The segment of at least partially electrified SUVs is growing and growing. This may not necessarily make ecological sense, but it does benefit the manufacturers economically. There is also a significant amount from the taxpayer, so that the bill looks much friendlier for the interested party. The Kia Sorento plug-in hybrid, which was available to us as a test car, is tailored to these framework conditions; it would be dishonest to blame it on him alone. But Kia sometimes goes a little strange with the technical implementation, and it is not clear why.

The Sorento PHEV gave me a new experience: I haven’t had a test car in winter that on the one hand can be electrically charged for a certain distance, but on the other hand cannot be preconditioned. This is more than a little surprising, because the Sorento has a built-in PTC heating element. When asked, Kia informed us that this electric heater should only have a supporting effect and that it has a maximum power consumption of 1.34 kW. From a technical point of view, however, there is no reason why that alone should not be enough to heat the interior.

A purchase argument for plug-in hybrids that should not be underestimated is therefore omitted in this PHEV SUV: the auxiliary heating. Despite the full battery and connection to the wallbox at home, I had to scrape the Sorento free. In addition, Kia provides a contribution on the subject of “Hungry in front of the delicatessen store”: There is one area in the app in which, among other things, it is even possible to specify in detail which seat heating should be switched on – but none of this can be addressed.

Temperatures ranged between a little below zero and five degrees Celsius during our test. If you only want to move the Sorento PHEV electrically at such outside temperatures, you only have one chance: You actually have to switch off the entire air conditioning. “Temperature down” or “air conditioning off” could not convince the test car to keep the combustion engine silent. It doesn’t necessarily drive the wheels, but according to the display on the screen it charges the previously filled battery – for whatever reason. So Kia uses the excess heat given off by the combustion engine to heat the interior, no matter how low the driver’s requirement may be.

This significantly limits the use in the cold season, because purely electric travel is only possible on this route if the driver does not use any temperature control and, if necessary, keeps the window transparent. There may be enthusiasts who tolerate that in this price range too. In view of the fact that, in principle, only a little software rework would be necessary, this remained somewhat incomprehensible to everyone in the editorial team.

A second big sticking point in Sorento is one that we have often criticized for plug-in hybrids: The internal charger is only designed for single-phase, Kia does not even use the 16 amps with which 3.7 kW would be possible. Instead, it is a maximum of 3.3 kW here – so not much of a difference. It is a fine move from Kia to store the public charging stations in the navigation system. With the low charging power, however, hardly anyone will use it regularly. At least a two-phase charger should come with an update, ideally also the option of being able to use direct current. Then a significant range could be recharged while shopping, visiting the swimming pool or similar situations. So that remains impossible.

According to the display in the on-board computer, the petrol engine intervened again with a remaining SoC (State of Charge) between 12 and 14 percent, the software held back the remaining battery level for any spurts. After driving onto a freeway, eight percent was in the display, so little was it in the test, otherwise just rolling around for the photographer.

The battery weighs 139 kg and has an energy content of 13.8 kWh. In the test, we used a wallbox and a 230-volt socket, on the one hand to find out differences, but above all to find out how much needs to be recharged in each case. As expected, it was slightly less on the wallbox, an average of 13.6 kWh, based on 13 percent SoC. With the pre-charger for the 230-volt socket, it was 14.6 kWh, also based on the displayed 13 percent SoC. The supplied loading tile is fused with 12 amps. Here you should check beforehand whether the socket is designed for such a high continuous output. The current in the vehicle can be limited to eight or six amperes.

In the test, we could travel at best 42 km with one battery charge – as I said, on the condition: without the vehicle’s internal air conditioning. In relation to the amount of electricity that we recharged on the wallbox, this means a minimum consumption of 32.4 kWh / 100 km. Anyone who fills the SUV from the 230-volt socket must expect at least 34.8 kWh / 100 km. There are two things to consider with these values: They contain the charging losses, so they are what the user actually has to pay. The values ​​were recorded at temperatures around freezing point. Electricity consumption will be lower in summer. But there is still too much.

If you move the SUV more courageously, the battery will of course be drained faster. In addition, it doesn’t take much, and the petrol engine also takes part – regardless of whether the E-mode was previously selected or not. Kia could easily mitigate the problem with an adaptive pedal: A certain resistance in the pedal travel, which draws a boundary to mixed operation, would make it easier for the driver to drive without a combustion engine. Especially since the electric motor with 67 kW would not be overly powerful, but would be sufficiently dimensioned to leisurely pull the SUV through the area.

This pace suits the Sorento more anyway, because then it remains acoustically inconspicuous. Anyone who calls up the full system output of at least 195 kW can make good progress. But despite the high range of services, there is never a feeling of overcrowding. In addition, there was another weakness in the test car: it sometimes takes a moment for it to react to inputs from the accelerator pedal. This is also annoying because this effect does not always occur.

The somewhat tortured sound of the charged 1.6-liter gasoline engine under load suggests that the full performance should not be called up too often. With just a little more restraint, you are hardly slower, but acoustically more relaxed. The fuel consumption is then also noticeably reduced. The Sorento was handed over to us with 10.3 liters in the on-board computer, we got 6.3 to 8.9 liters without reloading. At 47, the tank is exactly 20 liters smaller than in the models with a combustion engine.