UPDATE: 2021 Kia Sorento
Service Life 6 mo/11,310 mi Average Fuel Econ 22.7 mpg
“A 4,000-mile road trip taught us a few things about the Kia Sorento.”
Duncan Brady
Unresolved problems None Maintenance cost $0
Normal wear $0 Base price $40,965
As tested $42,190 EPA City/Hwy/Comb fuel econ 21/28/24 mpg
Consider this the torture test for our long-term Kia Sorento. Over the course of 17 days and 4,059 miles across seven states and seven national parks, I nearly doubled the miles of our golden go-getter, all while facing the elements nightly in a rooftop tent. Even though it wasn’t as extreme as our 7,000-mile off-road trip with Rivian across the Trans-America Trail, you get to know a car pretty well when averaging nearly 240 miles a day.
I’ll admit, a rooftop tent has its advantages. The built-in mattress is larger and more comfortable than any traditional sleeping pad, there’s less chance of waking up to a bear outside your door, and it looks ultra rad. It kept me safe and dry in a heavy storm, too. I still wouldn’t buy one, though.
Why? They’re tricky to install (ours weighs about 100 pounds and dented the roof), and even once it’s up there and I had erected the thing 10 times, it still took at least 20 minutes of climbing around to set up. The added wind noise is a drag (get it?), especially with long hours on the highway. Not to mention, you have to find a perfectly flat parking spot, and you can’t drive anywhere until it’s folded up.
Our Thule Tepui Explorer Kukenam 3 didn’t hold up all that well, either; after a couple weeks of hard use, plastic pieces cracked and fell off, some metal tent supports became permanently bent, and one window fastener fell off altogether. Given its near-$2,000 asking price, we’d much rather have an easy-setup conventional tent and an air mattress.
Other thoughts on the journey: The Sorento SX rocks a 10.3-inch touchscreen in place of the base model’s 8.0-inch system. The display is large, bright, and positioned high on the dash, but my favorite feature is easy to miss.
Throughout the majority of my trip, the screen
