My mom has owned three of them, a Sportage and two Sorentos. The Sportage and first Sorento were totalled out in accidents. The Sportage was hit in the rear at 40+ MPH and my mom walked away; it didn't even wake my 2-year old niece.

If your only experience with Kia was before 2006, you're not getting a full picture of what they're about. The newer units' quality is leaps and bounds above what they had 12-15 years ago.

I was unimpressed with the Sportage, because it's front-wheel-drive, and I hate the way that most of them are set up (I don't like twitchy steering). The first Sorento was rear-wheel-drive, and I really liked it. The second FWD Sorento is nice enough to get me to question some of my long-held predispositions. All three had build quality that was at least as good as anything else I've seen in the last decade.

They've also got stereos in them that are good enough that I have to spend over $1000 to match them in my 2007 SuperDuty. (yeah, that's STILL a sore point.)

I'd give them a serious look if they would offer a diesel engine vehicle in the US... (they had a diesel in the overseas version of the RWD/4WD Sorento that never saw the US...)

-blaine