2025 Kia Sorento Hybrid Review: All Of The MPG, None Of The Effort

Is the Kia Sorento Hybrid worth the extra money over its gas-only sibling? Buyers of three-row SUVs are spoiled for choice these days, though electrified options are rarer, especially if you don't have a luxury car budget.

Those already onboard with EVs might — not unfairly — sniff at hybrids. After all, though they're great for squeezing out extra fuel economy, at the end of the day you're still putting gasoline in, and getting all the usual emissions out. If you have the charging provisions, then a full EV or even a plug-in hybrid has some clear advantages.

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Mild-hybrids, like this 2025 Sorento HEV, though, aren't entirely lacking in advantages. If you don't have a charger — perhaps you street park, or live in an apartment building with no EV provisions — then the ease of pumping gas will appeal; similarly, there's no need to change any behaviors to address EV range anxiety. In theory, you can drive the Sorento Hybrid just like you would a gas-only Sorento Turbo, only get more than 10 mpg better fuel economy.

There's not much to give the 2025 Sorento Hybrid away, compared to its non-electrified and plug-in hybrid variants. Design is subjective, but I like Kia's neon-esque daytime running lights and vertically stacked lamp clusters; the automaker saves the more outlandish style for EVs like the EV9. 19-inch wheels are standard on both of Kia's trims for the Sorento Hybrid, and indeed both EX and SX Prestige are broadly in-line for exterior features.

Both get a power tailgate, LED protector headlamps and fog lamps, LED positioning lights, and some tasteful black cladding around the wheel arches and lower rockers. There's no X-Pro trim, however: Kia saves its "off-road" version (which is, to be fair, not exactly rugged so much as it looks the part) for the gas-only Sorento.

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Under the hood is a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gas engine, combined with an electric motor: together, they muster 227 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. Rather than the CVT that many hybrids rely upon, Kia has a six-speed automatic. Front-wheel drive is standard on the EX (from $38,690 plus $1,375 destination) with all-wheel drive an $1,800 option; the SX Prestige (from $46,890 plus destination) is all-wheel drive by default.

The Sorento is not a performance vehicle, though it's not like Kia positions it that way. It's smooth, easy to drive, and reasonably refined: the gas engine isn't the quietest example out there, but it at least doesn't whine and swoop — seemingly with no connection to how you're actually driving — like is the case on some mild hybrids. The "Smart" drive mode did a decent job of avoiding Eco's breathless tempering of power in favor of maximum frugality.

Sport mode, meanwhile, saw the Sorento get louder and its inline-four a little more frantic; the actual performance gains were slight, though. Finally, AWD versions get a Snow mode, which brought a marked improvement on slippery surfaces.

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Kia quotes 34 mpg across the board — city, highway, and combined — for the Sorento Hybrid AWD; the front-wheel drive version adds two more points to each of those categories. That's a neat uptick from the base Sorento AWD, at 26 mpg combined, and the Sorento Turbo AWD, at 23 mpg combined. My testing in the AWD hybrid fell several points short of Kia's 34 mpg rating (I suspect the cold weather may have contributed there), but that's still better than my time in the turbo non-hybrid.

Officially, the Sorento is a three-row SUV. Both EX and SX Prestige trims are six-seat configurations, with sliding captain's chairs in the second row; Kia's seven-seat versions are the base LX and S trims of the gas-only model. The EX has faux-leather, while the SX Prestige gets actual leather; both have heated front seats, but only the SX Prestige adds front seat ventilation, heating for the second row, and a heated steering wheel.

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Space is ample in the first and second rows. Kia makes accessing the third row easy, with quick-release buttons sending the captain's chairs tumbling, though accommodations back there are more kid-scale. If you're regularly transporting three rows of adults, Kia would probably suggest stepping up to a Telluride.

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Or, you can fold the third row flat — with easy release cords — and expand the 12.6 cu-ft dual-level trunk to as much as 45 cu-ft. Folding the captain's chairs takes that to a healthy 75.5 cu-ft.

Kia gets points for the physical switchgear in its center console — it's easy to adjust seat heating/ventilation, drive mode, and summon the exterior cameras without needing to look down — then loses said-points for its annoying double-duty HVAC and media controls. Are they set to adjust the dual-zone climate control, or adjust volume and do track skips? There's no way of knowing unless you look down, at the needlessly slim row of mostly touch-sensitive buttons which each serve two purposes. It's tedious on every car Kia has used it on.

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Both trims have a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, with Kia's easy-to-use UI along with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The EX has a small, 4-inch cluster display; the SX Prestige swaps that for a fully-digital 12.3-inch cluster, and upgrades the regular 6-speaker audio to a 12-speaker Bose system. A wireless phone charger is standard either way.

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Each row gets a pair of USB-C ports for charging; there are also 12V ports in the second row and the cargo area. The SX Prestige has a 115V outlet back there, too. Standard safety tech includes forward and rear collision warnings and assistance, parking sensors front and rear (the SX Prestige adds auto-brake to that), and Highway Driving Assist (version 1 on the EX, and version 2 on the SX Prestige).

Nobody — outside of Kia marketing, perhaps — is going to call the Sorento exciting and hold a straight face. Capable, certainly; frugal, definitely, and without demanding behavioral change. It's well-equipped and spacious, and so perhaps the fact that it doesn't provoke spontaneous and uncontrollable smiles isn't really an issue.

Neither is it outrageously expensive to go electrified. The Sorento plug-in hybrid may have a hefty $47,990 starting price, but the Sorento EX Hybrid is just a $600 premium over the gas-only SUV. The Sorento SX Prestige Hybrid, with standard AWD, is only $500 more than the comparative Sorento X-Line SX Prestige AWD with the turbo engine.

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Yes, you spend more upfront, but according to the EPA the non-hybrid owner will pay $1,750 more in fuel costs over five years, compared to the average new vehicle. The Sorento Hybrid AWD, in contrast, will pay $1,750 less. $3,000 in gas savings, the same convenience, and no compromise in capability? It's tough to argue that the 2025 Sorento Hybrid isn't the pick of Kia's midsize three-row crossovers.