kia has facelifted its flagship Sorento. Mild touches here, but they do add up to freshen the Sorento's appearance. Kia's designers have altered the design of the front and rear bumpers, while also fitting new LED head- and taillights. The company's trademark 'tiger nose' grille has also gone dark (metallic), which is said to give the front end of the car a 'more sophisticated and purposeful appearance'. Additional colour choices on the facelifted SUV include New Rich Espresso and Gravity Blue, while the Sorento's 17-, 18- and 19-inch  alloy wheels have been redesigned.

Kia has added a new design of steering wheel and instrument cluster to the Sorento's cabin, while also tarting up the LCD display for the climate control. The Korean manufacturer also claims to have increased the proportion of soft-touch materials and leather used to bump up the premium ambience inside. Choose from all black or a black and stone-beige two-tone colour scheme for the interior, while the driver will enjoy four-way lumbar support and the front-seat passenger two-way lumbar support, too.

New technologies include an Audio Visual Navigation (AVN) system with Kia's latest eight-inch touchscreen infotainment control, plus Kia Connected Services powered by TomTom. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support is thrown in and there's a wireless smartphone charger in the centre console. A sound upgrade optionally available is a 640-watt, ten-speaker surround system from Harman Kardon, which features QuantumLogic technology to get the best audio performance out of the Sorento's interior.

The 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine continues, but if you want a self-shifting gearbox, Kia has improved the Sorento offering here. Gone is the antiquated old six-speed automatic transmission, replaced by a slicker-shifting eight-speed gearbox. You can still have the Sorento with a six-speed manual, of course, but if you do go for the eight-speed auto, you should enjoy better fuel economy and emissions than before - CO2 drops from 172- to 159g/km, for instance. The gearbox offers four different drive modes, which are Eco, Comfort, Sport and Smart.

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