Hyundai Terracan vs Kia Sorrento circa 2004

[UrbanLegend]

Has anyone owned either or possibly both?

The Sorrento looks more modern and possibly less capable but still good value as a winter car.

The Terracan looks pretty good too but more basic (no leather on any I've seen).

Are either any good off road or in snow?

[300bhp/ton]

UrbanLegend said:

Has anyone owned either or possibly both?

The Sorrento looks more modern and possibly less capable but still good value as a winter car.

The Terracan looks pretty good too but more basic (no leather on any I've seen).

Are either any good off road or in snow?

My brother used to work for Kia and they are perfectly capable and adequate cars for the money and target market. Nothing really wrong with them at all.

In terms of off road ability, depends what you mean. Such as are you wanting to only drive up a gravel track or maybe a semi dry grass field? If yes, then they are both capable.

If you are wanting to green lane or do some serious mud plugging, then no, they are both way out of their league.


For snow use both should be capable, although an appropriate set of tyres will do the world of good for either. However the AWD systems in both are of the more basic kind and they lack locking diffs or off road biased traction control systems.

Both much better than an 2wd car on the same tyres. And increased ride height makes them better than most 4wd cars on the same tyres.

But a TCS equipped Freelander would be a step up in ability.

[UrbanLegend]

Thanks 300

I am considering the Kia/Hyundai due to reliability really.

Would a Freelander be reliable?

Having said that, we used to have a 2003 LR Freelander, owned from ex-demo at 6 months old from a main dealer.

It was utterly reliable with the only issue being a HGF at 32k miles (all done under warranty).

I loved it TBH but you do hear some horror stories but then they are quite basic mechanically so shouldn't be that expensive to repair if one doesn't like to get ones hands dirty (which I don't mind tbh).

Thoughts & comments much appreciated.

[0llie]

Parents had a new Sorento in 2003 for 3 years, and more recently had a 2009 model as a stop-gap for about a year.

Neither had any issues, and far better off road than you'd give it credit for, poor approach/departure angles, not great axle articulation and low ride-height are the only downsides. Yes, it wouldn't follow a Discovery or Shogun up and across the trickier stuff, but IME, it will go further than a Freelander, especially when you need the extra control at slow speeds that the low range box offers you.

The base XE model is part-time 4WD, so on the road you use RWD only (reduced tyre wear and better fuel economy). The XS/XSE/XT have permanent 4WD systems. Both have low ratio gearboxes and limited slip centre differentials (I think...)

To drive, they aren't that bad really. Much nicer than my old 2001 Discovery on the road in almost every way, far more car like. Gearbox on later cars were more intuitive than the earlier 4 speed.

I remember going to the Nurburgring in about 2005 in the first one, sat at 100 all day long totally unfazed. Even the fuel economy was pretty strong, 25mpg locally and 30+ on a run (both of which were Automatic).

[UrbanLegend]

Thanks folks for the first hand feedback, just what I had hoped to get (good or bad)!

I think the LR has good pedigree and I can confirm that the Freelander is quite a capable machine off road but the likelihood is that it'll rarely go off road and the worst it'll see is snow for a few weeks each year and the odd grassy track and gravel.

I do like the look of the Sorrento and they appear really well made and probably not too bad on fuel or tyres being part time 4WD unlike the LR which is full time and hard on transfer boxes!

The Sorrento is also quite well equipped.

I really do like the design too, a nice looking 4x4.

I'd have to part with my e60 530i though for one and that'd be quite hard as it's in beautiful condition and a peach to drive.

[UrbanLegend]

Quite stylish IMHO.