Sorento or Nativa

new intown
By new intown

Currently I am looking at buying a car and was looking for advice and opinions on the best choice.

Between the Sorento (3.8l)and Nativa (3.0l),the spec of the Sorento is much better and it looks a more comfortable vehicle but I am concerned about resale in 1 or 2 years compared to the Nativa. The Sorento does seem to be ok for reliability, but what is Kia service programme compared to Mitsubushi in Doha.

I would also like to do some desert driving and my first thought was a a Pajero, but it seems the 3.0l Pajero is underpowered for its weight is that case? Are Nativa or 3.8l Sorento ok.

The other car in the frame is the Trail Blazer, not so sure though seems many negative reviews....?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

By WhoMe• 19 Aug 2007 08:28
Rating: 5/5
WhoMe

I agree with cnidaria!

I have a friend driving a Nativa. If you understand desert driving as "going to inland sea and on the way riding some duens" you'll be fine with it. Of course you can't climb a 35m dune straight with both cars, therefore you need a V8 and good driving skills. I observed so far that the Pajero with the 3.8 is a really strong car, especially as 3-door version. If you ask me for the resale value...the Nativa is a much hotter product on the market, so the resale value should be higher than the Sorento! The garage prices Joan mentioned...I drove a Pajero for a couple of weeks and had to bring it to the garage doing a minor inspection, which also kost me 425 QRS, so my experience is that its about the same!

Wipe out the thoughts for the blazer. Freakin' crappy car for the desert! Big american bullcrap!

By Cnidaria• 19 Aug 2007 08:19
Rating: 4/5
Cnidaria

Easy choice, the sorento i have (3.5L) is a dream in the desert, i couldn't beleive how good it coped after owning a wrangler and being an auto. I only know the smaller Nativa and they really struggled in the desert.

You wopuld think that Pajero is underpowered but i have driven them many times in desert and never had a problem.

Trail blazer - avoid american 4wds, not ideal for desert. A/C pack up.

By Joan• 19 Aug 2007 07:26
Rating: 5/5
Joan

Hi Newintown...I believe that resale value of nearly all cars here are pretty much the same (10% for the 1st year, and 5% thereafter). Also take in consideration the total mileage driven as well as if maintenance services were done on time and @ the company garage. My Sorento is more than a year now and as far as Kia services are compared to mitsubishi, KIA seems to be quite expensive. As I am driving daily to Dukhan and back to Doha, I do a lot of mileage therefore I do visit the KIA garage, say, every 2 months or so. And I usually pay around QR400-500 (minor services..aside from the labour and spare parts charge, they have a so-called ACC - which is about QR150..i don't know what this is and I never really asked). I owned a Pajero IO before and my bills would only range to about QR100-200 (minor services. I thought that the difference is that maybe because the Sorento is a bigger car?? Also Mitsubishi has 2 garage, one at the Industrial area and one behind the Landmark Mall.

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