![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/5b53067cf846114a175398158461bd2d455a5d94\/c=225-0-1717-1122&r=x513&c=680x510\/local\/-\/media\/2015\/04\/01\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/635634833586574093-2016-Sorento-1b.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We are fascinated by identical twins. The Zuckerberg-suing Winklevosses. The adorable Olsens. The tennis-playing Bryans.<\/p>\n
And we like twins with a bit of mystery. Did you know that gorgeous supermodel Gisele B\u00fcndchen is a twin? Did you see the twins twist coming in the magician film classic, “The Prestige”? Me neither.<\/p>\n
We’ve watched the careers of autodom’s twins. Mercury and Ford. Dodge and Chrysler. Chevy and Olds and Pontiac and Buick (um, that’s actually quadruplets, isn’t it?) But the mystery duo of the moment are the Koreans, Hyundai and Kia.<\/p>\n
The pair share a corporate parent (Hyundai), U.S. assembly plant (Georgia), and chassis \u2014 yet this is hardly a Bryan-like, high-fiving, doubles team. Indeed, they barely acknowledge each other. When I ask Hyundai and Kia about the other, they are curt.<\/p>\n
“We view them as a direct competitor, just like Honda or Toyota,” a Kia rep says. Feel a chill, bro?<\/p>\n
Yet, like the Bryans, parent Hyundai is proud of its kids. They are affordable. Reliable. Both are celebrating record sales as they slake America’s insatiable thirst for everything ute.<\/p>\n
Take the Kia Sorento I’ve been flogging about town.<\/p>\n
The Sorento is an all-new 2016 model<\/a>\u00a0following the all-new, 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe. Midsize utes are cargo haulers, so I was pleased my test mule was equipped with a V-6 engine and AWD. Want a 4-pot fuel-sipper? Buy a compact SUV.<\/p>\n Like its crib-mate, Sorento delivers family-friendly, midsize utility. Yet only theatrical parents would dress their twins the same after, say, their second birthday. Twins need a chance to breathe. A chance to find their own identities. Sorento and Santa Fe are no different.<\/p>\n Kia has traditionally been the more affordable brand, and \u2014 sho’nuff as they say in Georgia \u2014 the Sorento V-6 is the bargain buy at $31,890 base. That’s almost $2,000 less than sister Fe (I’m mixing brother and sister metaphors, so humor me). Similarly equipped Toyota Highlander or class-sales leader Ford Explorer will command another $500-1,000 above that.<\/p>\n Yet Sorento is no Cinderella in rags. It sports a striking wardrobe compared to stepsister Santa Fe. Leather seats. Nav system. Lots of digital bling like Bluetooth connectivity, blind-spot assist, rear-camera assist, and so on. In fact, the swankiest trim Sorento Limited stickers for $44,890 \u2014 six grand north of Santa Fe Limited. My steed stickered at $40,595.<\/p>\n Sorento is like walking into Pei Wei and finding the same decor and menu as upscale sister-chain P.F. Chang’s. Seems the sisters have similar tastes.<\/p>\n The names tell you something. Santa Fe gets its moniker from the chic New Mexico burg. Not to be outdone, the Kia borrows its name from Sorrento, chic Italian tourist trap (dropping one r for some reason). Kia likes the European market and its badge was conspicuous on my last trip across the pond.<\/p>\n Sorento’s European pretentions are more than just a subscription to Elle.<\/p>\n Kia hired Audi fashion legend Peter Schreyer to bring flair to the Korean brand. The result is a family of distinctive, “tiger-nosed,” grilles with sleek sheet metal. My Sorento greeted me with spreading mirrors and a chime upon entering the cabin. Red calipers wink at me behind the snowflake-shaped wheels like the trendy, red-bottom heels of Paris runways. Well, hello.<\/p>\n The charm offensive continues inside. The instrument cluster is right out of Schreyer’s VW\/Audi stylebook \u2014 white on black dials, chrome accents. Pepper and salt interior decor, leather stitching. Nice.<\/p>\n I like to jump into a test car and test its ergonomics on the fly. Controls should be intuitive, and everything in the Sorento is where it should be. Here’s to you, interior design team. Sorento may speak with a European accent, but it’s fluent in American ergonomics. The console is shorn of the worst Euro bad habits (looking at you, Audi) of button acne or rotary screen controls.<\/p>\n Chrome-bezeled islands holding the controls like the Dodge Challenger. The upright touch screen is easy to reach (not all drivers have orangutan arms like your scribe). Radio stations, seat heaters, climate dials, gas cap release, USB and 12-volt plugs are all right in front of me. Kia offers a new eService called UVO that \u2014 among other things \u2014 will play nanny to your teen-driver on speed and curfew. Which they might find more annoying than the Olsen twins’ fashion line.<\/p>\n Mrs. Payne has embraced nimble hatchbacks in our empty-nest years, but the Sorento might have been tempting back in her soccer-mom days. Especially since it offers her essentials: AWD, heated seats, third-row seats. She’d prefer the roomy second row be captain’s chairs \u2014 easier rugrat access to the third-row \u2014 but credit an available, full-cabin length sunroof in making that last row seem less basement-like. Step ’round back and that third row can be flattened \u2014 together with the second \u2014 with clever switches that open up maximum, I-hope-this-big-screen-TV-fits cargo space.<\/p>\n