Kia Sorento review

This is where the engineers and designers have been putting their hard work in. The new wraparound dash and centre console design are a lot more ergonomic and aesthetically pleasing than the Sorento's predecessors. However, we found it could do with a few more useful cubbyholes and curry hooks to make it properly family proof.

In the UK, there are four spec levels available, getting posher as you ascend from KX-1 to KX-4. Lower variants get a smaller seven-inch sat nav and a different dial cluster that looks more at home in a city car than a big SUV.

Meanwhile higher spec models are better finished with more safety tech that’s more on point with where Kia wants to position the car, thanks to a million-which-way power-adjustable driver and passenger seats, ventilated front seats, Adaptive Smart Cruise Control, 360-degree Around View Monitor, Smart Park Assist System, Blind Spot Detection and Rear Cross Traffic Alert.

Overall the cabin is a marked improvement on Kias of old, and now won’t be something for your snobbish mates to instantly turn their noses up at. But with rubbery faux-leather soft-touch plastics and poor placement of other scratchy plastics around the gear lever and other touch points, it’s by no means something that’ll have BMW and Audi engineers prescribing themselves Xanex.