Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the suv segment and utilize the same 5-door suv body style and the 4 x 4 wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Mercedes Benz-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 18-valves 218hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 198hp engine designed by Hyundai.

The fact that the KIA got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, offers a slight advantage, as the 4-star rating is better than none. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the suv segment, which is generally a very good thing safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? On the other hand, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, Sorento offers a marginal difference of 1% more metal.

Manufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that KIA does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of SSangYong with an average rating of 4.4, and models under the KIA badge with 4.6 out of 5. The same official information place Rexton as average reliability-wise, and Sorento is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as Rexton rank it on average as 4.6, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.5 out of 5.

SSangYong is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.4 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 197 kilometers per hour, 5km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be Sorento, averaging around 11.9 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (24 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 26% difference compared to Rexton!

KIA appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, Sorento beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. From there things take a different direction, with SSangYong offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but KIA. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.