Rent Kia Sorento 2024 in Dubai

We hand over the Kia Sorento 2024 across Dubai with the no-deposit option on the table, which takes the usual hold off your card before you've even left for the school run. This is the do-it-all three-row family SUV, and that's the case this page makes: one car that covers the weekday drop-offs, a weekend with the in-laws in the back, and an airport run with everyone's bags. The Sorento gives you seven seats, a 3.5-litre V6 with real pull on the highway, and a boot that swallows a week of family clutter. It isn't a full-size land yacht, and the third row tells you so, but for most family weeks here it's the sensible size.

What you're actually renting

The GCC Sorento we run is the 3.5-litre V6, 268 hp through an eight-speed automatic, with the choice of front-wheel or all-wheel drive. Seven seats, three rows, and the proportions of a midsize SUV rather than a barge. It's quick enough that overtaking on Sheikh Zayed Road never feels like a project, and settled enough that a long cruise to Abu Dhabi doesn't wear you out.

The third row, honestly

Seven seats sounds like seven adults. It isn't, and you should know that before you book. The Sorento's third row is genuinely useful for kids, and fine for a teenager or a grown-up on a short hop across town. Ask two adults to sit back there for the drive to Hatta and they'll be folded up and unhappy by the first roundabout.

So think of it as a five-plus-two. Five travel in comfort all week. The back two seats are there for the days you need them, the cousin's sleepover or the extra grandparent, not for a full load of seven adults going far. If your group really is seven grown-ups with luggage, this is the moment to size up to a full-size SUV with a third row built for adult legs.

Does the luggage fit

With the third row folded flat, the Sorento is a proper family hauler. A week's worth of suitcases, a pushchair, a cooler box and the beach gear all go in without a fight, and the load floor is low enough that you're not heaving cases over a ledge.

Put the third row up and the boot shrinks fast. Behind the back seats you're left with enough room for a few soft bags or a modest grocery run, not a stack of hard cases. This is the real trade-off of the car. Seven seats or a big boot, rarely both at once. For a DXB or DWC airport run with the whole family and their cases, plan to travel five-up with the rear seats down, or pack lighter and accept the squeeze.

Heat, AC and the back rows

A parked Sorento in July is an oven like anything else, with cabin readings well past 45 in the afternoon. The good news is that this is a large-engine SUV with a strong compressor, so the front vents pull the heat down quickly once you're rolling, and the bigger cabin doesn't take dramatically longer than a small car despite the extra volume.

The detail that matters for a family car is rear ventilation. The Sorento feeds the second row properly, and there's air reaching the third row too, so kids in the back aren't left to bake while the front stays cool. On a long summer drive that's the difference between a quiet car and a mutiny.

Driving and parking it here

On the open road the V6 is the Sorento's best argument. There's enough torque to merge and overtake without dropping it down a gear and waiting, and at a steady 120 on the E11 it's quiet and composed. This is a comfortable highway cruiser first, and the eight-speed keeps it relaxed.

Around town it's bigger than a crossover but not unwieldy. At 4810 mm long and 1900 mm wide it's a normal midsize-SUV footprint, so tight multi-storey bays and Marina ramps need a little care but nothing dramatic. The 176 mm of ground clearance clears mall ramps and speed bumps without scraping, while staying low enough that nobody's climbing up into it. The reversing camera does the heavy lifting in a packed mall car park.

Running cost and refuelling

City economy sits around 8 to 10 km/L, which is honest for a V6 SUV and not the place to look for fuel savings. The 67-litre tank gives a real-world range of roughly 655 to 883 km depending on how much highway you do, so a week of school runs and weekend trips usually means filling up once, maybe twice if you're driving a lot. If running cost is your top priority, a smaller five-seat crossover will sip less, but you give up the third row and the highway muscle to get there.

A few Dubai basics worth stating plainly. Salik tolls run on the account and pass to the renter, and any RTA fines during your rental are yours to settle. Children under four need a proper child seat, which we can fit on request. None of this is unusual; it's just the local arithmetic of driving here.

Who should rent it, and who shouldn't

Rent the Sorento 2024 if you're a family of four or five who occasionally needs two extra seats, want highway comfort for airport runs and weekend trips, and don't want to wrestle a full-size SUV through Marina parking. For that brief it's close to ideal, and the V6 makes the long drives genuinely easy.

Look elsewhere in two cases. If your party is regularly seven adults with luggage, size up to a full-size SUV where the third row fits grown-ups and the boot survives. If it's only ever two or three of you doing city miles, drop to a five-seat crossover and save the fuel. For everyone in between, this is the car that does the whole week.