The best and most important thing you can say about the 2009 Kia Borrego is that it has comfortable padded armrests. Now that I’ve satisfied my mother’s request to always say something nice, we can talk about the rest of the car.
The Kia Boreggo is boring. Overall, the SUV market is in trouble – whether that’s because of fuel costs or environmental concerns isn’t really the issue. The issue is that the market segment is shrinking, so to claim any part of it, you have to really stand out. This car doesn’t. Not only is it not remarkably good, it’s not even bad enough to be remarkably bad. It’s just kind of….there.
Over the past decade, Kia has made a name for itself by producing lower priced, entry level cars. And yes, the Borrego lists for about $2,000 less than the Ford Explorer. With current Ford rebates, however, this doesn’t give the Borrego much of an advantage.
Kia’s slogan is “the power to surprise.” The only surprise here is that Kia has made an SUV that has absolutely nothing to distinguish it from any other SUV on the market. There’s nothing remarkable about its styling, storage or features. Nothing. The biggest innovation seems to be that the needles on the gauges look a bit like hockey sticks. Kia didn’t even bother to tweak the sheet metal styling to make the car look different. You almost have to ask yourself, were they really even trying?
Currently, Kia is selling the Borrego as a luxury SUV – a niche that they’ve already filled with their Sorrento, however. The Sorrento is a mid-size SUV with two rows of seats that does a much better job than the Borrego, which is supposedly full-sized with its three rows of seats. There’s technically sufficient leg room in the Borrego, but it’s nothing you’d call luxurious. And yes, it has an independent rear suspension, but then again, so does every other SUV out there.
The fate of the Kia Borrego might have been different if you could get a V8 engine option, but it isn’t available yet. Instead, you’re stuck with a V6. The problem is that this V6 is tacked to a transmission whose ratios are too far apart. Your “get up and go” isn’t even coming in the door – much less going anywhere.
The fuel economy on the Borrego is fine – it’s actually the best in class – but just like being the best banjo player in Moscow, that doesn’t really mean a whole lot. You can get the same fuel economy from a bigger, more luxurious GM model, plus a whole lot of other perks.
So really, I’m at a loss. There’s nothing really wrong with this car, but there’s nothing really right about it either. The Borrego isn’t something you should go out of your way to buy, but if someone gave you one, you’d probably drive it and be fine. Just know that as expensive as new cars are, you can do a lot better for your SUV bucks.
