Toyota Kluger vs Kia Sorento –Which Car Should I Buy As My Retirement Car?

QUESTION – CATARINA (24/10/2016):

We are a retiring couple that will occasionally leave our town for a three hour drive to Canberra. We plan to renovate in the next year and require a car that will easily pull a trailer for delivery and dumping of rubbish. After that we have two large Bullmastiffs we take everywhere. The car we need needs to have longevity as we tend to keep our cars for ten years (Ford Falcons on LPG) and this is our second to last car. After this we will downsize. Because of a disability, I am uncomfortable in Subaru Outback and Mazda CX-9. Our choice appears to be Toyota Kluger and Kia Sorrento but we are lost as to which will provide longevity and repairs that won't break the bank of a fixed income.

BUDGET:

$50,000

ANSWER – SAMANTHA STEVENS:

It’s a tricky question you have here. On one hand, Toyota is renowned for having excellent reliability, easy and affordable servicing, great longevity of the materials used in the cabin, and they are very, very hard to break. They also retain their value well, even after many years, due to this reputation.

On the other hand, the Kia Sorento is a fantastic vehicle with excellent features, extremely affordable to both buy and own, and you cannot beat its seven-year warranty. You also get seven years capped price servicing and three years roadside, which beats the Toyota – though if you want to keep it past these seven years, there is no telling which of the two will work out to be more affordable as the car ages.

Ultimately both cars are solid, and it may come down to a simple styling choice – or a decision to turn it over sooner than 10 years. We would highly recommend you test drive each model and variant to assess which works best for you.