MOTORING KIA SORENTO CONTINUED.........
The new Sorento is large and imposing and has classy, elegant styling. The cabin is thoughtfully designed, offering an excellent driving position with great visibilty, and very comfortable seating. The instrument and switchgear layout is user-friendly
and you immediately feel at home behind the wheel. Trim materials are high quality and the cabin has a plush premium look and feel. My only tiny criticism is that the cabin is visually rather dull – it’s hard to find anything that isn’t grey! Some colour contrast would give the cabin a significant boost in my view. However, that is my only quibble – the Sorento scores highly on every other count. It is roomy, with decent legroom even for those on the third row of seats. Boot capacity is 142 litres if all
EXCELLENT DRIVING POSITION WITH GREAT VISIBILTY, AND VERY COMFORTABLE SEATING.
seats are used, a substantial 605 litres if five seats are used and folded flat you get a van-like 1,662 litres. When driving, you instantly notice the refinement - minimal wind and road noise and superbly supple ride quality. The engine is exceptionally quiet, smooth, responsive and I never had to work it hard to get brisk performance. The 0-60 mph time of 9 seconds is nippy, top speed is 124 mph and the fuel figure 46.3 mpg combined. My test model was the KX-3 (one down from the flagship KX-4) and costing £35,845 in manual form. Standard kit is extensive and includes 18-inch alloys, leather upholstery, heated front and rear seats, panoramic sunroof, auto lights and wipers, privacy glass, heated steering wheel, dual zone air-con, cruise control with speed limiter, smart entry, all-wheel drive, reversing camera, 10-speaker DAB radio, Bluetooth, sat-nav with 8-inch touch screen, and lane departure warning. And that really is the short-list! The Sorento isn’t the cheapest SUV in its class but it has a package of style, build-quality, reliability, driving refinement and strong residual values that is hard to match.
There are plenty of engine
ECOBOOST A best-selling model for many years, the latest versions are well-equipped, well-designed and nice to drive, underlining why the brand has such dominance. Choice is also a sales factor as there are 34 versions
FORD FOCUS ZETEC
available, priced from £13,995 to £26,295, the most popular being the Ecoboost models, offering nippy performance, good fuel economy and low emissions.
options, starting with a 99 hp 1.0 litre version, but my recent test model featured the 123 hp version of the Ecoboost unit, which is probably the best choice for many, especially if you regularly use motorways where the exta power is handy. The 0-60 mph mph time is 11 seconds, top speed 120 mph and the fuel economy is 60.1 mpg combined. Add emissions of just 108 g/km and it is clear why this model is such an attractive proposition. My test car was in mid-spec Zetec trim, priced at £19,095
A THOUGHTFULLY
CREATED PACKAGE, AIMED AT MEETING THE NEEDS OF
MOST BUYERS AT AN ACCESSIBLE PRICE.
MOT, Maintenance and Repair of motor vehicles
01803 834234 Jawbone Hill • Dar tmouth
and kit included 16-inch alloys, sports-style front seats, heated windscreen, DAB radio/CD , Bluetooth, air-conditioning, tyre pressure monitoring, hill-start assist and traction and stability control. On the road, this model proved to have delightful handling, with plenty of grip and poised cornering, excellent steering feedback and an overall agility which made it very pleasing to drive. The gearshift was slick and accurate and ride comfort was also very good. At motorway cruising speed, the Focus was smooth and quiet, with minimal wind-noise. The car also has torque-vectoring, a device which distributes drive to the front wheel which has the most traction, thus helping deliver both agility and stability for a very reassuring driving feel. The Focus has smart - though not stand-out - styling and the cabin is roomy for four adults, with comfortable seating. The driving position is excellent, with lots of seat and steering wheel adjustment. The dashboard design is well-sorted for ease of use, with a 4.2 inch display screen in the centre console and steering wheel mounted switches. Boot space is not best in class but is perfectly adequate and
practical for normal needs All in all, this Focus comes over as a thoughtfully created
package, aimed at meeting the needs of most buyers at an accessible price.
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