The good Sorento

The original Sorento bravely tackles a muddy hill,
and wins, despite its city tyres.

Following on from the post below, the only Sorento you need to bother about is also the old model. Since moving to the new Sorento R it seems – if you'll allow me the pun – that the Korean couldn't kia less about off-roadability. The new one has no low-range and, while it makes a good cruiser and suburban duties wagon, you wouldn't want to go bush in it. I wouldn't, anyway. On the other hand, the old one had low range, a separate chassis and could do quite well on even pretty crappy tracks when thoughtfully driven. Initially it came with a 3.5 litre V6 or a 2.5 litre diesel, both mated to a five-speed auto. The V6 was good if you liked to spend lots of money on petrol, but anyone with half a brain chose the diesel, which produced 103kW and 343Nm of torque at 2000rpm. The original Sorento was suspended by wishbones at the front and a solid axle with coils at the back, a simple but effective setup. Oh yeah, the rear diff was a limited-slip unit, which usefully added to its off-road performance.