2018 Kia Sorento pricing and features

The facelifted Kia Sorento has landed with a host of new standard features including automatic emergency braking, while ride and handling improvements have also been bundled into the Korean SUV’s mid-cycle refresh. Prices start at $42,990, topping out at $58,990

The Sorento’s mid-life upgrade also beings subtle exterior and interior design changes, Kia latest infotainment system and a new eight-speed automatic transmission.

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Outside, the 2018 Sorento is distinguished by new LED head- and taillights and daytime running lights, revised front and rear bumper plastics and a revised version of Kia’s signature ‘tiger-nose’ grille’.

Step inside and you’ll notice a larger 8.0-inch touchscreen, new instrument cluster and LCD climate control panel, and a more soft-touch surfaces for a more premium feel.

Infotainment comes with in-built satellite navigation and digital radio as standard along with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity.

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The 2018 Sorento also packs advanced driver assistance features as standard including automatic emergency braking for city and highway speeds with pedestrian detection, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control and driver attention warning, which alerts the driver if it senses erratic or wayward driving caused by fatigue.

The biggest changes have occurred under the skin, with a host of improvements to ride, handling and stability including enhanced suspension that’s been tuned specifically to cater to Australian conditions.

The electric power steering has also been tweaked with the motor directly driving the rack instead of the column, resulting in better weighting and more direct control.

Performance has also been enhanced with the addition of Kia’s new eight-speed automatic transmission. According to Kia the new unit, which is standard across all petrol and turbo diesel models provides smooth and quicker shifts and improves fuel economy. The diesel/AWD variant benefits the most from the improved mechanical efficiency, and now has a combined fuel consumption of 7.2L/100km instead of 7.8.

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The 147kW/441Nm 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel engine carries over from the previous model. The 3.5-litre V6 petrol is an updated version of the 3.3-litre engine in the previous model and produces an extra 7kW and 18Nm more torque for a total output of 206kW/336Nm

The 2018 Kia Sorento comes in four main variants as before. However the upper-spec Platinum has been shelved in favour of a lower spec Sport model that brings additional features over the entry-level Si including larger 18-inch wheels, instead of 17s and leather appointed seats.

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Other new standard features in the Si and Sport include four driving modes including ‘Smart’ which adapts gearing and steering to different road conditions. Height and tilt adjustable front headrests and a revised instrument cluster. Round out the rest of the interior changes for those variants

New features for the SLi includes a 10-speaker premium sound system and revised LED rear brake and tail lights, while the flagship GT-Line gains newly designed 18-inch wheels, LED headlights with auto levelling and steerable headlamps that pivot when the front wheels are turned to help see into corners. LED ‘ice cube’ style fog lamps, a 360-degree top-down camera view and black leather appointed seats with grey stitching and GT-Line logos are also new on the range-topping Sorento.

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The 2018 Kia Sorento is available in seven colours, Clear White, Silky Silver, Metal Stream, Platinum Graphic (a darker grey than Metal Stream, Aurora Black, Snow White Pearl which is exclusive to the GT-Line and Gravity Blue which replaces Sunset Red. All but Clear White are premium colours which cost an additional $595.

The 2018 Kia Sorento is now on sale at Kia dealers.

2018 Kia Sorento pricing

• Sorento Si petrol - $42,990
• Sorento Si diesel - $45,490
• Sorento Sport petrol - $44,990
• Sorento Sport diesel - $48,490
• Sorento SLi petrol - $46,990
• Sorento SLi diesel - $50,490
• Sorento GT-Line diesel - $58,990