Hi, I am looking at upgrading my towcar and have looked at both the sorento and Santa fe. I am looking at the 7 seat automatics on a 2010 / 2011 plate.
Both cars seem very similar in terms of price, equipment, reliability, towing ability etc but I wondered if anyone had any further thoughts or advice?
I am upgrading from a 2007 Honda CRV which does not seem to have the weight or power to comfortably pull our new caravan, at 1495 MTPLM I want a car that brings me back under the suggested 85%.
Do both of them have self levelling suspension? I seem to remember the decider for us was that our 2007 Santa Fe 7 seater had SLS but the Kia didn't but I could have that wrong.
Ours is a fantastic tower, very stable and plenty of power (our caravan is 1500 MTPLM and we are generally well laden), really comfy, feels solidly built and is a very easy drive but the stereo is pretty lousy (no RDS) and we can't work out how to use the roof mounted DVD without playing it through the car stereo - two relatively minor complaints which have probably been fixed on the 2010 upgrade!
See my previous post re self levelling suspension on a recent "Freelander or Sorento" thread. It appears that some Sorentos have stability problems when towing above 50 mph unless fitted with SLS.
Quote: Originally posted by White Rose on 08/9/2013
but the stereo is pretty lousy (no RDS) and we can't work out how to use the roof mounted DVD without playing it through the car stereo - two relatively minor complaints which have probably been fixed on the 2010 upgrade!
When we had our 2009 SF, the RDS worked fine and the roof mounted DVD used wireless headphones and was excellent - do you have the headphones?
I don't know much about the Sorento but its mechanically very similar to the SF. They used to be (and maybe still are) built in the same factory.
------------- 'In later life, you will be more disappointed with the things you didn't do than with the things you did.' - Mark Twain
We have a 2012 Sorento, I am not sure if it has SLS as it was a demo model(3 month old when bought, I think it has as it sits pretty level and is a 7 seater.(option at that time) So a over a 1000 miles towing.
Must check with the dealer!
its a cracking towcar and has been to France twice this year with no issues with stability.
Sits at 60mph happily in 6th most of time.
Its really down to choice, and being SUVs you can look down on most Skodas!
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
My SF gets 30 mpg around town, and on a run 45/50 mpg..
A hell of a lot more than my mondeo got when I had one.
Also 3 years in it has cost me nothing more than £200 approx each year for a service ( the same as the mondeo did)
Oh and the Mondeo cost me £500 for a new immobilizer when it failed.
So no, 4x4's do not always cost more to run!
Some of us on here like 4x4's for no other reason than we want one! rather than some dreary run of the mill car..
I believe sorento and santa fe are as good as the same mechanically from 2010 onwards. Styling and equipment vary so personal choice will decide which is best. 2010, 2011 & 2012 sorento did not have sls as standard (maybe kx3 did but rest did not), but I believe it was an optional extra which may have been specified. Have heard non sls can be unstable at speed towing but have had no real experience of this personally. I drive a 2013 sorento 2 sat nav auto and it has sls as standard and tows rock solid stable with our 1360kg bailey orion 5 berth. Interestingly dealer said for towing caravans the okd skool sorento 2.5 diesels and the 2013 2.2 2 and aboves sell like hotcakes but older 'new' ones sitck on fourcourt (probably due to not being fitted with sls). Whichever you choose make sure sls is fitted and you should be fine. Both are lovely cars and I can recommend the auto box for an easy life!!
------------- Why am i doing this instead of camping??!!
Thank you all so much for your comments, some really useful thoughts, I hadn't considered the SLS option, I will def. make sure whichever I go for has it!