The post-pandemic boom in overlanding and dedicated off-road adventure vehicles has produced an expanded range of automobiles that sport the kind of rugged dexterity once limited to machines like Jeeps and classic Land Rovers and Land Cruisers.

While new versions of both the Toyota Land Cruiser and the upcoming 4Runner really do mix legitimate off-road capability with style and on-road tech, things are a little different with Kia’s Sorento crossover.

You may have seen a long line of gray 2024 Sorentos traveling between Fraser, Kremmling and Silverthorne about a month ago. Our local roads hosted the national launch event for the new models, especially a toughed-up X-Pro edition, which coincided with that massive Front Range snowfall.

And while closed passes and deep snow might sound like a dream come true for an authentically rugged and versatile off-road machine, the Sorento launch was kind of a strange event for a capable but not truly Colorado macho-styled vehicle.

I was happy to attend and offer some local quasi-expertise, but it was interesting to see and hear how the national media either completely overestimated (or underestimated) Colorado in early March, and how Sorento did its best, despite not really a dedicated off-roader. (Nor is it advertised as being so, if you read the fine print.) 

Made in Georgia, the three-row 2024 Sorento is technically a much updated but not all-new vehicle, with its new $47,390 X-Pro edition as its most burly looking variant. I was happy to find that X-Pro means standard, truck-styled BF Goodrich all-terrain tires on 17-inch wheels, on top of the similar X-Line’s aesthetic tweaks, including more imposing looking bumpers, a bridge-styled roof rack and a cabin full of special emblems.

Physically, however, Kia has done little to turn the 190-inch-long Sorento, which approaches the same size as its popular Telluride SUV, into a legitimate rock-crawling trail machine. Yes, improved radiator cooling means it can now tow up to 4,500 pounds, and there’s also a center-locking differential, but the locking AWD system is only good up to 20 mph. It has 8.2 inches of clearance, but so do its basic versions.

This is about where the whining started from my fellow journalists, one group of whom arrived before the big snowfall and complained that they didn’t get to do any gnarly, Land Rover-styled off-roading or trail running. I guess they didn’t notice it’s still pretty seriously winter in March here, and those trails aren’t open.

Another group arrived as the snow closed I-70 and Berthoud Pass and complained about too much snow and how a muddy ride on county roads to Ute Pass again did not constitute the adventure of a lifetime (but also felt the snow made them feel like they were trapped in “The Shining”) If you saw any of their subsequent reviews, they all sounded a little spoiled.

Unlike that crew, I don’t get to go to national media events on a weekly basis anymore, so I appreciated Kia’s attempts to illustrate the practical range of driving capabilities of the Sorento.

Most importantly, those upgraded tires meant a morning on boilerplate-icy post-snowfall U.S. 40 was a lot less scary than it was going to be with a load of people from L.A. and Miami, who later admitted they’d never driven on snow before.

The lower LX and S models of the Sorento, which start at about $32,000, come with a 191-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. Three higher models (for which the X-Line and X-Pro packages are available) are upgraded to a 2.5-liter turbocharged engine that provides 281 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque.

Sure, that’s not Raptor territory, but it allowed efficient highway cruising and even a pretty impressive burst of passing power on that sometimes scary, winding section between Granby and Tabernash.

The on-demand all-wheel-drive system standard on the two X models does a pretty good job of offering grip and stability, with torque vectoring to send power where it’s needed. Does that make it a vehicle destined to get you stuck above treeline on a 14er? Hell no. 

Sorento’s X-Pro package certainly looks rugged, but considering it has technology such as machine learning-assisted cruise control and automatic lane change assists, it’s squarely in the I-70 trips to weekend aspirational camping trail category, in addition to being competent in a snowstorm. 

Later this year, Sorento will also be available as both an improved hybrid and a new plug-in hybrid model.       

Andy Stonehouse’s column Mountain Wheels publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden.

Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at summitmountainwheels@gmail.com.