Sunday, October 24, 2010
We recently had a great family trip circumnavigating the Painted Desert in northeast Arizona. On the itinerary were Sedona, Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest National Park, Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, and, of course, several iconic Route 66 relics along the way.
At the Phoenix airport we had several vehicles to choose from on the Emerald Aisle. We wanted a mid-size SUV to have plenty of room for two adults, two young teenagers, and associated luggage, and also because we planned to travel a few “unimproved roads” along our scenic route. We chose a Kia Borrego with the V8. First impressions were quite good. Nice styling and fit and finish, and seemingly plenty of room and comfort. We chose one with the “Copperhead” paint job, which fit in beautifully with the surrounding desert and mountain landscape. 
Driving impressions were also quite good. Nice road feel, intuitive controls, good ride and handling, low road noise (better than our own Honda Pilot). Performance on the “unimproved roads” also proved to be more than adequate. The Borrego did not miss a beat on rutted and sandy switchbacks. Over the course of several days the Borrego proved to also be quite comfortable, both front and back. Gas mileage was what one would expect for a mid-size SUV with a V8, right around 20 mpg with mostly highway driving. Definitely absent was any sense of copy-cat, “cheap,” or compromise, a sign of the growing maturity for the Kia brand. 
One small design issue arose during the trip that was a continual annoyance. Kids can be a bit, well, spastic. Kia attaches the lower ends of the front seatbelts right where spastic feet in the back seat were landing at regular intervals. This resulted in the driver and front passenger continually having their seat belts unexpectedly stepped on and tensioned. This is a small design detail to be sure, but one that proved to be annoying enough that it really should be addressed.
All things considered, though, we really liked the Borrego. It proved to be a vehicle we could easily live with.
