Put a kid in a Sweets from Heaven shop and you’ll get some idea of what things are like for today’s SUV buyer. So many choices it’s hard to know which way to turn. Go bigger, go smaller; petrol or diesel; tar bias or proper off-roader; German or Brit or Japan or Korean. That’s before we mention price, which starts with something like the R200k entry Daihatsu Terios and heads rapidly north.

Talk diesel auto SUV, below R430 000, and the competitive set is anything from a diesel BMW X1 to a Fortuner (if only Toyota offered a diesel auto). Depending on what you value, you could trade up to an Audi Q5 2.0 TDI, across to a Nissan X-Trail dCi A/T or similarly equipped Renault Koleos. You might look at the Land Rover Freelander 2.2 TDI, the Tiguan 2.0 TDI Track & Field with Tiptronic, or get more serious and see if the Ford Everest TDCI 4x4 A/T is going to do the trick.

So the playing fields are wide open for these two 2.2-litre diesel auto softroaders. One all new, the other a facelift; one with five seats, the other with seven. One from Korea, one from Japan (and built in the UK). Same same then, but very different. 

Seven from Korea
Depending on what you want, the Sorento could either be a major surprise or a big disappointment. I’ll opt for the former, because while the latest iteration may have lost its ladder frame chassis, solid rear axle and low range, it has gained acres of style on the road to becoming a fashion accessory and lifestyle wagon. Leaving the heavy offroading to the Toyotas and Land Rovers of this world, Kia looked carefully at the owner profile and decided on a new set of talents.

Blame Peter Schreyer, ex Audi and Volkswagen, and his team of experts, for all this nonsense. Superb car, highly desirable, tactile in all the right places, with nice to hold and touch items ranging from the key fob (so Audi-like it’s scary) to the grippy steering wheel with its big stitching and buffalo hide texture.

The sheet metal is also so much better: square, bluff, handsome. The keynote bottle-opener grille is writ large up front, and bold, strong, squared-off surfaces abound. The proportions are pleasingly big and macho. The rear light jewellery is red-dot busy, the headlights swept back in a snarl. The lower panels and wheelarches are purposefully defined by black cladding. It’s a looker.