2015 Kia Sorento Gets Fine-tuned for New Model Year

Kia continues to tinker with its crossover lineup, making some slight adjustments to style and packaging in the 2015 Kia Sorento, but leaving its starting price at $24,100.

The most noticeable changes are up front. There, the 2015 Kia Sorento shows off a revised grille that now offers two new looks, one with an anodized silver-metal appearance and the other relying on black mesh for a more athletic style. The front lower valance has been massaged as well for a more “open” look, allowing designers to integrate a stylized and sporty front intake to set off the vehicle’s LED positioning lamps and projector-style headlights. Another bonus: Beginning with the new model year, owners of the 2015 Kia Sorento will be able to order the brand’s UVO voice-recognition technology and up-scale Infinity audio system separately from its cutting-edge nav system.

Mechanically speaking, engineers have enhanced the standard 2.4-liter, four-cylinder unit in the 2015 Kia Sorento for added efficiency, with the powerplant adding 1 mpg to the vehicle’s combined and highway ratings. The new tale of the tape is 20 mpg city/27 mpg highway/23 mpg combined, and that’s without the 2015 Kia Sorento losing anything in the output department, which still delivers 191 hp and 181 lb.-ft. of torque.

Now, just to be clear here, however, while it is true that the starting price of the 2015 Kia Sorento doesn’t change—and neither does the $25,900 MSRP of the four-cylinder AWD model—there are some increases with the crossover’s available 3.3-liter V6.

That direct-injected engine makes a robust 290 hp and 252 lb.-ft. of torque, but adding it to the front-wheel-drive 2015 Kia Sorento raises prices to $26,500—about $800 higher than for the 2014 version. The increased premium applies to all V6-powered 2015 Kia Sorentos, too.

Nonetheless, the 2015 Kia Sorento remains one of the sharper-looking entries in its segment and will look to cut into its rivals’ sales leads when it gets to dealerships in the near-term future.