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2011 Kia Sorento – First Drive Review – Auto Reviews – Car and Driver
July 29, 2011 | 
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The previous wasn’t a bad SUV. It looked good inside and out and offered a ton of value. But that Sorento
was an SUV—a full-fledged one—with all that entails: a bulky separate frame, a live axle out back, a jiggly ride, reduced interior room, and a serious fuel-pump addiction. It wasn’t the type of vehicle that plays very well today, what with tightening CAFE standards and increased environmental concerns. And so this all-new 2011 model is less of a redesign than a complete forsaking of that formula, scrapping the old rear-drive-based chassis in favor of a front-drive architecture shared with the Hyundai Santa Fe.
The change has done the Sorento good. Although our drive was limited to freeway jaunts in a preproduction front-drive V-6 model, the much higher levels of driving refinement and overall utility were pretty apparent. The ride was quiet, the straight-line tracking true, and the comforts suitable for creatures. Size-wise, the Sorento sits roughly alongside the rest of the cute-ute segment, which you’d expect, given that the Toyota RAV4, Ford Edge, Chevy Equinox, Mazda CX-7, and Honda CR-V are the targets. But even being a bit longer and a smidge taller than most of its competition—the Toyota Highlander is an ancillary target, too—Kia says weight is down over the previous model by as much as 400 pounds.
Keeping in mind we only used it to change lanes, the steering seems accurate, and it has little on-center play. The Sorento’s 273-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 pulls well during full-throttle merges, although it makes more blustery noise and intake whoosh than seems necessary given the level of thrust; call it all bark and some bite. Kia claims a 0-to-60 time for the V-6 of, well, it doesn’t say, but we can tell you that the Sorento will definitely go 60 mph—
and higher.
Beyond the V-6, the Sorento can be had with a 172-horse four-cylinder. The base model is limited to four-banger, front-drive, six-speed-manual spec; LX models can be outfitted with all-wheel drive and use the four-cylinder and a Kia-designed six-speed automatic transmission with manumatic control. The autobox and the availability of all-wheel drive carry over to the top-spec EX, and this trim can be ordered with either engine. We found the six-speed auto to be smooth in its shifts but slow to react to manual inputs, which are best reserved for selecting and holding a gear on a hilly drive rather than for aggressive shifting. Impressions on the full lineup will have to wait until we get a chance to drive the rest in a few weeks’ time.
Where’s Shamu?
Inside, the seats are comfortable and the interior trimmings are attractive, judgments we can make with absolute clarity since we were stuck in a five-hour traffic jam after biblical rains washed out bridges and turned Atlanta into the world’s largest SeaWorld just before we arrived. (We’d love to completely blame it on the rain—Milli Vanilli reference!—but we could have completed our trip in an hour and avoided the jam altogether simply by following the recommended detour. Like our mom always said, we’re jackasses.) The Sorento’s cabin has a nice mix of textures and a handsome, logical design. Our test vehicle had matte-finish plastic wood trim that we preferred over the glossy, chintzy stuff in other examples; if the wood has to be fake, at least the matte look was interesting. The matte trim isn’t yet approved for production, but we’ll attempt to sway the jury by adding that it looked great with the brown and olive two-tone upholstery.
Being stuck in traffic for so long, the standard Sirius satellite radio came in handy, although we have one huge gripe about the tuning in Kia (and Hyundai) vehicles: When selecting a satellite station, you turn a knob as in most other vehicles, but you then have to push the knob to confirm the change. Otherwise, it hops back to your previous selection, which could be several dozen stations away. We’re turning the knob, so aren’t we
already confirming our intent to change stations? Is there a whole population of accidental knob turners—let’s just call them “knobs”—out there that we don’t know about? In any event, the stereo sounded good and also includes auxiliary and USB input jacks.
Bluetooth phone connectivity is also on the standard equipment list, and push-button starting, voice-activated navigation with traffic info, and a rear-view camera are optional, so the tech quotient is high. There’s also an available foldable third-row seat, although it’s pretty tight in its upright and locked position and leaves only enough room behind to carry a few dismembered Barbie dolls. Subtract the third row, and the Sorento is one of the roomiest stuff swallowers in the segment, offering 73 cubes of room with the second row folded and 37 with it up. Those figures would have tied for first and come in second, respectively, in a recent
.
Get the V-6, If You Can
Without driving the full lineup, it’s hard to place the Sorento in the pygmy-ute pecking order, but it should be in the thick of things. The pricing will undoubtedly be attractive—figure a base-price range of $20,000 to $27,000 or so—and the baked-in tech equipment is compelling. But even without driving the four-cylinder, we already recommend going for the V-6 if you can swing it. Not only does it have 101 more hp and 81 additional lb-ft of torque, but you only lose 1 mpg each in the city and highway ratings in the process. With front-wheel drive and the automatic transmission, the four returns 21/29 mpg versus the six’s 20/28; all-wheel drive drops those figures by one. All the economy numbers are at or near the top of the segment.
Removing the Sorento from among the ever-dwindling ranks of plodding, heavy SUVs and inserting it into the heart of the crossover market was a smart move, not only from regulatory compliance and sales standpoints but also from the plain ol’ making-a-good-vehicle perspective, too. At a minimum, the 2011 Sorento is a handsome, comfy, value-driven alternative to the leaders in the segment; at best, it might give those front-runners a stiff fight. Like we said, the old Sorento wasn’t
bad ,
but this new one—it will be built at Kia’s shiny new Georgia factory starting in November—is much better.
Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/09q3/2011_kia_sorento-first_drive_review
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2001 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 – Road Test – Auto Reviews – Car and Driver
Stumble upon a nest of Corvette aficionados, and you’ll hear more obscure alphanumeric sequences than if you’d crept into a meeting of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Back in 1963, codes such as L-88, ZR-1, M-22, and ZL-1 were created as internal designations for Corvette options, but they have since taken on deep and emotional meaning for the Corvette faithful.
For 2001, Chevrolet will rejuvenate a code from this hallowed list with the new model you see on these pages. Called the Z06, it represents a variant of the C5 Corvette enhanced with a comprehensive package of go-fast upgrades designed to make it the highest-performance production Corvette ever built. (In 1963, the Z06 code signified a racing package that included finned aluminum drum brakes, a beefed-up suspension, and a 36.5-gallon gas tank.)
The new Z06 starts with a more powerful version of the Corvette’s LS1 V-8 engine. Designated the LS6, this engine employs a redesigned intake manifold with smoother internal passages. Revised cylinder heads incorporate better-flowing intake and exhaust ports, combustion chambers redesigned to reduce valve shrouding, and a higher compression ratio. New thin-walled cast-iron exhaust manifolds provide a smoother exit for the combustion products.
To exploit the LS6′s greater flow capacities at high rpm, the engineers fitted a hotter camshaft with more valve overlap and greater valve lift, new chrome-vanadium-steel valve springs, and stronger pistons cast from a more durable alloy. And to help air retreat from the underside of the flaying pistons, the LS6 has windows cast into the internal crankcase walls.
These collective changes result in 385 horsepower at 6000 rpm, 385 pound-feet of torque at 4800 rpm, and a redline of 6500 rpm increases of 40 horsepower, 35 pound-feet, and 500 rpm, respectively, over the current LS1 engine. Incidentally, by fitting a few of the LS6 pieces to the LS1 V-8, that engine gets bumped 5 horsepower and 25 pound-feet for 2001.
The LS6 engine feeds its fortified output to the rear wheels via a beefed-up clutch (with lighter pedal effort), a larger-diameter driveshaft, and a revised six-speed manual transaxle. Called the M12, this new gearbox has shorter gearing (10 to 16 percent shorter, except for fourth gear, which is unchanged) to better exploit the LS6 engine’s higher-revving power band.
Collectively, these powertrain changes vastly increase the Z06′s avail-able thrust and require major chassis revisions. As a result, the car gets a new FE4 suspension that includes revised shock calibrations all-around, a stiffer rear transverse leaf spring, and stiffer anti-roll bars front and rear (larger diameter with thicker walls).
There are also larger tires and wheels, with the rim width going up one inch at all four corners to 9.5 inches in front and 10.5 inches in back. Wrapped around these enlarged wheels, which also sport a new 10-spoke design and are said to be very light, is a new Goodyear tire called the Eagle F1 SC. It was developed specifically for the Z06. The fronts are 265/40ZR-17s; the rears are 295/35ZR-18s; each 20 millimeters wider than the rubber on other Corvettes.
These Eagle F1 SCs dispense with the run-flat capability of the standard C5 tires. Consequently, they have more flexible sidewalls, which permit a half-degree more negative camber (0.75 degree instead of 0.25 degree) to keep the tread flatter during hard cornering.
They also employ an asymmetric tread design with the inner tread biased toward wet grip and the outboard areas working best in the dry. In lieu of a spare, a can of high-tech–stop leak–and an inflation kit are supplied.
Finally, to make the most of the increased thrust and grip, Chevrolet engineers took a few things out of the Z06–namely, 38 pounds. About 23 pounds comes from the new tires, thanks to the lack of run-flat reinforcements. Another six or so pounds comes from slightly thinner glass in the windshield and rear window. Finally, the Z06 gets a set of titanium mufflers (see sidebar), which are about 18 pounds lighter than the stainless silencers used on C5s. (Heavier drivetrain and suspension bits offset some of these reductions.)
Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/00q3/2001_chevrolet_corvette_z06-road_test
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