02/07/2008 02:58. â€œObserve due measure,†opined the Greek poet Hesiod about 2700 years ago, “for right timing is in all things the most important factor.â€

Hesiod may not translate well into Korean, perhaps why Kia chooses now to bring us the Borrego , an old fashioned ladder-framed, rough-riding sport-ute with three rows of seats. The well-appointed and modestly priced Borrego would have murdered the Ford Explorer around 10 B.C., as in “Before Crossovers.†Today, it feels just so five minutes ago.

Named for the windy Anza-Borrego Desert in southeast California, Kia’s big buckaroo arrives this fall on a stretched and strengthened version of the Kia Sorrento frame. It is everything people search for in heavy SUV iron: three rows of seats on a tall platform, high ground... // Car and Driver