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Hi, and welcome back.
I'm Mike Quincy.
I'm Alex Knizek.
And I'm Brian Pszczolkowski.
So the two questions that I keep getting almost every day
are, "I want to buy an SUV.
Which one should I get?"
And "I want to get something with good fuel economy."
Which brings us to what we're driving this week.
We're going to talk about the 2022 Kia Sorento
hybrid, which recently joined our test program.
The Sorento was recently redesigned.
And while we've already tested the regular model,
we also went out and got this hybrid version.
It's powered by a 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine,
making 227 horsepower, and hooked up to a 6-speed
automatic transmission.
EPA fuel economy estimates are 36 miles per gallon city,
and 33 highway.
Standard active safety and driver assistance systems
include forward-collision warning, automatic emergency
braking with pedestrian detection,
lane-departure warning, and lane-keeping assist.
Ours is an all-wheel drive EX model,
which comes pretty loaded.
The 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system,
heated front seats, and second row captain's chairs.
We added the extra-cost sunroof package and floor mats.
Price came to $40,975.
These are our first impressions.
And I'm going to steer this to Ryan.
It's great.
I always liked the Sorento.
The 2.5 turbo that we have is fantastic.
This is another one of those examples
of where the hybrid, in my opinion,
is slightly nicer than the gas, the straight gas counterpart.
I thought it rode a little better.
I don't know, it might have a little more weight to it.
So it's got a little more heft.
Sometimes that helps the ride.
I didn't look into the wheel and tire package.
But however, handling is a little bland.
But for this type of SUV, I was not put off by it at all.
It feels confident and capable, for what it is.
It's just a nice SUV to jump in and drive
they did change the shifter.
It has a little rotary shifter, that kind of a dial,
if you will.
Which doesn't really bother me.
I think that's an OK setup.
The touchscreen is nice, pretty straightforward.
And the powertrain itself is nice.
I mean, it's not a space shuttle, by any means.
But it's got a nice, linear, smooth power delivery.
There's a slight delay, I think initially.
But once you get by that, it's nothing, nothing bad about it.
I was just kind of happy.
I got in it, drove it home.
And I was like, this is a great car.
This is another one to add to the list
to tell people who were looking for, like you said,
a decent-sized SUV that's good on fuel.
I mean, we don't yet exactly how it is on fuel.
But I'm going to go ahead and assume it's decent.
Mhm.
[LAUGHTER]
Alex, you do a lot of real specialized work
here at the track, about infotainment and controls,
and all kinds of usability.
Mhm.
As you jump from Kias and Hyundais, from one to another,
they're all pretty simple to figure out.
Wouldn't you agree?
Yeah.
They do a good job of just making things pretty
straightforward, laid out.
When you're talking about the infotainment system,
they've got these pages with tiles and apps
that you swipe through.
It feels a little phone like.
But everything's spaced out and large enough
to actually work well in a car.
It's responsive, easy to read.
Yeah, so they do a good job there.
Most of the other controls in the car are the same.
Other than the shifter that Ryan mentioned,
are the same as the other Sorento that we tested.
Which is a good thing.
There's a lot of physical buttons for everything.
Everything's pretty much where you'd expect it to be.
They do have this.
Hyundai and Kia are moving more towards these touch-capacitive
controls.
Particularly for the climate system.
So below the touchscreen, there's this panel.
Thankfully, there are specific controls for the climate.
They're not buried in a menu or anything like that.
They're right there.
But generally, you find these touch-capacitive
controls just less than ideal.
Just because they're harder to decipher while you're driving.
I struggle with those buttons.
I push hard.
I find I'm just pushing too hard.
Just go light, touch it light.
But it's distracting.
It's distracting to me.
I like a physical button.
Takes a little more, yeah.
And you don't, in a stationary environment, you're like yeah,
this works just fine.
Yeah.
But the cognitive load of driving a vehicle, and then you
have to be more precise.
It's just not really--
Yeah, and you're trying to just hit it.
--of benefit.
You're trying to go quickly.
Because you're driving, right?
You want to keep your eyes on the road.
And like I just, if you don't touch it just right, I just--
The other thing worth mentioning with this Sorento, the hybrid
specifically.
So right now, it's only coming in two trim levels.
And both of those trim levels, the EX and the other one,
come with the larger 10-and-1/4-inch system that you
mentioned, Mike.
It's great.
And it works well, like we were saying.
But like other Hyundai and Kia models still,
when you get this larger system--
other Sorento models, not the hybrid, that are lower
in the trim spectrum, they get an 8-inch system, it's smaller.
Still works well.
Those have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android auto.
When you step up to this larger 10-and-1/4 system,
which is your only option with the hybrid version for some
reason you lose out on that wireless connectivity.
What?
Yeah.
Isn't that bizarre?
It's just counterintuitive.
I think it's just not what people would expect.
I'm not claiming that you can't get by with wired
CarPlay or anything.
But it's just putting it out there as something to know.
That's interesting.
That's like, an oversight to me.
Huh.
Yeah, I don't the technical reason
why they're not able to implement that
with that specific version of their system.
But it's definitely notable.
And it is a loss, so yeah.
I think one of the benefits of working here
at Consumer Reports Test Track is
we're getting in and out of cars on a regular basis.
And we see some of these patterns
that you guys are mentioning.
When you guys talk about the nuisance
of touch-capacitive buttons, another trend that we can see
is that you have to bring up a climate screen to get
to the seat heater controls.
And you're driving, you're trying
to make the seat either warmer or cooler.
And that's an extra step.
The Sorento Hybrid, I drove the other day.
It was cold.
and there's these physical buttons, right there,
for the seat heater.
You can see it very, very clearly, what level you're on.
You can get to it easy.
I know that we all love technology.
Except when it requires extra steps.
Yes?
I agree with that.
Listen to us complaining about buttons that heat
or cool our seats.
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That's true.
Like, these are luxuries that just were, I mean,
20 years ago they would never thought about this stuff.
And now we're here, it's kind of funny.
But I don't like those touch-capacitive buttons.
I can agree with that.
Well, listen, this is our first impressions
of the Kia Sorento Hybrid.
Check back to consumerreports.org
as we get more miles and more experience with this SUV.
We definitely liked the regular Sorento.
So we're going to be really excited to see how
this hybrid model works out.
Especially when it comes to fuel economy testing.
That brings us to our audience question
that we have for today.
We love your questions, text, video.
Keep them coming to TalkingCars@icloud.com.
That's TalkingCars@icloud.com.
We've got a video question.
This is Jamie, from Massachusetts.
This is my father's 1995 Toyota 4Runner.
Besides rusting in the garage with a fresh coat of wax,
it's used to pull a boat trail.
The Michelin LTX tires are 10 years old,
have plenty of tread, but we're worried about deterioration.
What tires would Talking Cars recommend?
The tires are routinely dropped to 15 pounds PSI,
must be flexible, with a limited aggressive tread
to float on the warm, soft sand of Cape Cod.
Thank you.
So when this video clip came across our emails,
before having our pre-production meeting for this podcast,
I was like, oh man, Ryan's going to love this
because it's about tires.
Alex is going to love this because it's
about old 4Runners.
Like, super Producer Dave Abrams, boy,
you really nailed this one.
So let's stick to the real nitty-gritty here.
And that's tires.
And Ryan, you are like, one of the premiere tire
experts in the entire world.
So take it away.
(LAUGHS) No, no, no.
So yeah, awesome video.
Awesome truck.
Those old trucks, I love those things.
I mean, they just don't make stuff
like that anymore, it seems like.
But he mentions yeah, he's got those old Michelins on there.
And I say old, because they're old, 10 years old.
As you approach 10 years old, you've
got to get those tires off the car.
I don't care if they have full tread.
The rubber, what happens is over time, the rubber degrades,
right?
There's oxidation that happens.
Just being out in the elements.
The sunshine, the air, the water, everything.
Eventually, dries the rubber out.
It beats it up.
It might look beautiful, because you have your tires shined.
I mean, you could see in the video,
those tires still look beautiful, right?
I mean, the only thing that looks old is the lettering.
And I'm a tire nerd, so what those tires,
that's what the lettering used to look like.
It was very simple, right?
So I could tell you those are old just
by looking at them from here.
But otherwise, an average person would look at it and be like,
"That's got plenty of tread, no big deal."
Yeah, could you still drive on it?
Yes, but it's not worth it.
Because they're just, they're dry.
They're drying out.
They don't have the strength that they used to have,
I'll say that.
In terms of replacing them, he mentions he goes off road
a little bit onto the beach.
He lowers the pressures.
That shouldn't be an issue with any tire
that he chooses really, lowering the pressure
on go on the beach.
The reason for lowering the pressures on the beach
is you make that footprint wider,
so you don't sink into the sand as much.
It gives you a little more flotation.
And that's very common on the beaches, up in the Cape Cod
area.
They actually require you do that.
Actually, a lot of these beaches,
you have to bring a little kit with you,
if you get stuck, a little shovel, a strap,
a couple of other things.
And they have little compressors,
like for when you leave, to inflate your tires
back up so you take off.
Because you do not want to drive on an underinflated tire
on the way home, on the roads.
But as far as replacing those tires,
Michelin makes the Defender LTX M and S,
which is basically the new version of that tire
that he has on that vehicle.
If you like the Michelin, you're going to love these.
It's a simple all-season tread.
It's not a real aggressive tread.
The other thing you could go with would be there's
the Continental TerrainContact H/T.
That's a top-rated tire by us.
It's very similar to the Michelin.
It's going to wear, it's going to wear long.
It's a simple tread.
It's nothing crazy.
You might pay a little less for that tire.
You'd have to shop around.
But it's a great, great tire.
Then the one that I would actually put on it,
and I'm saving this for last just
because it's a different type of tire, it's an all-terrain tire.
It's the Continental TerrainContact A/T. Now,
this is an all-terrain tire without being super aggressive.
Some all-terrain tires have a really luggy and loud,
and they have poor rolling resistance.
Meaning they suck up more fuel.
They're noisy, they don't handle as well, sometimes.
This is kind of an in-between all-terrain tire.
It's got a mild tread for all-terrain tires.
But it's aggressive for going in the sand,
and those types of things.
And also looks a little more aggressive.
Which might look cool on kind of a vintage 4Runner like that.
So that would be my choice, to be honest.
It wears fairly well.
Which by the sounds of it, tread wear isn't an issue.
Because that vehicle still has a lot of tread there.
So you're not putting the miles on.
So I would recommend that one, to be honest.
Alex, I'm not necessarily up on my CPR certification.
But when you saw this truck you just about had a heart attack.
That's a nice-looking 4Runner, isn't it?
Oh, that's mint.
That is a really clean-looking 2nd Gen 4Runner.
Maybe Dave can throw up a picture of the 3rd Gen
that I have in my garage.
But so Ryan, I have a question for you, actually.
Uh-oh.
As somebody who likes to off road
a little bit in his 4Runner, and maybe
it'll help Jamie, as well.
I'm curious if the constant inflation/deflation,
and that cycling back and forth to deflate the tires to go
on the beach and then inflating to then go back
driving on the street, is that degrading the tire any faster?
Or taking any life out of the sidewall or the tread
or anything like that, over time?
Not a measurable amount.
A tire is incredibly strong and highly engineered.
You've got to think, even when your tire is fully inflated
and you're rolling down the road,
every time the tire rolls through the contact patch
where it's touching the road, the tire deforms.
The sidewall is are constantly moving.
They're designed to take that flex, right.
In this situation, you let out a bunch of air.
You can't let out too much air.
It depends on your situation.
But you let out some air to go on the beach.
You're on the beach, but you're driving slow.
So you're really not harassing it that much.
Like I said, they're just, their side walls
are built to take that flex.
Millions and millions of revolutions, right?
When you drive a tire through its entire life.
These times going out on the beach and then re-inflating it?
You're not hurting it.
Not a measurable amount.
Obviously if you go too low on the air
you could run into some issues.
Right.
But you'd have to do some research
and figure out what the proper pressures should
be for what you're doing and the vehicle you're driving.
Ryan, getting a look at this 4Runner
and the age of the tires, I think
he said that the tires are 10 years old.
And I was looking at where he's living.
He's out in Massachusetts.
My question is, with a vehicle that, like this 4Runner,
probably gets very limited use.
It's probably just like a seasonal car.
Right.
But it's even sitting in a garage or whatever.
Does the fluctuation in temperatures also
degrade or age a tire?
It's hot, it's cold, it's hot, it's cold, every season?
Sure.
I mean, that's part of when I say the elements, the sun,
the rain, the wind, everything.
The fluctuation of temperatures up and down.
It all, it starts to beat at the tires.
It oxidizes the materials.
A lot of that has to do with the fluctuation of temperatures.
The best thing, the best thing you can do,
once a tire is mounted on a car and it's in service
and you're not using it all the time,
is to keep it out of the sun, at least.
In a garage, keep it away from the sun.
Otherwise, I mean, a tire that's been mounted on a vehicle, that
is considered in service.
A lot of vehicle manufacturers will say 6 to 8 years.
We say no matter what, after 10 years, or just at 10 years,
you've got to get them off the car.
It's just, it's not worth the risk.
Right.
And looks can be deceiving.
They can be good looking.
Yeah.
They can seem like they're fine.
Absolutely.
Yes.
But they're much older than they would appear, right?
Absolutely.
Well, this is a great question, great vehicle.
And sadly, it's going to do it for this episode.
As always, check the show notes for more information
on the vehicles and topics we discussed.
A reminder, please keep your questions coming.
Especially your questions that have these great cars.
Keep sending them to TalkingCars@icloud.com Thanks
so much for tuning in.
We'll see you next week.
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