Which of these midsize SUVs is right for you?
With thousands of vehicles in our inventory, we’re here to help make car research easier for you. We’ve partnered with car-review experts from Edmunds to weigh in on what matters most when you’re looking to buy a truck or car.
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Comparing 2023 models
The original Ford Explorer kicked off America's love affair with SUVs, and the Explorer continues to sell by the truckload. But the competition has gotten fierce, with just about every automaker making these car-based SUVs the cornerstone of its lineup.
Kia is no exception. The most recent generation of the Sorento three-row midsize SUV is excellent. It's filled with the latest and greatest tech, boasts a stylish interior, and can be a great value.
Independent reliability tracker RepairPal® says the Sorento is more reliable than the Explorer, needing fewer repairs per year and costing less when they occur. And the Sorento tends to be a couple of thousand dollars cheaper than the Explorer on the used market. But keep in mind that some customers reported transmission issues with the Sorento, which can be a big expense.
For this comparison, we're looking at the 2023 models for both the Sorento and the Explorer to find out which of these midsize SUVs is right for you.
Ford Explorer Basics
Ford introduced this generation of the Explorer back in 2020. It was initially available with both gas-powered and hybrid engines, but 2023 is the final year the hybrid was available, largely because it wasn't all that efficient. The Explorer got a significant refresh for 2025, debuting a new Google-based infotainment system and BlueCruise hands-free driving on higher trims. But the 2023 model year is a sweet spot. You can often find one at a good price, and it comes with what makes the Explorer a good choice: an impressive engine lineup and a roomy cargo area.
Kia Sorento Basics
Kia introduced this generation of the Sorento in 2021, and it was a massive improvement over what came before it. Kia packed the Sorento with the latest and greatest tech, impressive driver aids, and a stylish design inside and out. The standard engine is nothing to get excited about, but Edmunds' testing found the turbocharged engine impressively powerful. It's also got a lot of space for passengers, which is great if you're often hauling around a big crew.
Midsize SUV showdown
So is the Ford Explorer's impressive cargo space the winning play for you? Or do you prefer all the tech features offered by the Kia Sorento? Let's get into it.
Passengers and cargo
Let's start with a couple of important numbers: The Ford Explorer is 9.8 inches longer than the Sorento. It matters because it explains the big difference in how much cargo they can hold when you're using all three rows, which brings us to the second important number. The Explorer cargo area is 18.2 cubic feet, which is 5.6 cubic feet more than the Sorento. A typical brown grocery bag is about 1 cubic foot, for reference.
If you fold down the second and third rows, the Explorer boasts 87.8 cubic feet of cargo space. That's quite a bit better than the 75.5 cubic feet offered by the Sorento. So, if you're primarily hauling cargo, the Explorer is a pretty obvious winner. But what if you're hauling people more often than gear?
This is where the Sorento shines. Both the second and third rows of the Sorento offer more legroom than you'll get with the Explorer. The third rows on both the Sorento and the Explorer are better suited to short folks and children than they are to most adults, but the Sorento's is easier to get into and more comfortable. You probably won't want to spend a five-hour drive back there, but your kids will be just fine.
Both the Sorento and Explorer come standard with seating for seven, but on some higher trims you lose the second-row bench seat for a pair of captain's chairs, reducing total seating for either vehicle to six. There are two seating positions in the third row of both the Sorento and Explorer. You can get three car seats into both vehicles, though getting a third seat in the rearmost row is a chore in either one.
Jake's take
Your decision really depends on what you're going to do with your vehicle. I'd take the Sorento because of its superior passenger space, but if you're a couple looking to go car camping, go for the Explorer.
Engine choices
There are three available engines on the 2023 Ford Explorer. The standard engine is a 2.3-liter four-cylinder, and the upgrade engine is a turbocharged 3.0-liter V6. This is also the final year of the 3.3-liter V6 hybrid engine, but Edmunds doesn't recommend it because of its so-so efficiency. Both of the standard engines are plenty powerful, but look for ST, King Ranch, and Platinum trimmed Explorers if you want the most potent engine.
The story is similar with the Kia Sorento. Its standard engine is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder, and its upgrade engine is a turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder that offers a big power upgrade. The Sorento is also available as a hybrid, which gets up to an EPA-estimated 37 mpg combined—that's a big improvement over the 24-26 mpg the EPA estimates for the standard Sorento
.If you're looking for a powerful engine, you've got to go with the Explorer. The standard engine on the Explorer has more juice than the upgrade engine on the Sorento. If you're going to tow, the Explorer is the right choice. If you want more power going up steep inclines, the Explorer is again the right choice. If you're more concerned about fuel efficiency than power, that's where the Sorento can make sense.
Jake's take
Ford Explorer all day and twice on Sunday. It's no contest.
Tech and driver aids
Both the Ford Explorer and Kia Sorento offer Apple CarPlay® and Android Auto™. Both vehicles come standard with an eight-inch touchscreen, and both offer a larger upgrade screen on higher trim vehicles. Both Sorento touchscreens worked just fine in Edmunds' testing, though the larger 10.25-inch touchscreen costs you wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay® and Android Auto™.
The Ford Explorer's standard touchscreen also held up well in Edmunds' testing, but the 10-incher? Not so much. It's vertically oriented, like an iPad glued to the dash, and Edmunds editors almost universally disliked it because of the mediocre way the infotainment and Apple CarPlay were displayed. As such, we don't recommend looking for the larger touchscreen if you pick the Explorer.
How about advanced driver aids? The Sorento comes standard with forward collision mitigation, lane-keeping assistance, and blind-spot warning. You only need to go up to the third trim (EX) to get adaptive cruise control, which is a great feature. The fanciest Sorento (SX Prestige) gets you a 360-degree camera system and a blind-spot camera. The former is great for getting in and out of tight parking spaces, while the latter is more of a novelty that shows you cars in adjacent lanes.
Ford makes things a little more complicated with the Explorer. Let's start with the easy stuff. The Explorer, like the Sorento, comes standard with forward collision mitigation, blind-spot warning, and lane departure mitigation. To get advanced features like adaptive cruise control and a 360-degree camera system, you need to find an Explorer with the appropriate packages installed. These packages (XLT Technology and Ford Co-Pilot360® Assist+) are available on the second-level XLT trim. You can also get them standard on ST-Line and higher trims.
Edmunds' testing found the Sorento driver aids just a tad more effective than the Explorer's, but by and large all these systems work well.
Jake's take
The slight edge on driver aids performance and a superior touchscreen experience give the Sorento the nod.
Choose Wisely
Want to haul a bunch of stuff in a powerful SUV that's, as a bonus, pretty fun to drive? Go with the Explorer. For just about everyone else, the Sorento is the right choice. Its superior passenger experience, (slightly) better tech, and a much nicer interior make the Kia Sorento an excellent pick.
Jake Sundstrom has worked in the automotive industry since 2017 and written hundreds of car related articles over the course of his career. Jake is an editor at Edmunds, where he helps produce the best used car content on the web. He has also contributed to the National Hot Rod Association and other motorsport publications. When he's not writing about cars, he's probably driving them to his next vacation; he's still working out how to get a Wrangler from Los Angeles to Maui.
