Like Johnny Cash, this SUV walks the line

Performance

With 262 horsepower and 260 lb.-ft. of torque, the V-6 does a good job of moving the roughly 4,400-pound Sorento off the line, but you know the weight is there. The 3.8-liter engine is mated to a five-speed transmission, which is nice and smooth in automatic mode. It held steady on a long climb without any hunting. The manual shift mode offers more performance, but the electronics upshift if the driver doesn’t, sometimes sooner than what’s ideal. In either mode, the engine had plenty of power on the freeway. Kia’s Torque on Demand automatic 4WD system had no trouble with moderate off-pavement terrain. Unfortunately, all this power drains the gas tank. We averaged 14.6 mpg in city, highway and off-road driving.

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