Rock and roll value - Kia Sorento 2.5 CRDi XS road test

We are conditioned to expect the end of the world to come from one of several accepted directions; nuclear conflagration, a giant asteroid, epidemic or bombs raining down while Vera Lynn belts out songs about ornithology
So no one would suspect the collapse of banking institutions like Lehmans while there were such interesting obliteration alternatives as the Yellowstone caldera and the Large Hadron cuckoo clock.
As an Armageddon, extinction by financial institutional stupidity ranks among the more imaginative.
Hardly surprising people are wondering if it is time to get their savings out of the building society and into something more certain. The 2-30pm at Kempton Park, for instance.
We are well on the way to the cheese-beard hippy dream of a society based on mead and strip farming.
Time to think value.
Kia insists its Sorento 4x4 is a premium SUV at a less than premium price. Well not quite. The interior finish is good job, as good as anything from the US or Europe but on the road the ride is harsh with more rock and roll than the Strictly Come Dancing jive section. Nice try, no six-figure bonus.
It is important you consider the Sorento for what it is and not as a great pretender, looking as it does, very much like a Lexus.
This is a rare bird. An off-roader designed more for the country than Waitrose. Well that's going to be Lidl now, anyway.
Grasp this nettle and you are looking at positives all the way. the 2.5 CRDi XS is punchy at 11.6 seconds to 60mph as well has having impressive pulling power. It will cope with conditions that would leave many of what pass for off-roaders being sick on their shoes.
The ladder chassis is a strong hint to Kia's intentions, as is the permanent, torque on demand 4x4 system on the XS models and above.
And it's big, as in very big with loads of leg room and plenty of boot space. And while it is at home in the wilderness, that's not what you get inside. There's a huge amount of standard equipment to which the XS adds full leather, folding mirrors, automatic lights
and front wiper de-icer.