New Kia Sorento: Fresh pics and details

The fourth-generation Kia Sorento will touch down in Australia from June, powered exclusively with petrol engines.

Kia's butch-looking large SUV will take on top-selling vehicles in its class, like the Toyota Kluger and Mazda CX-9, but unlike them will add turbo-diesel engines later in the year.

The current Kia Sorento is priced between $43,490 and $60,000 in Australia, and pricing is likely to be similar for the new models. Once again, front-wheel drive Sorento SUVs will be offered at the lower end, with all-wheel drive models costing a little more.

The new Kia Sorento will (eventually) be powered by a refreshed 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine (148kW/440Nm) and a carry-over 3.5-litre petrol V6 (206kW/336Nm).

The diesel is hooked up to a new eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission while the petrol will most likely get a conventional six-speed trannie.

Towing capacities range from 750 to 2500kg.

A new 1.6-litre turbo-hybrid powertrain will be offered (169kW/350Nm) in Europe, backed up by a small 1.5kWh lithium battery, but the hybrid powertrain is unlikely to be offered in Australia in the medium-term, says Kia's local arm.

The next Toyota Kluger, which has been delayed to 2021, may also arrive in Australia sans hybrid.

We've reported extensively on the new Kia Sorento, which was revealed in full back in February, but a number of new details have come to light following its European reveal.

Four trim levels will be offered in Australia, likely mirroring newer SUV releases from Kia (think Seltos), with S, Sport, Sport+ and GT-Line model grades. Interior materials will run the gamut from basic (black cloth) to premium (quilted Nappa leather).

Metallic accents and 'embossed satin-effect surfaces' will be peppered through the cabin, which features a contemporary design to match the new exterior.

The interior of the new Kia Sorento is pushing up-market, with twin digital screens on offer in some variants, including a 12.3-inch instrument cluster and 10.2-inch infotainment touch-screen.

There is also a new UVO Connect telematics system that offers live weather, traffic updates and parking details, while also locating the car remotely via an app, however, it won't be offered in Australia.

Other confirmed features include a 12-speaker BOSE surround sound audio system that pumps across all three seating rows and a mood lighting system, using LEDs to deliver up to 64 different colours illuminating the cabin at night.

Kia says access to the third-row seats is made easier thanks to middle row seats that slide 45mm further than before.

The Korean-built SUV will come with Level 2 autonomous driving tech – acceleration, braking and steering – thanks to lane following assist (LFA) and adaptive cruise control.

Safety features include seven airbags, autonomous emergency braking (with vehicle, cyclist and pedestrian detection), a blind-spot view monitor, surround-view parking cameras, intelligent speed limit assist, highway driving assist and a reverse parking collision-avoidance system.

It is the first Kia vehicle to get a multi-collision brake system, which is designed to "mitigate the severity of secondary collisions" by maintaining brake force after the first hit.

The new Kia Sorento can also park itself without anyone in the vehicle, thanks to the remote smart parking assist (RSPA). Using the key fob, it helps owners park and extricate their vehicle (forward and reverse only) from ultra-tight parking spaces where opening the doors may be impossible.

In total seven exterior colours will be offered in Australia, versus 10 colours for Europe, while four alloy wheel sizes ranging from 17- to 20-inches will be available.

Each Kia Sorento SUV delivered in Australia will be fitted with a full-size spare wheel in the boot, whereas European customers get a space-saver spare wheel or a gloop gun.

Boot space is a generous 821 litres in seven-seat models and 910 litres for five-seat models. Seven seat models get 32 per cent more boot space (187L) with all seats accounted. There's also one-touch remote folding of the second-row seats from a button in the boot.

While the original 2002 Sorento was based on a ladder-frame chassis (commonly used by dual-cab utes) rather than a more refined monocoque architecture, the latest version is the first Kia SUV based on the company's new medium SUV platform architecture (N3), bringing all the new tech and also new suspension.

Kia reckons the new Sorento is quieter than before and has "an even more assured, comfortable ride and more satisfying, enjoyable driving character than its predecessor, aided by heavily revised fully-independent suspension".

As with all its models, Kia Australia has already completed local testing and tuning of the Sorento's suspension on Aussie roads, in order to tailor the driving characteristics to local tastes.

The new Sorento will be backed by Kia's a seven-year warranty, seven-year capped-price service program and seven years of roadside assistance.

Kia currently offers three SUVs in Australia: the small Seltos, medium Sportage and large Sorento. A fourth SUV will be introduced to flesh out the range in late 2020, the Stonic compact SUV.

Kia is also developing a dual-cab ute and larger Toyota LandCruiser Prado rival.