Kia EV6 or Sorento plug in hybrid ?

The dealer never went into great detail but said they had produced transmission error codes which greatly reduced drive and had to be recovered back to dealership however when tested solo where fine only creates fault when towing however he did say 2 were nearly on the max towing capacity and the third was using a demo car on loan to him because his hadn't arrived on time he wanted to cancel his order due only getting 19mpg towing a 1440kg.

The dealer was surprisingly helpful to be fair as he was doing himself out of a sale, but had said he had built up many customers over the year that bought new Rav 4`s every 3/4 years but had now turned to Kia and Hyundai due to not having a diesel version.

this is also something i was told at the Ford dealership that many Kuga , Mondeo and Smax buyers had swapped out to Kia Hyundai and VW whilst diesel variants are still available.

i thought i would also check with a guy on my estate who as a Rav 4 hybrid as i could see the tow bar and electrics just tucked under the bumper, he had only towed once with it and that was a trailer to the tip he said the tow bar was fitted to the car by the person that ordered the car and then decided it wasnt for him as he towed a caravan and bought a land cruiser instead. this was enough for me to walk away which is a shame as the car drove lovely on test drive mpg was also impressive over the 2 hours i had the car.      

We tow with a 2020 Mitsubishi Outlander 2.4 PHEV,  we read all the rubbish on the internet, in reality is nearly as good as our previous 2017 Ford Kuga 2.0 diesel powershift. The new Toyota RAV4 PHEV is a massive upgraded on our Outlander PHEV, the ICE has about 40 more bhp, more powerful electric motor, considerably larger battery and a more advance regenerative system.

I believe but don’t quote me the issues started when the batteries became flat and sorry I should of said these were self charging FHEV NOT PHEV not sure if there is a difference when towing but I guess they wanted a bigger KG

So we have made a decision we are going to order the Kia Sportage 1.6 TGDi FHEV AWD in GT line S spec along with the dedicated tow bar and electrics not sure how long i will be waiting but hopefully it will be this year fingers crossed all will be ok.

oh and thank you to everyone who commented and made helpful suggestions it was much appreciated   

Hope the Kia works for you, good looking car. However from my enquiries before buying it is likely the issue with the RAV Hybrid is probably due to overloading taking the gross train weight over the limit. It is NOT due to towing per se. It is not too difficult with driver, passengers, awning, bicycles, ‘stuff’, and nose weight (which few realise becomes part of the payload) to exceed train weight even if the caravan does not exceed the max towing limit. 

To add to my previous post, before placing my order I spoke with 2 RAV Hybrid caravanners. One was so impressed he had another on order and the other person was perfectly happy with the way it towed and performed. Both said mpg towing was low 20’s but solo mpg mid 50’s so quite happy with overall running costs. The ‘screaming’ engine/ gearbox is due to lack of understanding how to get the best out of the car. Look at the second PetrolPed YouTube video on the RAV PHEV which is an excellent simple demonstration and explanation. Given I have used less than 20 galls of petrol in over 2500 miles giving over 130mpg solo and with charging costs equivalent to petrol at 75p/litre I am happy to have 19mpg towing. 

if i was getting those sort of figures i would also be happy and i take it yours is the Plug In then? i have watched Petrol Ped i do like is reviews and now he as had it while and got a better understanding of how the engine and gearbox work he seems to love it and it was his review of the Kia Sorento plug in that made me look closer at the Phev and Fhev suv`s and as i do around 6k a year of solo driving and only 2k towing driving the hybrids appeal to me more than the diesel cars, i am prepared to suffer a drop in MPG when towing as long as solo MPG is better than before and i believe this is what i will be getting from a Hybrid.

i guess everyone will have there own view on this some will not like the new experience of the hybrids and likewise with full EV but looking at it most will at some point after make the change i just hope i dont regret my decision to go with the Sportage FHEV 

Flatcoat wrote 'Given I have used less than 20 galls of petrol in over 2500 miles giving over 130mpg solo and with charging costs equivalent to petrol at 75p/litre I am happy to have 19mpg towing. "

You might feel a little differently if you were undertaking a lengthy tour with your caravan to, say, southern Spain and Portugal. ISTM that it only really works if it is your main daily transport and towing is over relatively modest distances, say less than 1200 miles pa.

I am planning towing around 5000 miles this year including trips to Austria, Cornwall and Inverness. 19mpg compares with 25mpg towing with my last diesel. I am achieving a net saving of at least £50/£60 month on petrol costs even allowing for the recent rise in electricity costs. Even with a 25% increase in petrol fuel costs over diesel when towing I am still break even at worst. I will admit had the new face lifted  Santa Fe been available last summer in diesel it is likely we would have ordered one, SWMBO loved the car however I considered The petrol versions underpowered and the diesel Sportage a bit lacking at 134 horses. Plus, my wife is fairly anti diesel so happy wife, happy life!