Compare the2024 Kia SorentoVS 2023 Jeep Cherokee

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Environmental Friendliness
Transmission
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Passenger Space
Cargo Capacity
Towing
Ergonomics
Model Availability
Recommendations

Safety

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For enhanced safety, the front and second-row seat shoulder belts of the Kia Sorento have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Jeep Cherokee doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

Both the Sorento and Cherokee have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Sorento S/EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Cherokee’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Sorento are reminded to check the back seat when a sensor determines the back seat is occupied. The Cherokee doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

The Sorento SX/Prestige has a standard Surround View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Cherokee only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.

Both the Sorento and Cherokee have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Sorento has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The Cherokee’s Rear Cross-Path Detection doesn’t automatically brake.

The Sorento’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Cherokee doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.

Both the Sorento and the Cherokee have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and available all wheel drive.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Kia Sorento is safer than the Jeep Cherokee:

	Sorento	Cherokee
	Driver
STARS	4 Stars	4 Stars
Neck Injury Risk	21%	38.2%
Neck Stress	168 lbs.	408 lbs.
Neck Compression	22 lbs.	41 lbs.
Leg Forces (l/r)	212/405 lbs.	368/516 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Kia Sorento is safer than the Jeep Cherokee:

	Sorento	Cherokee
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Spine Acceleration	32 G’s	43 G’s

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

Warranty

The Sorento comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Cherokee’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Kia’s powertrain warranty covers the Sorento 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Jeep covers the Cherokee. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Cherokee ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

Reliability

To reliably start during all conditions and help handle large electrical loads, the Sorento has a standard 760-amp battery. The Cherokee’s 700-amp battery isn’t as powerful.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2023 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Kia vehicles are better in initial quality than Jeep vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Kia above average in initial quality. With 21 more problems per 100 vehicles, Jeep is rated lower.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the statistics that show that Kia vehicles are more reliable than Jeep vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Kia first in reliability, above the industry average. With 56 more problems per 100 vehicles, Jeep is ranked 19th.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Kia vehicles are more reliable than Jeep vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Kia 16 places higher in reliability than Jeep.

Engine

The Sorento LX/S’ standard 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder produces 11 more horsepower (191 vs. 180) and 10 lbs.-ft. more torque (181 vs. 171) than the Cherokee’s standard 2.4 DOHC 4-cylinder. The Sorento EX/SX’s standard 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 11 more horsepower (281 vs. 270) and 16 lbs.-ft. more torque (311 vs. 295) than the Cherokee Trailhawk’s optional 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder.

As tested in Motor Trend the Sorento EX/SX 2.5 turbo 4-cylinder is faster than the Cherokee Trailhawk 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder:

	Sorento	Cherokee
Zero to 60 MPH	6.3 sec	7.5 sec
Quarter Mile	14.8 sec	15.8 sec
Speed in 1/4 Mile	97 MPH	87.1 MPH

Fuel Economy and Range

On the EPA test cycle the Sorento gets better mileage than the Cherokee:

			MPG
Sorento
	FWD	2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	23 city/31 hwy
		2.5 turbo 4-cyl.	20 city/29 hwy
	AWD	2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	23 city/28 hwy
		2.5 turbo 4-cyl.	20 city/27 hwy
Cherokee
	AWD	2.4 DOHC 4-cyl.	21 city/29 hwy
		2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	20 city/26 hwy

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Kia Sorento uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Cherokee Trailhawk requires premium for maximum efficiency, which can cost on average about 82.8 cents more per gallon.

The Sorento has 1.9 gallons more fuel capacity than the Cherokee (17.7 vs. 15.8 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups.

The Sorento has a standard locking fuel door which locks and unlocks with the power locks. The fuel filler door is not lockable on the Cherokee. A locking fuel door helps prevent fuel theft and vandalism, such as sugar in the tank.

Environmental Friendliness

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Kia Sorento higher (7 out of 10) than the Jeep Cherokee (5 to 6). This means the Sorento produces up to 8 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Cherokee every 15,000 miles.

Transmission

The Sorento offers an available sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The Cherokee doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

Brakes and Stopping

The Sorento stops much shorter than the Cherokee:

	Sorento	Cherokee
60 to 0 MPH	115 feet	131 feet	Motor Trend
60 to 0 MPH (Wet)	143 feet	153 feet	Consumer Reports

Tires and Wheels

For better traction, the Sorento has larger standard tires than the Cherokee (235/65R17 vs. 225/60R18). The Sorento SX/SX Prestige’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Cherokee (255/45R20 vs. 245/65R17).

The Sorento SX/SX Prestige’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Cherokee Altitude LUX’s optional 60 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Sorento SX/SX Prestige has standard 20-inch wheels. The Cherokee’s largest wheels are only 18-inches.

Suspension and Handling

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Sorento’s wheelbase is 4.2 inches longer than on the Cherokee (110.8 inches vs. 106.6 inches).

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the Sorento is 1.6 inches wider in the front and 1.8 inches wider in the rear than the average track on the Cherokee.

The Sorento X-Line SX Prestige handles at .85 G’s, while the Cherokee pulls only .77 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Sorento X-Line SX Prestige executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.7 seconds quicker than the Cherokee (26.5 seconds @ .67 average G’s vs. 28.2 seconds @ .59 average G’s).

Passenger Space

The Sorento has standard seating for 7 passengers; the Cherokee can only carry 5.

The Sorento has .9 inches more front headroom, .3 inches more front legroom, 1.8 inches more front hip room, 1.5 inches more front shoulder room, .6 inches more rear headroom, 1.4 inches more rear legroom, 5.2 inches more rear hip room and 3 inches more rear shoulder room than the Cherokee.

Cargo Capacity

The Sorento’s cargo area provides more volume than the Cherokee.

	Sorento	Cherokee
Third Seat Folded	38.5 cubic feet	n/a
Third Seat Removed	45 cubic feet	27.6 cubic feet
Second Seat Folded	75.5 cubic feet	54.7 cubic feet

The Sorento’s cargo area is larger than the Cherokee’s in every dimension:

	Sorento	Cherokee
Length to seat (3rd/2nd/1st)	15.5”/42.5”/76.5”	n.a./33.9”/67.6”
Max Width	54”	49.2”
Min Width	42.4”	39.4”
Height	33”	28.8”

Pressing a button automatically lowers the Sorento’s optional second row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Cherokee doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

Towing

Maximum trailer towing in the Jeep Cherokee is limited to 4000 pounds. The Sorento offers up to a 4500 lbs. towing capacity.

Ergonomics

On a hot day the Sorento’s driver can lower all the windows from a distance using the keyless remote. The driver of the Cherokee can only operate the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

Manual rear side window sunshades are available in the Sorento to help block heat and glare for the rear passengers. The Cherokee doesn’t offer rear side window sunshades.

Both the Sorento and the Cherokee offer available heated front seats. The Sorento Prestige also has standard heated second row seats to keep those passengers extremely comfortable in the winter. Heated rear seats aren’t available in the Cherokee.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Kia Sorento S/EX/SX/Prestige has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. The Cherokee doesn’t offer wireless personal charging.

Model Availability

The Sorento is available in both front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive configurations. The Cherokee doesn’t offer a two-wheel drive configuration.

Recommendations

Consumer Reports® recommends the Kia Sorento, based on reliability, safety and performance. The Jeep Cherokee isn't recommended.

The Kia Sorento outsold the Jeep Cherokee by almost four to one during 2023.