Sorento tow capacity lags behind rivals

Kia admits its updated third-generation Sorento is “not the highest in town” when it comes to hauling a load.

The revised seven-seat SUV – which goes on sale locally this month – offers just 2000kg braked towing capacity (and 100kg down ball weight), placing it well behind key rivals that include the Nissan Pathfinder (2700kg) and twin-under-the-skin Hyundai Santa Fe (2500kg).

It’s also well behind that of the recently-departed, and locally-produced, Ford Territory (2700kg).

And while the Sorento’s towing capacity matches that of the Holden Captiva, Mazda CX-9 and Toyota Kluger, it falls well short of ute-based rivals like the Toyota Fortuner (2800kg), Ford Everest, Holden Trailblazer and Isuzu MU-X (3000kg) and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport (3100kg).

“In some ways it’s not the highest in town,” Kia Australia head of service and aftersales support, Phil Murray, said of the Sorento’s towing capacity. “Whether that’s part of the decision making process for the customer is hard to say definitively.”

Despite take-up of the tow pack on Sorento being less than 20 per cent locally, Kia says it won’t follow Hyundai in offering an Australian-specific suspension upgrade.

Hyundai introduced an uprated rear suspension package for its Santa Fe in 2013 <<< /hyundai-santa-fe-tow-capacity-enhanced-35017 >>>, bolstering the seven-seater’s braked towing capacity to 2500kg and the down ball rate to 150kg. The kit can be optioned new or retrofitted for $722.50.

“Unless we can get the approval from R&D [research and development] we won’t do a local package,” Murray continued.

“We’d love the ball weight to be higher, and for it to pull a bit more… we go for the highest specification we can get, in any market that we deal in, but R&D specify for that particular vehicle a safety margin for the car itself, and at the end of the day the thing that’s first and foremost is vehicle safety.”