This week, we’ll be getting our hands on the 2024 Kia Sorento X-Pro for a first drive. The X-Pro trim is Kia’s version of an off-road and adventure-oriented package for the three-row SUV, and it features 17-inch wheels with BF Goodrich all-terrain rubber, a locking center differential, a revised skid plate, and a roof rack. Also new is the exterior and interior design, which borrows heavily from the Sorento’s big brother, the sharply-styled Telluride. The refreshed Sorento debuted at the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Powertrains carry over, including the 2.5-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder that makes 191 horsepower, as well as the 281-horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged Smartstream GDI engine, which is standard on the X-Pro. The PHEV hybrid version won’t get the styling updates for 2024 but will for the 2025 model year. Active, on-demand all-wheel-drive and torque vectoring should add to the X-Pro’s off-road chops, and Kia is clearly aiming at the burgeoning market for butched-up softroaders, mimicking some of the equipment packages offered on the Honda Pilot (Trailsport), the Subaru Forester and Crosstrek (Wilderness), Nissan Pathfinder (Rock Creek), and Toyota RAV-4 (TRD Pro).
Kia doesn’t have much of a legacy in the 4WD world, but if you cast your mind back to the early years of the twenty-first century, you may remember the tiny first-generation Kia Sportage (1993-2002) and the first-gen Sorento (2002-2009). Both of these SUVs had body-on-frame construction on ladder chassis and true 4WD with low range and optional manual transmissions. Kia even entered a Sportage in the 1993 Paris-Dakar Rally, and the race-spec Sportage won its class in the 1995 Baja 1000. The aftermarket didn’t rush in to support these trucks, so they never got much of a toe-hold with enthusiasts.
What do you want to know about the new Kia Sorento X-Pro? Let us know in the comments or drop a note on our Instagram or Facebook channels, and we’ll do our best to answer your questions once we get behind the wheel in the mountains of Colorado later this week.
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