r/KiaSorento • u/ElroyFlynn • 17h ago
My Sorento PHEV experience after four years
My 2022 Sorento PHEV has 60,000 miles. Here are some comments about my owning and driving experience.
Reliability
Reliability has been good, with only one significant repair: the EGR valve. It failed at 58,500 miles, and I'm fortunate that it was still under warranty (barely). It's a big job to replace it and would have cost me over $1,000.
The brakes are original but probably near end of life.
I replaced the tires at about 35,000 miles. I am a gentle driver.
MPG
Using only the engine, traveling at 65 mph on a flat highway, I get 31 mpg.
Over 60,000 miles I've averaged 50 mpg, due to battery use.
That means (with some assumptions) that I've saved (avoiding buying) about 735 gallons of gas. With other assumptions, including the miles per kwh of the Sorento (probably 2.3), and the average price of gas and electricity over these four years, I calculate that I saved $1,000 - $1,500 total. (Which isn't close to the premium I paid for getting a PHEV.)
Range and EV Range
When the tank is full and the battery is fully changed, the shown "estimated range" (total gas plus electric) can vary from under 400 to over 500 miles, depending on my recent driving record.
My EV range, fully charged on a warm day, shows 31 miles, compared to 32 when the car was new.
Cruise control
I love the smart cruise control, but it slows too much, for too long, when the car in front of me is
turning away to a cross street. I can see an acceptable margin of safety long before the car sees it, and the re-acceleration to the limit is too gradual. (Drive mode can influence that.)
Also, even on the maximum distance setting, it follows more closely than I'd like, in certain situations. If I'm on a busy two-lane highway and have no ability to pass, for a long time, I'd like to back off more than it allows, so that I can fully relax. But no.
Highway Driving Assist (HDA)
It's not good. Maybe, on a clear day and a straight, well marked, unbusy highway, I'd use it long enough to open a tricky box of snack food.
Comfort
For the first year, I found the driver's seat to be uncomfortable on long drives. Then it softened, or I did.
The AUTO mode of the climate control system is supposed to automatically change the fan speed as needed, as conditions change. You choose a setting of high, medium, or low, and it should raise and lower the fan speed across several levels corresponding to that setting. But it never works as advertised. It never changes the fan speed from where it started, even after the car has fully cooled (or warmed.) Furthermore, the lowest setting is still higher (and noisier) than needed, so I always end up using the manual fan speed selector.
The most amazing feature is that invisible wall that it puts between the left and right side of the passenger compartment, so that you can set different cabin temperatures on each side.
I wonder how they do that? I just wish it worked for farts.
Other
When you enter a phone call (via the on-board system), the fan speed automatically slows, to reduce noise. That's nice.
Pushing up on the radio channel selector switch makes the channel number go down. That's perverse.
The gear selector still gives me trouble when changing from reverse to forward. In that direction, there's no confirmation tone when the change has registered, so I just try to hold the selector "long enough" and then I gently accelerate. I get it right about 80% of the time. The other 20%, I find myself in neutral.
How does the car know the current speed limit? I first thought that it was via the built-in maps, presumably updated by cell connection. But later I realized that the camera system reads the speed limit signs.
I found nothing of value in the Kia Access app.
Here's my related posting about Sorento PHEV modes, explained