21st Aug 2007, 22:12

Bought a used 2004 Kia Sorento at 39.999 miles. Went out to start the car and found that the engine would not turn over.

I have 59,000 miles now. Car makes a strange clicking noise when the key is turned. I have lights, but saw the previous comment about the sorento's battery dying for no apparent reason. Any one else have a "battery" problem?? I also have the strange noise when turning the wheels. My husband also has the strange noise with his 2005 Spectra. The noise will not duplicate itself in the presence of the mechanic. I love my Kia, my trade in was a 2000 Mercedes 320 from Heckk!!!

7th Sep 2007, 14:17

2004 Kia Sorento EX Fully loaded, bought used only 1 year old. Great for about the first year, since then nothing, but a bunch of problems! First the power steering rack was replaced, then the radio, then the drive-shaft, now with the crank shaft problems they replaced basically my whole engine. 3 months later there is a recall on the crankshaft bolt that was just replaced 3 months ago from the same problem!

This vehicle looks great, has nice options, but regret the day I bought it. Even though so far all work has been covered by warranty.

6th Mar 2008, 15:00

Regarding the problems with the clicking and the flat battery on the Kia Sorento, I have had this problem twice on my car. When Kia Assist sent the RAC to my car today the engineer found that once he "jump-started" it there wasn't any problem with the battery or the voltage. He contacted the RAC technical team who told him that there is a problem with the radio which causes it to switch itself on, even though the ignition is off, and there can also be a problem with the rear boot light coming on on its own, both of which can flatten the battery. However, when I contacted my local Kia agent this afternoon they said they had not heard of these problems, but suggested I bring the car right away and leave it with them to check out.

6th Mar 2008, 15:57

These comments remind me of my first, last and only experience with the Sorento. My wife and I were looking to trade our Ford Explorer for a newer SUV. I loved the look of the Sorento and went to test drive one. The salesman and I had gotten about a half mile from the dealership when the car just died and rolled to a stop. Nothing we tried worked at getting it started. The salesman called the dealership and had them send a couple of techs down. They just stood there scratching their heads and saying "Uhh...we don't know very much about these things." That was NOT encouraging!!

I told the salesman I had an appointment to get to, and asked if someone from the dealership could come and give me a ride back to my car. He said he'd have an employee bring a "service vehicle" to come pick me up. When it arrived it was the exact year, make, model and COLOR of our old Explorer!! I took that as an omen that we should keep the Explorer a while longer.

21st Apr 2008, 14:15

My clock resets for no reason... sometimes it just goes off for a while. I also have the weird sounds in the front end.

1st Aug 2008, 10:22

Bought a 2004 Kia Sorento EX brand new. I've had it for 4 years without any problems and it has over 80,000 miles on it. I love my Sorento and plan to keep it until it dies!

11th Aug 2008, 13:21

I have an 2003 Kia Sorento. Every time I put gas in it shoot back out and clicks off like it's full. Once I get down to 1/4 of a tank it will just die like it's starving for gas. Dealership wants another 1200 to see if they can fix it. I've already put 1200 in a new computer which now I think it was never the problem.

22nd Oct 2008, 09:07

KIA is horrible! Like all of the other posts I've probably replaced my battery 4 times since buying a brand new Sorento in 2004. Now my transmission is going out and they will not honor the warranty! This company is full of excuses! Supposedly you have to flush the transmission and if you cannot produce proof that it's been done during the life of the car, they will not cover repair when you do have transmission issues. My speedometer and gas gauge also do not work consistently so I never know how fast I'm going or how much gas I have. The dealership wants $100 per hour to even look at what's wrong! Unfortunately I have another year and a half to pay on this piece of crap!

25th Feb 2010, 21:19

I bought a Kia Sorento new in 2005... I like the car a lot for many of the reasons others on this board like their cars (4x4, style, roominess, warranty, etc)... my car has been superb when it matters, but I have had some annoyances, so just to be able to validate other claims of the same issues - I've had issues with my oxygen sensors, my dome light, squeaky belts, and battery drain (though no electrical items get left on when the car's off). There were some recall items that were fixed - that's somewhat par for newer cars.

But all of the issues - while inconvenient or annoying - were warrantied. I have yet to have to pay for any of the services it's had to have done - I've gotten regular oil changes and otherwise taken good care of my car. I DO use it offroad, in 4-wheel drive, and in heavy snow and long road trips. I don't do much city driving. It's been everything I needed and bought it for. Granted, it's got some cheaper parts (but it's a cheaper car) and you get what you pay for... but one thing I've noticed that no one seems to have mentioned specifically is...

The KIA dealerships make all the difference. The local dealership were so superficial and not really very interested in selling me a car on my own time frame. I saved $5k by driving 2 hours to the next dealership. They were great, easy in/easy out, no fluff or BS.

When I had so many issues with my car (mostly belts and battery drain issues) - the local service guys also left a LOT to be desired. They did not put stuff into the computer and never actually fixed the belt problems (and ultimately, I got tired of taking my car in because of the inconvenience)... by the time I had the mental energy to try again, the belts were out of warranty (1-year warranty). They claimed they replaced the belts, but they still always squeaked and another Kia dealership later said they look like they were the originals. (I wasn't going to bother at this point - the local KIA dealership was not very reasonable or customer service oriented.

I then moved, and my new closest KIA dealership has been awesome beyond words - going above and beyond to fix any issues and make sure I was happy with the outcome. The 800 road side assistance has picked up my car and towed it to the dealership twice now (45 minutes from where I live), and they have delivered it back to me at home in a very timely fashion (same day, 2 days max). I'm a realist, so I know that all cars have problems at some point, it's usually not convenient, and it can take time to fix them, and it doesn't have to be on their dime (i.e. rental car) if the problem part/system is out of warranty. It's a fact of life. You can't expect to buy a $25k car and get the quality of a $45k car... so with that said - and the fact that my car has held up very nicely for 5 years now, they've fixed almost every issue (just not squeaky belts, but the belts have worked just fine) and I've paid nothing for it other than the oil changes - I am VERY happy with my KIA. I'd recommend the Sorento to others, but if you're not close to a truly good dealership - I might not just because a crappy dealership or service department can totally make or break your experience with your car. :S.