Comments by "Stephen Hendricks" (@stephenhendricks103) on "" video.

Question: There are about a dozen mainstream midsize 3 row unibody SUVs for sale in the US. What do the two worst selling vehicles have in common that nearly every other vehicle in the category does not share? Answer: The Subaru Ascent and the even slower selling Mazda CX-9 each has a single engine offering, a turbo 4 cylinder powerplant. That's not to say that the engine offerings are inadequate for most consumers but they're both long-in-the-tooth and lacking power compared to rivals. It's true that the latest KIA Sorento has dropped its V6 engine in favor of a 2.5L turbo 4. But the Sorento is 7" less in length than the Ascent and 10" shorter than the CX-9. And (in top trim) it weighs at least 300 lbs less than either the Ascent or the CX-9 All in all, while the Sorento is technically a "midsize" SUV many consumers apparently see it as a rival to compact vehicles like the RAV4 and the VW Tiguan. In short, both the Ascent and the CX-9 are no longer competitive in the midsize unibody SUV segment and their weak sales demonstrate it.
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@chezzyperson3339 Yes, I realize that technically the Sorento (189" in length) is a "midsize" SUV but KIA has found that it's frequently cross shopped against top trim versions of larger vehicles in the compact category. The Sorento's unique feature is the fact that it offers three rows of seats compared both to compact SUVs and the two row vehicles you cite. In fact, the Atlas Cross Sport is an especially large 2 row SUV at 195.5" in length. That's slightly larger than a Toyota Highlander. All in all, the most accurate description of the Sorento is as a "tweener" vehicle that falls between the compact and midsize categories.
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Scalding performance in a midsize 3 row SUV ranks about 25th among customers' top 10 priorities. That's not the Ascent's problem.
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