Kia Sorento v Mazda CX-9 2020 Comparison

If three-row layouts and ISOFIX attachment points whet your appetite, then there’s cause to celebrate the back end of 2020.

An influx of new seven-seat SUVs is about to hit our shores, headed by the arrival of the all-new Kia Sorento.

Now in its fourth generation, the sharper, bolder and tech-savvy Kia presents yet another step-change from the three predecessors before it. Take the badge away and you’d nearly mistake it for a bona fide luxury SUV.

The Korean offering will soon be joined by a long-awaited new Toyota Kluger plus a heavily revised Hyundai Santa Fe.

Before then, we’re pitching the new Sorento up against what is broadly regarded as the seven-seat SUV benchmark, the Mazda CX-9 – a previous carsales Car of the Year victor.

If we’re treating this comparison as a gauge of how far the seven-seat family SUV has come, then it seems appropriate that we go straight to the top.

As such, we’ve picked out the flagship Kia Sorento GT-Line variant fit with the top-spec turbo-diesel engine ($63,070 plus on-road costs, a cheaper V6 petrol is available), and the top-of-the-line Mazda CX-9 Azami AWD ($69,303 plus ORCs).

Both models are subject to significant price increases for 2020; the Kia by about $4000 and the Mazda roughly $2500.

For the Sorento, that premium is justified by the fact it’s an all-new model with bigger proportions (10mm in additional length, 10mm in width and 35mm in wheelbase) and safety, equipment and convenience features that the layperson simply wouldn’t associate with a Kia.

For example, the flagship GT-Line can remotely drive itself in and out of parking spaces or tight spots thanks to a Remote Smart Parking Assist (RSPA) program.

Inside, a slick 10.25-inch touchscreen sits atop the Kia’s centre fascia, flanked by capacitive buttons that shortcut to certain screen menus and also operate the climate control suite below. The GT-Line also gets a 12.3-inch digital driver’s instrument cluster and a full-colour head-up display.

The Mazda has had some running changes for 2020, too. A larger 9.0-inch infotainment screen now resides inside, there’s a new hands-free tailgate function, improved LED adaptive headlights, and underbody changes including tweaks to its all-wheel drive system.

The Mazda’s instrument cluster combines digital and analogue readouts and is complemented by a head-up display which brings into play features including a digital speedo. Crucially, its new 9.0-inch screen doesn’t feature touch capability (rotary dial only) and it employs more traditional hard-wired buttons in lieu of the Kia’s fancy capacitive switchgear.

Both cars offers Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability.

Being top-spec variants, the Kia and the Mazda match one another with Nappa leather upholstery lining the heated and ventilated front seats, heating for outer seats in the second row, a heated steering wheel, BOSE sound system, 20-inch wheels and a sunroof.

The Kia offers an incredible seven USB ports and two 12-volt outlets. The Mazda falls a couple short of that but still manages port access across its three rows.

Being the newer kid on the block, the Kia trumps the Mazda on modern features like wireless phone charging and a driver talk function, which allows the rear occupants to hear what the front occupants are saying via the speakers.

The Sorento is backed by a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and the CX-9 a five-year/unlimited warranty.

The Kia’s 12-month/15,000km servicing intervals are better spaced than the Mazda’s 12-month/10,000km provisions, too. According to the manufacturers’ respective website, the Mazda is the cheaper to service over five years based on its standard intervals: $1905 versus $2401 for the Kia.

Elsewhere, the Sorento features a full-size spare tyre while the Mazda makes do with a space-saver spare.

Both vehicles feature a 2.0-tonne braked towing capacity.

The Kia Sorento and Mazda CX-9 both feature a huge complement of advanced driver assist safety systems as standard including autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert.

Front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera and 360-degree camera are standard fare across the board, too.

Although both cars feature airbag coverage across their three rows, the Kia takes the game forward with a centre airbag, which is designed to prevent the heads of front occupants from colliding in the event of an accident.

The GT-Line variant of the Kia also brings into play a Blind Spot View monitor, which projects the vehicle’s blind spots within the instrument cluster when the indicator is switched on.

In terms of child seat amenity, the Mazda offers four top-tether anchorage points and two ISOFIX attachment points, while the Kia has five top-tether anchorage points and four ISOFIX attachments.

The Mazda’s top five-star ANCAP rating from 2016 stands, while the Sorento is yet to officially have its rating published, such is the newness. Officials are hopeful of a full complement of stars.

Under the bonnet of either the Kia Sorento or Mazda CX-9 here is a modern, relatively compact turbocharged engine – the primary difference being the Sorento employs diesel power and the Mazda petrol.

All told, the Kia’s 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder offers up 148kW of power and 440Nm of torque. That compares with 170kW and 420Nm from the Mazda’s 2.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder.

We’ll get to the performance of each car a little further on, plus their on-test fuel use. On paper, the Kia is a much more efficient machine with a claimed average of 6.1L/100km versus 9.0L/100km for the Mazda.

Both SUVs channel drive to all four wheels, the Kia employing a new eight-speed dual-clutch automatic while the Mazda uses a more conventional six-speed torque-converter auto.

The Kia rides on 20-inch wheels shod with Continental tyres and features an Australian-tuned ride and handling package, while the Mazda has 20-inch wheels wrapped with Falken tyres.

Officially, the Mazda is the longer, wider and taller of the two: 4810x1900x1700mm versus 5075x1969x1745mm.

There’s something warm and comforting about the internals of a modern seven-seat SUV – especially on the day of our windy and woolly comparison test with the Kia Sorento and Mazda CX-9 in Sydney recently.

Lashed by winds, heavy rainfall and temperatures barely above 10 degrees Celsius, the Kia and Mazda both prove to be a warm, leather-lined sanctuary from the elements.

The Mazda wins points for its supremely comfortable, armchair-like Nappa leather seats, which offer an added element of softness and support in the company of the Kia’s slightly flatter, firmer pews.

We also liked the Mazda’s key touch points, which were soft and comprised quality materials even in the out-of-sight areas.

Still on the CX-9, it offers more legroom for the second and third rows (but slightly less headroom and shoulder-room), while its 810-litre boot area stretches a mammoth 1260mm from the tailgate to the rear seat, compared with 1100mm for the Sorento’s 616-litre offering. The Kia’s boot is slightly wider between the wheel-arches: 1080mm versus 1030mm.

Otherwise, it’s a comprehensive nod in favour of the Kia for interior fit-out. It trumps the Mazda with a decidedly more modern presentation, quality screens and furnishings and a more thoughtful, cohesive approach.

Being able to pair two phones concurrently in the Kia is just one example of its innovation. Simple but clever.

Elsewhere, the Kia’s new displays are a cinch to operate and are nicely integrated into the broader cabin. The Mazda’s 9.0-inch centre display is almost archaic by comparison, with no touchscreen capability and fussier navigation of the different menus.

The Kia wins for oddment storage, with two additional open cubbies in the front row and more cavernous door pockets. It also features children’s cup-holders in the doors, whereas the Mazda doesn’t.

But make no mistake, both these SUVs are well tuned to the demands of the modern family in terms of their storage space.

Further back, the Kia again bests the Mazda with the fitment of third-row air vents with a separate fan speed controller. The Mazda misses out completely.

Both cars now feature partial electric second-row adjustment and sliding/tilt functions. With the second row slid and tilted all the way forward, the Mazda offered an additional 50mm of step-through space to the third row (250mm versus 200mm).

Occupants sit higher in the second and third rows of the Mazda, and combined with its swoopier roofline, the cabin feels less open and airy than in the Kia.

The Mazda CX-9 has boasted a huge on-road advantage over its key rivals in recent years. However, the new Kia Sorento takes some huge steps forward on that front, too.

The new Sorento is seriously polished on-road, with a composed ride, confident changes in direction and carefully-tuned controls.

Of these two cars, the Sorento sits flatter through corners, feels less prone to occupant head-toss over bumps and better insulates its cabin from outside road noise and wind noise.

The cabin is also comfortable and refined over bumps, with the exception of a small rattle at the base of the dashboard centre fascia in our test car.

The diesel engine also detracts from the sereneness at times, sending small vibrations through the seats and steering wheel at idle and grumbling in the background upon take-off and at higher revs.

Once up and running, however, the oiler generates smooth, accessible torque and uses its eight-speed dual-clutch transmission to great effect.

The engine is remarkably efficient, too. We averaged 8.2L/100km on test, whereas the Mazda CX-9 returned a 13.2L/100km average in the same conditions.

Back in the Mazda CX-9, it too makes a convincing on-road impression. But the advantage it once held over rivals has clearly been diluted.

In this company, the Mazda is busier over pitter-patter imperfections and thuds over sharper bumps including cat’s eyes and road joins. Road noise is noticeably louder in the CX-9, especially on coarse-chip surfaces.

Engine noise is another Achilles heel. Although the Mazda is much quieter and smoother at idle, its turbo-petrol engine’s soundtrack is ever-present. This is especially the case arriving at the CX-9’s lofty 6500rpm cut-out, an area of the tachometer where it is surprisingly proficient.

The Mazda still wins points for the tuning of its controls, with a steering set-up that feels more natural and provides more feedback to the driver.

Driven keenly, the CX-9 also generates more confidence with its ability to shrink-wrap its proportion and integrate a clever torque vectoring feature. Is that a moot point for families? Quite possibly.

Both cars are relatively easy to navigate through tight spaces, but aren’t perfect. You tend to sit higher in the cabin of the Kia with a more open forward view but a restrictive C-pillar – not great for blind spots.

The Mazda sits the driver lower in the cabin, which can be good and bad, and forward vision is obstructed slightly by its bulky A-pillar and wing mirrors.

Thankfully, both are able to mitigate this through their clever camera systems.

After several years in the spotlight, it is clear the Mazda CX-9’s time at the top has ended as a direct result of the new Kia Sorento’s arrival in Australia.

The Sorento is better equipped, better packaged and better suited dynamically to the needs of modern families.

It’s also $6000 cheaper in this flagship form without missing out on the CX-9’s key appointments, and ices the victory with the seven-year warranty.

It all amounts to a clear advantage to the Sorento, an impressive SUV that undoubtedly scales Kia to new territory.

Cue the forthcoming Kluger and Santa Fe.

How much does the 2020 Kia Sorento GT-Line cost?
Price: $63,070 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 148kW/440Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 6.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 159g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested

How much does the 2020 Mazda CX-9 Azami cost?
Price: $69,303 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 170kW/420Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 206g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2016)