KIA Sorento named best value SUV

KIA Sorento named best value SUV

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The KIA Sorento sports utility vehicle (SUV) added another
feather to its cap when it won the Best Value SUV award at the
annual Mudfest competition, held recently by the Northwest
Automotive Press Association (NWAPA) in the United States.

Spokesman of South Korean carmaker KIA Motors Christopher Dore
said in an e-mail that previously the KIA Sorento was named Best
SUV Value and Best SUV Under US$25,000 at the 2002 event.

Each year, NWAPA members gather during the second week of
October to evaluate SUVs from every segment to determine the best
vehicle in each category.

Each vehicle is equipped in a way that is similar to the way
80 percent of U.S. buyers equip their cars and includes such
items as automatic transmission, antilock braking systems (ABS),
CD players, power windows, door locks, remote keyless entry, four
doors and more.

In addition to new vehicles, the group brings back the best of
the best from previous years, too.

The Sorento was tested alongside 16 other SUVs -- on- and off-
road -- at the Portland International Raceway on the first day of
competition and performed well throughout acceleration and
braking tests and a slalom course.

Ride-and-drive segments were held on the second day of the
competition.

In Indonesia, the KIA Sorento is for sale at about US$44,400
(Rp 400 million) using the most powerful engine available for
this model.

It is driven by a 3,497 cc Sigma V-6, quad-cam engine yielding
maximum power of 197 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and maximum torque
of 295 Newton-meters at 3,000 rpm.

The engine is powerful enough to allow the KIA Sorento to
reach a maximum speed of 192 kilometers per hour (kph). It has a
0 to 100 kph acceleration time of only 9.7 seconds.

Other vehicles in the KIA Sorento range use either 2,351 cc
gasoline or 2,497 cc diesel engines.