“The wrong car at the wrong time” – It’s a phrase used over and over again to describe a vehicle whose lack of success can largely be blamed on a shift in societal trends as opposed to purely any insufficiencies of the vehicle itself, and one that accurately describes the 2009 Kia Borrego, Kia’s shortest-lived model in the United States.
Introduced at a time when the market was shifting away from large, truck-based SUVs to more efficient crossovers, the Great Recession was crippling the U.S. economy, and gas prices were soaring with no end in sight, the body-on-frame, three-row, and available V8-power Borrego seemed horribly behind the times.
One of the first Kias designed by former Audi stylist, Peter Schreyer, the Borrego was an attractive and inoffensive, if not highly derivative design, drawing cues from SUVs such as the Lexus LX, Honda Pilot, and even the outgoing GMC Envoy. Boasting an interior with high quality fit-and-finish, the latest technology features such as bluetooth, backup camera, and GPS navigation with voice recognition, as well as powerful V6 and V8 engines with high tow ratings, the Borrego was a very competitive large, truck-based SUV.
Unfortunately large, truck-based SUVs were no longer the hot-selling thing as they were just a few years earlier. Lacking the handling, ride comfort, quietness, and space and fuel efficiency of car-based CUVs, sales of the Borrego were horribly dismal, and it was discontinued in the United States after just one model year. Sales continued in Canada until 2011, upon which Kia stopped exporting the vehicle (which is still sold in other markets as the “Mohave”) to North America entirely.
Total Borrego sales from 2008-2011 in North America amounted to less than 25,000 units, and Kia replaced with a far more right for the times three-row crossover, the redesigned American-made Sorrento in 2010.
yep, I remember reading Car & Driver’s review of it when it came out. The first sentence of the article was “ABOUT 10 YEARS LATE, KIA INTRODUCES A V-8–POWERED BODY-ON-FRAME SUV.”
Ouch.
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2009-kia-borrego-ex-short-take-road-test
I do remember that and they compared it to a late 1990s Expedition.
Never even heard of it. Interesting read.
Never heard of it either. I wonder what they go for used – forgotten cars can often be had for a song.
Their prices are pretty solid – these were stoutly built to tight tolerances. When my Trooper needed major repair two years ago I looked into finding a used Borrego but their prices were Toyota-solid.
You may want to reconsider that?
http://www.carcomplaints.com/Kia/Borrego/2009/
I wish they brough these types of mid size SUV with real frames and some actual power back. This one went totally under my radar.
The cuv’s kind of look the same, but is far less of a vehicle. We had a envoy for some time, and were surprised how much we liked it. Granted, the interior seemed to be made of self destructive plastics, but the overall size, power, utility, comfort etc was just perfect.
The envoy was purchased on a whim, off a list of other used random cars for sale at the same price. 70k miles later, its still going strong. High miles means it should be replaced soon.
But then I realise, these mid size suv’s are now entirely replaced with cuv’s, segment wide.
So what to replace an der gmc envoy with, when a tahoe is too big? Seems another slightly newer envoy might be the only choice, but nothing new, or close to new.
Perfect family hauler.
Toyota 4-Runner appears to be the last mid-sized truck-based SUV still sold in the USA. The Toyota would probably not be a bargain used, but if you cant find another used GMC, the Nissan Xterra, sold here until this year, might be worth a look.
I was thinking of the 4Runner too – why does this sell continuously but there was no market for this Kia?
Simply due to this
I was still living in Maine when these were sold in the US, and I certifiably never, ever saw these. Not even sure if they made it up that far. Sorentos started becoming much more common shortly thereafter.
IMHO, I don’t blame Kia for going for going into the SUV market with its huge profit margins. Yes, the timing was a bit off, but this is yet another example of consumer tastes or economic factors changing faster than the product development cycle of the auto industry.
I don’t know why they still sell the LX 470, other than people are buying the badge, but I’m always surprised when I see one on the road.
When you consider that Kia USA’s lineup 20 years ago consisted of a small 4 door sedan and a slightly smaller SUV/cute ute, you have to give them some kind of credit for trying to fill so many market slots.
B-O-F SUVs are reasonably popular in other countries, they probably thought there were enough customers in North America to make the Borrego profitable. The B-O-F Sorrento was a minor hit in the U.K, according to CAR magazine, of course it needed the fairly good diesel engine to get any consideration. The unibody Sorrento is pretty well thought of, too.
So perhaps thinking the U.S. has (almost) always embraced “bigger is better”, they sent us the Borrego.
Besides, it is a fairly good looking vehicle for it’s segment, isn’t it?
You mean the Lexus LX570? It and the LandCruiser are viable competitors to Escalade and Yukon Denali as well as various RangeRover/LandRover models. The Sequoia pretty much fulfills the same mission for tens of thousands less but the LX/LC still sells often enough to be worthwhile to keep it on the lots.
Don’t forget that 2009 being just after the 2008 fiasco certainly didn’t do KIA or the car industry in general any favors in car sales. I didn’t realize until I read Brendan’s article the Borrego only lasted I year in the US.
May have done better if it had been introduced in the last year or so, with cheaper gas and a somewhat better economy.
When these were new, the Kia dealer in Brandon had one on display at the mall. I thought it had potential, likened it to my Durango. Wish they still sold them here.
I believe I’ve seen only 1 on the road in Ontario. Auto trader shows three different 2009 models for sale. Price ranges from $5,995 to $10,885 Cad. One of them has been for sale for over 6 weeks and had price reduced by $4K and still no takers.
Hardly ever see Borregos in Portland, OR and wonder how reliable they are. The interior reminds me a bit of my folks 05 Sedona, but the exterior is more eye catching. Apparently a Borrego is a type of Sheep and I suspect the Borrego and K900 will be fun beaters in 10-15 years.
I remember hearing the name and thinking “Sounds like a good name for a Mexican quickie-mart.” “Welcome to Borrego! Would you like a car wash with your purchase?”
My family owns one, picked it up four years ago from Enterprise. An amazing truck, does everything we want with no issues so far. It has 94000 miles and the only reason it went into the shop was for a recall. The only downsides I can think of are gas mileage, we get 14.6 mpg but rarely take it out of the city, and a stiff ride. Something to think of for the future is the availability of parts, their is a following in Russia but as the article states not much love in North American. All in all they are excellent vehicles and I would recommend one to anyone.
I’m a 4wd fan but this one sure flew under the radar. The name sounds vaguely familiar but I don’t recall any V8 Kia, though I found the 1st gen Sorrento appealing compared to the contemporaneous Hyundai Santa Fe.
Good find.
Time to bring it back to the market, with a bit of a re-fresh? BOF SUVs are red hot again.
So they didn’t sell the first-gen Sorento in North America? Which was also body-on-frame, but smaller than the Borrego. I expect both of those vehicles and the Hyundai Terracan are related, apparently they have their origins in the 1990s Mitsubishi Pajero/Shogun. The Borrego looks to be a pretty similar package to the Terracan we got here, which was a bit outdated.
The first generation Sorento was sold here in the U.S. and Canada, but it didn’t sell all that well either. Probably a combination of its small size, lack of third row, very generic looks, and Kia’s then-still poor perception in the eyes of many consumers.
It wasn’t until the late-2000s when with bolder designs, better interiors, and more effective marketing that Kia actually became a brand taken seriously here.
Showing up just in time for the early 2008 spike in gas prices followed by the bank crash didn’t do it any favors. Sometimes timing is everything in the car business.
Thanks Brendan. I rode in one of the first gen Sorentos a while ago. It replaced the owner’s previous 1988-ish FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser Sahara; I expect it would have been half the price of the equivalent new Land Cruiser which would have given him little additional benefit (he had different requirements nearly 30 years later!).
A friend of mine actually owned one!
I was always curious why I never saw another one. His, while basically pretty nice, was quite troublesome for him – lots of electronic gremlins.
He finally got rid of it and bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Guess what? His Jeep has several electronic gremlins, not to mention an always-on check engine light that the dealer can’t figure out how to fix, in addition to the well-known tranny programming issues!
I don’t have the heart to tell him to buy something better next time…
My brother bought a newer Jeep Grand Cherokee new.
My Gawd, one ABS sensor went bad, @ 48k mi. (?), and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. The truck went into “LIMP MODE”…. he could only drive it home in 2nd gear (Auto) at 20 mph. Had it towed to the stealership, & was told ALL ABS sensors needed replacing, (ripped off). (I read the Codes with my Code reader, which said right rear ABS sensor was bad.)
Then, similar problems arose, where the transmission was not communicating with the engine ECU…”the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. The truck went into “LIMP MODE again”…. he could only drive it home in 2nd at 20 mph..” Towed to the stealership again… losing $’s more often then not.
There are too many electronic components on cars these days. And, if you drive though a small flood, 20″ of water… good luck in 2 months when more things discombobulate. THAT did not happen to this truck, however my wife’s older (’97) Grd. Cher. has this happening!
The Sorrento rode like a buckboard, I can’t imagine how poorly this thing rode if it’s worse. Too bad, it’s pretty competent otherwise.
I’ve seen probably two Kia Borregos on a somewhat regular basis, one silver and one orange. Did they come in any other colors?
My friend’s was black.
I remember the name, but had forgotten what it was. Kia has thrown so many names out there that even a Kia owner like me can’t keep them straight.
Yup, trying to stretch up-market with a V8 SUV in a horrible economy with high gas prices was a bad move. Three years earlier or later and these would have been fairly common. Now you make me want to find one.
TBH, I’d be tempted to pick one up as a winter car. However, used ones typically are still going for above $10,000. My price range for an SUV as a second car for winter would be more in the $5,000 and under range.
I’m not sure why they thought the Borrego was necessary when the first-gen Sorento was already a BOF, SRA SUV itself. (That’s a lot of abbreviations…) Also semi-related: The Sorento was available with a 5-speed manual on early models (up to 2007) with the 3.5L V6.
I did not even know such a vehicle existed.
Oh, my gosh – the CC Effect can get ridiculous. As seen in the Loop after walking to my evening L train after work today…
This is another “forgot those existed” for me. I recalled the name but couldn’t place what it looked like, or even what type of vehicle it was. The photos look sort of familiar but it’s never a vehicle I saw many of.
It’s not unattractive–Schreyer’s influence shows in that it uses a lot of the cues that have contributed to the current Kia “look” and the interior shows some clear ties with our ’12 Forte Koup. Just another example of timing is everything, and a somewhat rare mis-step for a manufacturer who has made great strides in the past 10 years. Comparing the 2006 Kia lineup with the 2016 shows night and day differences across the board.
Great SUVs, extremelly reliable, i have 2 with over 250K on them,with the V6, just did regular maintenance on them, drivetrain still works like a champ, don’t take a drop of oil, my neighbor had a 4Runner, and he had problems with is.