Kia Sorento OR Hyundai Santa Fe

and at our age we need the security of a spare that ....

Not really sure what your age has to do with it ...🤔 I have a 'skinny' spare in my Merc ML, it doesn't bother me at all, as the chances are it'll only be on the car for a short time ie until I get the original wheel sorted, so far, almost 60k miles later it's still un-used in the boot.

Kia's Sedona's spare was underslung too. The older model was full sized spare, the later 'skinny' 

And as said .... when was the last time you used your spare? It's been years since I've used a spare. My commuting car is a Smart ... no spare at all. I have recovery if the proverbial hits the fan! 😉

2015 Sorento has a full size matching spare but I am not sure about newer model

Never had either but my daughter, who works in a garage, steered me away from Hyundais because a lot of parts they normally get from their parts supplier for other makes are only available from Hyundai for their cars. These parts also have the appropriate huge dealer part price tag on them.

In her experience many repairs/services they do on Hyundais work out quite a bit more expensive than for other manufacturers vehicles.,

I've towed an 1800kg caravan with both vehicles and I personally preferred the Sorento as it felt more solid and capable. No doubt the Santa Fe would be ok with something not quite so heavy.

 I'm now on my third Sorento (Auto) and I can't fault it. In fact, it's almost paid for itself in comparison to the Discovery I had previously. Great tow car, but ridiculous, enormously deep pockets required to keep it running!

Kia and Hyundai ,will only allow their own parts to be fitted to enable the warranties to continue ,rather than "copies" its the same with body parts 

Keith was referring to 'a garage' that his daughter works at ...not a main dealer. Main dealers of all flavours will only fit OE parts.

Can’t compare the two as only had the Santa Fe, had 2 so far and would not change they are great value ( in my opinion) for money full size spare to me is essential, you cannot tow a caravan on anything except a full size spare and the 5 year warranty is excellent. Services are not cheap but I get 32 mpg towing my Elddis 550 and never had any issues.

 you cannot tow a caravan on anything except a full size spare and ..

which is contrary to what MB told me about my collapsible spare on my previous Merc 🙄🙄

Had the Sorento first model very capable then bought a 13 plate Santa fe  endless problems with transfer boxes when towing , managed to get a 4 year old Sorento much better tow car but did have a few warranty issues all sorted. Make sure you get one with warranty left on I would advise at least 3 years and don't be afraid of pointing out any issues especially the transfer box if the vehicle has towed , when mine ran out of warranty may 2020 i changed to a RRSport because we upgraded to a new 1900 twin axle  van and the Sorento was only 19 kg within its towing limit. t did tow well but I have always wanted one and its been fantastic will tow anything without any problem.

As long as the garage is VAT registered and serviced  every 12 months you should not have a problem they do not have to be Kia garages i can say this from experience with both Sorento and santa fe.