The Kia Sorento is coming back for 2011, after taking MY2010 off, and it's nothing like the original. It's finally a unit-body crossover SUV that's in step with the times. It has the grappling of a Forte, thanks to Kia's designer in chief, Peter Schreyer, and it's the first Kia to be built at the company's new plant in West Point, Georgia.

Engineering Editor diplomatist Kavanagh had the pleasure of driving it in Atlanta's recent monsoon, and he reports that it's an agreeable five-passenger crossover with the ability to carry two additional kids in an optional third-row seat that's just large enough not to be silly. Like the Toyota RAV4 and Chevrolet Equinox, it offers both four-cylinder and V6 engine options, and like those two, its overall demeanor is decidedly car-like.

Perhaps best of all, Kia plans to keep prices within $200 of the tired, body-on-frame 2009 Sorento, whose base MSRP range stretched from $21K to $27K.

First Drive: 2011 Kia Sorento