2020 Kia Sorento vs Skoda Kodiaq

What's the difference?

The new Kia Sorento is expected to arrive before the end of 2020. If you can wait (and I would) you’ll be buying an all-new SUV which will look modern and have the latest tech and come with even better advanced safety equipment.

That said, Kia will be doing some very tempting deals on the current Sorento in ‘run-out’ as dealers clear the way for the new version. And that’s where you could pick up this seven-seater SUV, which set the benchmark in the segment, at a bargain price.

It might not be the sportiest SUV on the market, but it balances its extra performance with its core family carrying duties with aplomb. 

Seven seats, plenty of equipment, practicality for days and with enough grunt to keep you smiling, the Kodiaq RS ticks plenty of boxes.

The only question mark really remaining is does it justify the extra spend over 132TSI model?

I remember when this current Sorento was unveiled in 2014 . It was the latest Kia, in a range-wide overhaul, to be reshaped by former Audi designer Peter Schreyer, and stunned pretty much everybody with its high-end looks.

That the Sorento still look gorgeous six years later is testament to his styling guidance. Sure, the rounded front-end is beginning to date as the faces of many SUVs move to a more chiseled and aggressive look, but the tailgate, with its angular tail-light treatment, is very much ‘on trend’ now.

The red brake calipers are a dead giveaway that the Sorento you’re looking at is a GT-Line.

Where the Sorento is showing its age the most is inside. The screen is getting small by today’s standards, and the digital instrument cluster isn’t as sophisticated others in the segment.

There's also the climate control with its orange LCD display, there’s no head-up display, and the dash styling and its use of dark spongy materials looks old now.

Yet, the interior is stylish, plush and premium, with a superb fit and finish. Another reason why the Sorento has been a standout all these years.

If the GT-Line was a Christmas tree you’d barely be able to see its branches for the decorations. There’s gloss black trim around the console and the front and rear doors, alloy pedal covers, LED interior lights, GT-Line embossed seats and illuminated alloy door sills.

The GT-Line comes with a perforated leather steering wheel with paddle shifters, too.   

How big is the Sorento? Let’s look at the dimensions. The Sorento is 4800mm end-to-end, 1890mm wide and 1690mm tall. That’s not as huge as a Mazda CX-9, but still large.

A lot like a Skoda Kodiaq, just with more sportiness. It never screams "look at me", but in our humble opinion, that's no bad thing.

You do get a bespoke front bumper arrangement, and the grill, under bonnet meshing, roof rails and and side skirting are blacked out. The wheel arches are filled by those jumbo 20-inch alloys, and, stepping around to the back, you'll find two squared-off exhaust outlets.

Inside, I'm a big fan of the super-supportive front seats, finished in leather and Alcantara, but for mine, the carbon-look trimming is less effective, and feels thin and hard to the touch.

That said, Koda deserves props for sending the best front-seat design elements into the second row, and if you forget the RS stuff completely for a moment, you'll find the cabin to be a clean, comfortable and tech-focussed space, with the the big central screen especially giving the cabin a modern feel, and the switch gear all emitting a commendable sense of quality.

The Sorento is a proper seven-seat SUV in that even adults my (191cm) size can sit in the third row comfortably. And that’s with the second row adjusted so I can sit behind my driving position without my knees touching the back of the front seat.

That said, nothing beats a people mover such as the Kia Carnival for a third row with easy access, and without that claustrophobic feeling that creeps in when I sit in the third-row of any seven-seat SUV.

On board the Sorento are  three 12-volt outlets (two up front and one second row), and two USB ports (in the first and second rows). Both are Type-A, rather than the newer, and increasingly common Type-C version.

Many SUVs now have more USB ports, and some all the way back to the third row, such as in the Holden Acadia.

Climate control is dual-zone for the front but the second and third rows have directional air vents with fan speed adjusters.  

Cabin storage is good with a large centre console bin, cupholders everywhere including the third row, and big door pockets

Those rear doors are large and tall, and open wide making for an easy entry and exit, although I haven’t met a seven-seat SUV which is easy for me to climb into the third row, and the Sorento is no exception.

If you have all rows of seating in place the boot area has a cargo capacity of 142 litres, but if you fold the third row flat that increases to 605 litres.

The Kodiaq RS pulls of an incredible party trick in managing to not look like a cruise ship from outside the car, while also serving up a big and spacious-feeling cabin.

To be clear, the Kodiaq isn't small, stretching 4699mm in length, 1882 in width and 1685mm in height, but its crisp design ensures it never looks slab-sided, looking more like a five-seat SUV than it does a full-time seven-seater, like the Mazda CX-9.

Those riding up front have plenty of space to stretch out, with the two seats separated by a wide centre console toped by an armrest that slides backwards to reveal a really usable storage space below. There are pockets in each door and two cupholders between the seats, too.

The front seats are electronically adjustable, and there's wireless charging, a USB connection and everything else you might need to make your life a little easier (including umbrellas hidden in the front doors).

Space in the backseat is genuinely impressive, even for taller passengers. I'm 175cm (so no giant) and there was so much room between my knees and the seats in front I could cross my legs comfortably, and more than enough headroom, too.

Yes, space will get considerably tighter should you attempt to squeeze three adults in the second row, but should you instead deploy the seat divider (itself home to 2.5 tiny cupholders), you'll find the back seat a pleasant place to spend time.

For a start, the nicer cabin materials from the front make their way to the second row, and you'll also find air vents with their own temp controls, a 12-volt charge point, bottle holders in the doors and two ISOFIX attachment points, one in each window seat.

The third row is tighter, of course, but these are intended more as occasional jump seats rather than a permanent solution, and because the second row is on rails, there can be a surprising amount of leg room, provided the seats in front are pushed as far forward as they go.

Step around to the auto-opening boot and you'll 270 litres of space with the third row in place, 630 litres with the Skoda in five-seat mode, and a huge 2005 litres (to the roof) with the second row folded flat, too.

The go-fast Kodiaq will set you back a not-insignificant $65,990(+$770 for metallic paint) - or about $12k more than the second most-expensive model in the lineup, the 132TSI Sportline - but Skoda's first RS-badged SUV does at least arrive with enough kit to ensure you won't be troubling the limited options list.

For that spend, you get that punchy diesel engine driving all four wheels, of course (and we'll drill down on that in just a moment), but you also get a host of performance kit, like a Dynamic Sound Boost amplified exhaust, adaptive dampers calibrated for the RS, and several drive modes, including Sport.

Outside, you'll find jumbo 20-inch 'XTREME' alloys, red brake calipers, LED automatic headlights, LED DRLs, rain-sensing wipers and a boot that opens automatically.

Inside, expect super-supportive leather-and-Alcantara sports seats, triple-zone climate control, an awesome 9.2-inch multimedia screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Skoda's digital cockpit, wireless phone charging, heated seats in the first two rows and a solid Canton stereo.

If you want an all-wheel drive Sorento GT-Line then you’ll need the version with the diesel engine, as tested. There is a petrol version but it’s a front-wheel drive SUV.

The 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine makes 147kW and 441Nm, which is plenty of grunt and you’ll have a braked towing capacity of 2000kg at your disposal. An eight-speed auto does a seamless job of shifting gears.

I found the engine quiet and smooth for a diesel, and while the power output may look low compared to the V6 petrol’s 336kW the torque is more than enough to pull this large SUV.

Skoda has fitted the Kodiaq RS with the most powerful diesel it has, a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder bi-turbo unit that produces a healthy 176kW at 4000rpm and 500Nm at 1750rpm.

It's pared with a seven-speed DSG automatic, and power is sent to all four wheels.

Kia says the 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine in the Sorento GT-Line AWD we tested uses 7.2L/100km over a combination of open and urban driving.

My testing took in 152km of mainly suburban and city driving, and the trip computer was telling me it was using an average of 9.3L/100km. That’s not bad at all considering there weren’t many motorway kays in there.

Those frustrated that they can’t have the GT-Line with all-wheel drive and a petrol engine can take some comfort knowing the V6 uses about 3.0L/100km more fuel than the diesel engine.

It's here that the joy of diesel power makes itself clear. The Skoda Kodiaq RS, with its seven seats and half-tonne of torque, will drink a claimed 6.2 litres per 100km on the combined cycle. Emissions are pegged at 167g/C02 per kilometre.

It means you should theoretically get close to 1000kms out of the Kodiaq's 60-litre fuel tank.

For a large seven-seat SUV the Sorento is easy and enjoyable to drive compared to many of its rivals.

The Holden Acadia feels like an enormous truck, the Nissan Pathfinder is so floaty it can be like a boat bobbing about at sea sometimes, while the Mazda CX-9 is excellent to drive but the visibility isn’t great.

The Sorento has none of these problems . It’s easy to see out of, has Australian-tuned suspension, which is comfortable but offers impressive handling, and feels a lot smaller to drive than it looks.

If there are any negatives it’s that the diesel isn’t as smooth as the petrol engine and has a small amount of lag in its response, but those aren’t deal breakers.   

When it comes to performance vehicles, we're usually the first to begin waggling our fingers at a car that's not loud enough, angry enough, stirring enough, to wear the hallowed go-fast crown.

Usually the "hot" part of a car's description refers to a booming exhaust, super show-off looks and a suspension tune stiff enough to double as one of those weight-loss vibrating plates. And yet the Skoda Kodiaq RS really does none of those things. And to be honest, it's a better car for it.

The more subtle way the Kodiaq approaches its sportiness perfectly suits the nature of a car like this. This is, after all, a (sometimes) seven-seat SUV, and so it will likely be spending a lot of it's time with a family on board. And having kids in the back is even less fun if they're bouncing off the roof lining every time you hit a bump.

In the Kodiaq, they won't be. In its Normal drive setting (you can also choose between Eco, Comfort, Sport, Snow or Individual), the Kodiaq definitely lingers on the firm side of comfortable, but not so much so that it neuters its worth as a family hauler.

And even when you engage Sport, the Kodiaq remains comfy enough. The exhaust perhaps takes on a more noticeable, artificial timber (thanks to the Dynamic Sound Boost function) and the car tightens, but it's never feels overly aggressive or sharp.

Skoda's engineering team has done a terrific job of minimising body movement here, and you can legitimately throw the Kodiaq up and down a twisting road without ever feeling sea sick when you get to the other end. So much so, in fact, that you can forget you're driving a 1.8-tonne, seven-seat SUV,  the predictable steering and composed ride helping convince you you're in something much smaller and more nimble.

It's not lightning-quick, with the bi-turbo diesel propelling you to 100km/h in 7.0 seconds (1.2secs quicker than a 132TSI version), but there's more than enough punch to get you up and moving in a hurry, and the engine has a fine relationship wth the seven-speed gearbox, with shifts largely occurring when you want them to (though it can feel a tough jumpy when you first start it up in the morning).

It's like a performance for responsible adults, then. It won't blow your socks off, but it offers just enough of everything to keep you engaged on the right road.

The only lingering question you need to ask yourself, though, is does that make it worth the extra bucks over a petrol-powered car?

There is a heap of stuff on offer here, with the Kodiaq RS really wanting for little on the safety front.

The regular Kodiaq already wears five-star ANCAP safety rating, which carries over to the RS, and you can expect nine airbags, adaptive cruise control, city AEB, a rear-view camera, Lane Assist, blind-spot detection, rear cross-traffic alert and a driver fatigue monitor.

And if you're a nervous parallel parker, the Kodiaq RS will take care of that for you, too.

The Sorento is covered by Kia’s seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

Servicing is recommended at 12 month/15,000km intervals and is capped at $346 for the first service, $555 for the second, $404 for the third, $707 for the fourth, $389 for the fifth, $665 for the sixth and $413 for the seventh/70,000km visit.

The Kodiaq RS is covered by Skoda's five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, with servicing required every 12 months or 15,000kms.

You can also pre-pay your servicing at the point of purchase, with five years costing $1700, and three years setting you back $900.

Skoda also offers a nifty guaranteed value program, which allows you to settle on a kilometre window when you purchase your vehicle, then return it to the dealership after three years with no more payments to make.