Looking for a Family Car? Try the 2014 Kia Sorento

Thanks to Kia for allowing us to drive the Kia Sorento for a week. All opinions are my own.

One of the cool perks of writing for Mess for Less is the chance to test out new products and report my opinions back to you, the readers. We had a blast one week in late November as we got to test drive the 2014 Kia Sorento SX. I used it for school drop offs and pick ups, errands, and short trips. Though it was super fun to drive, I did play nice and let my husband drive it also. 

The first thing I noticed about the Kia Sorento was its style. This is a car I would be proud to drive. The design is sleek and modern and it just looks awesome in Remington Red Metallic. The funny thing is prior to driving the Sorento, I would never have bought a red car. A lot of red cars I see seem flashy, but the red really complements the lines and curves of this SUV.

The Kia Sorento SX seats 7 and has a 3rd row that can be stored away to open a ton of cargo room space. I tried sitting in the 3rd row and my knees were touching the seat ahead of me. I am 5'5" and while the seat was not uncomfortable, I would not purchase the Sorento and plan to use the 3rd row for an adult with any regularity. It would however, come in really handy when you have guests or family in town and you don't want to use a second car.

The second row contains soft, comfortable leather seats and even a second row seat warmer.

The second row also passed my test for a family car - it fit 3 car seats! We have Radian car seats (not boosters) which are on the slim side and they fit perfectly into the second row. There was plenty of space for the kids to get in and out and maneuver themselves.

My kids favorite feature of the car was the huge sunroof that took up almost the entire length of the car. They loved looking up and watching the sky, trees and buildings as we passed. They were very excited one day when they saw a bird fly over head!

Let's face it, sunroofs are cool for moms too. Though I don't recommend driving around like this.

As a safety conscious mom, the Kia Sorento has lots of features to love. My favorites are the back up camera and alert and the blind spot detection system. My current minivan has a back up camera, but that's where it ends. The Sorento has color coded icons and a beeping warning system that occurs when you are close to backing into something. Sometimes when you are pulling out of a spot you aren't looking at the console screen, so the beeping can really make a difference. Also, the beeping and color coding make parallel parking a breeze. I am not the world's best parallel parker (OK, I am pretty bad) so this feature got me excited. 

The blind spot detection system is another safety feature that impressed me. When you are making a lane change and there is a car in your blind spot, the alert will start beeping and an icon with light up on the side mirror to let you know. 

My tech geek husband wanted me to mention the features that impressed him. He loved the electronics in the Kia Sorento. The speedometer looks traditional but is electronic. It can be linked to the navigation and will show you the next turn on your speedometer. You can have the radio display on and still read navigation on your speedometer. Pretty cool! 

My husband also had fun playing with the UVO system which really makes the Sorento a "smart" car. UVO is packed with lots of features that link up with your phone. You can even set a parking minder where the car will let your phone know where you have parked. If you've ever wandered a parking lot, pushing a cart with three cranky kids while searching for your car, you know what a sanity saver this can be!

If I could change a few things about the 2014 Kia Sorento, I would include a built in DVD player. My kids are very used to having a DVD player in a car and honestly, as a parent it can sometimes be a lifesaver. Adding a DVD player would make the Kia Sorento the perfect family car in my mind.

Another add I would make to the Sorento is usable roof rack. We went to a tree lot to pick out our Christmas tree and while we able to get it home by tying it to the inside of the car, the process of getting the tree home would have been a lot easier with a roof rack that had a place to tether a rope. The rack on the Sorento seemed purely decorative.

We have been guilty of thinking of Kia as a cheaper brand of car, but my husband and I were pleased to discover it had so many options and features we haven't even seen in fancy luxury cars. We are converts! An added bonus is the fact that we didn't have to fill up the gas tank all week. We usually have to fill up our minivan each week, but after a week of driving, the Sorento still had 1/4 tank of gas left.

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