The battle of the SUV’s
I heard a great quote when it comes to SUVs. They’re like a belly button: everyone’s got one, but nobody ever thinks about it. I recently had some quality time driving the 2019 Kia Sorento and the 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe. So what are the differences?
When you talk about the Kia Sorento you’re looking at a car for under $30,000 (like the Santa Fe)…but of the two I think it has better styling features. I love the front end of the Kia cars and you do get a third row… although it’s a bit tight if you’re trying to get seven people in there. The other thing I really enjoyed is the Sorento V6 compared to the Santa Fe’s turbocharged four-cylinder. You’re going to get about two more cubic feet more storage in the Sorento than you would in Santa Fe plus with the Sorento you get a five star overall safety rating and again the third row.
So what about the Hyundai?
Then when we talk about the Hyundai Santa Fe you’re obviously looking at a newer vehicle platform… still saying under $30,000 (that’s rare). What’s cool is a lot of the safety features are standard – so when you look at the Sorento you got a pay more to get some of the standard features on the Santa Fe. Especially when you go up into the middle level and upper-level trims. The Hyundai Santa Fe has a more rigid chassis to it and it just feels newer (does that make sense?). Both of these come with a ten-year hundred thousand mile powertrain warranty, driver assist features all the standard available equipment….but the Santa Fe just does it better.
So yeah….SUVs are like belly buttons – but that doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate them for what they are. There’s a reason SUVs are the main stay in the auto industry and it’s two quality vehicles like the Kia Sorrento and a Hyundai Santa Fe that prove their point. SUV’s aren’t going anywhere anytime soon (like your belly button).
So what’s the verdict?
If you plan on towing something and you need third row seating for the kids go with the Kia Sorrento (get the 3.3 L V6). If it’s just the family of four and you want a better ride, plus newer features at a better better price point go with the Santa Fe.