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However, if you have a perfectly good mini-van at this time that is not giving you trouble, has some creature comforts and is not costing you an arm and a leg...my personal opinion is to wait a while and see what happens with the Sedona. I promise that I will give you an honest evaluation along the way. It can't hurt to be patient and see what happens over this next year. The last thing I want is to encourage a whole bunch of people to buy one (against their better judgement) and then the next month start posting a whole bunch of problems. I had to buy a new van cause I am one of those rare people who put over 100,000 miles on a vehicle if it will let me. I intend to use every bit of my 10/100,000 warranty, unless I win the lottery that is!
Merry Christmas.....Be Safe......God Bless!
--15 mpg. Highway mileage runs between 22 and 24, and that's when driving about 75. My one complaint has not been resolved; handling is poor. Now it seems to want to pull left a little; but the main problem is I feel like I am constantly correcting to stay in the middle of the lane. I do love everything else about the vehicle. I'll give the dealer one more chance then try to find a good alignnment shop if the dealer can't fix it. We shall see.....
There are 2 EXs that have been on the lot at the Spfld. MO Kia dealer for 2 weeks. I know they are anxious to sell them just from my prior conversations with them. They were so anxious to finally get some and now I see that they are still setting there. If someone happens to live in the vicinity you could probably get a good deal right here at Christmas. I know the salesmen were looking forward to making some holiday money. One is White/Silver, other is Cranberry/Beige
This price has not changed much since introduction. If the car stays in high demand Kia will raise the price no doubt and this will be great for your resale (if you get it at carsdirect price before then). All this bodes well for your 100K warranty 'cuz I think Kia will still be here when your vans hit 100K.
Unfortunately, Kia made a real booboo with the seating. It's impossible to move the rear seat into the middle position! The space behind the rear cargo space is so limited, that the only option left is to remove the rear seats. Problem is, you end up with a 4 seater.
It's too bad Kia can't hear me, or can they? Maybe after thousands of lost sales, they'll hire a new interior design to fix this problem.
Do the Odessey's share this problem with their magic seat?
All I can say is, "what a major oversight"!
http://www.nhtsa.com
So far very much like the power train, shifting, braking, fit and finish, quiet, storage compartments for stuff like maps and sunglasses, sound system, and visibility (excellent, even for five foot tall spouse!) Haven't noticed any pulling to one side or drift. Heater and controls work fine.
Things that I would like to have include heated seats with power memory and a second remote key. And yes, when I was growing up, power windows were considered a foolish luxury; amazing how "necessities" evolve.
Things I dislike: unsecure gas cap, no under-seat storage for stuff like jumper cables and tool box, and the very peculiar jerry-rigged kind of system by which you secure the rear seats when they're in their fully-folded-forward position. You have to actually tie them (kinda) with a strap to the headrest of the middle seat! Very odd; it's as if the final fold feature was added at the last minute in the engineering process.
Still, I think I done good. As I said before, only time will tell as to whether we're geniuses with foresight or gullible idiots.
I'm about to donate my Aerostar to charity, and man does it feel like a clunker now, in comparison to Misty Blue. I found that I actually got better mileage in it, around town, with premium gas, though on the highway there was no difference. I'll post some similar comparisons on the Sedona once I gather the data.
They're out there, folks. Just keep calling around or net-surfing.
Mark
I noticed tonight that the TMV price listed on Edmunds site for a Sedona EX w/o options is $21,590 the same as the MSRP. Just FYI.
Besides all that, it appears to be an impressive minivan.
A good review. Good comments on the engine (good low end torque) and acceleration figures are as good as a Sienna! Positive driving impressions. Only criticism I have of their review is they keep quoting "poor mpg" but as we have already established on this forum the actual highway MPG is at least average. Also they bemoan the poor availability of ABS, but I guess this is a big issue in the great white north.
PS - Ordered my Shrek video on 12/3, got it yesterday 12/20. Much faster than I expected. Happy Holidays to all.
Driver's side : 5 stars
Passenger's side : 4 stars.
There is no passenger's Airbag for Korean version Sedona.
Bluewinds.
Steve
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owner and it took alot to convince me to look at Korean built product. Thank God I am open minded and willing to do my "do dilligence". I have owned alot of fine cars (Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Volvo) and I am very confident this vehicle is well thought out and put together. There may be a few things that could be added ( extra key remote, heated seat, more space behind rear seats) but all in all for the price this is a REAL VALUE! Fred Voll, Madison, WI
residual heat from rear heater. These seem to be the only real issues that are consistent on this board. That's is not much to be concerned about. I also read one post regarding "lots of transmission challenges" I think this person should have offered some proof of this. I have not seen any other concern regarding this. If anyone has had tranny problems please post experiences. I will continue to monitor this very informative board, and report my own experiences. I want to ad one more thing. I bought a new 2001 Windstar for my wife last year. I didn't want to but it but was really forced to. We had a '95 Ford Taurus Lx Wagon that had a 3.8 engine that blew the head gasket, which was a huge problem for Ford. They literaly could not build replacement engines fast enough, so they offered to buy ours for $6100 and offer a $3000 coupon towards a new Ford product. We couldn't sell our car the way it was, and they had already replaced the head gasket once before! We were stuck. The Windstar fit my long legged Amazon wife perfect and it is a solid riding "full sized" mini-van. At the time they offered a 0.9% interest for % years. Hard to beat. We wanted a White van. Every one we looked at had defects, little pin prick, concave impressions in the clearcoat. Could not be buffed out. We looked at several...same thing. Dissappointing to say the least. We order a Plum color, and when it arrived, upon inspection I foound several pieces of dust, small hairlike objects, and one large chunk of dirt which was sprayed over in the right rear quarter panel. I was livid. Ford was trying to "win me back" with this poor quality control. The GM, who lives in my neighborhood said " We can repaint if for you" GEEEEEZ, I said, I buy a $26000 vehicle and I have to repaint it???!!! I ended up taking delivery for $500 less (I figured they would make it look worse, and my wife wanted it over with, we were fed up with the whole process) Since then it has been in for 2 recalls, horn doesn't sound at times. I have had it with FORD. I pray that my service is better with my Sedona. My GM at the Kia dealership already has offered me a loaner car anytime I need service because I purchased it in a town where my daughter goes to college, I schedule the service, visit my daughter, and we have a car to use. He has been exceptional to deal with in taking care of all the little details because he has handled them all himself! This is a stand alone KIA dealership in La Crosse, WI, I understand there are very few of these. Small town service to the max. The paint work on the Sedonas is above average and the first thing I am going to do is use a product I have been using for the last ten years, AMWAYS Silicone Glaze. It is the best product I have ever used. It seals the paint and dirt runs off of it. Sorry for the lengthy post. This is a great board and very informative!
A Little Humor: Like everyone else who owns a Sedona, I've been listening very carefully to every sound that it makes, anticipating the dreaded creeks, groans, or whirls that would signal that it may be getting ready to fall apart. Sure enough just as I was afraid last week it finally happened, everytime I turned left or right there was a strange vibration ending with a dull clunk (similar to dropping a tennis ball down a tube)Every turn I made(no matter left or right) I felt/heard this vibration under my left foot. "Oh this is just great!" I thought.
Can anyone guess what it was?
A sterofoam Christmas ball ornament had rolled under my drivers seat and wouldn't move except when I turned a corner. HA! Fortunately, I figured this out without the help of a repairman. No telling what that would have cost!
vehicle will do just fine. Do you believe/trust everything you hear that
Consumer Reports put out ? The manufacturers certainly have a right to contest the methology of how these "tests" are conducted. In closing I can assure you that there are always varying circumstances "in the real world", that will differ, compared to a controlled test.
Does anyone know what the slot above the coin holder to the left of the steering wheel is for? My wife was going to drop some coins into this slot (which is below the vent hole), but I didn't think that was a good idea. She thought dropping coins into the slot would allow them to appear in the coin holder below.
Has anyone read the Sedona manual? It must have been originally written in another language because there are spelling and grammatical errors.
Another thing...has anyone experienced problems with their wireless remote for the EX? Sometimes the remote does not work to lock or unlock the doors when I am right next to the driver side door. This happens about 50% of the time.
One last item...the DTE (Distance To Empty) computer seems to be off. Our Sedona has 600 miles on it and the DTE figures seem unusually high. Anyone else have this problem?
The remote control seems to have a delayed action; you need to hold the button dwn for a second before it works. The DTE indicator has always proven accurate at fill up time. Sometime it is a lttle confusing on the run-- the milage goes up in an improving milage situation, but it seems to be doing the job accurately. I like to add the odometer and the DTE numbers to get an idea of the current mileage rate. When it adds up to 400, I know I'm getting about 20 MPG. Happy Holidays to you too.
More importantly, I wanted to address the ABS issue. I have had two incidents (not accidents) where ABS have allowed me the opportunity to avoid accidents - one on a snow covered road late at night involving a deer and oncoming traffic, the other during a downpour where a stop sign was obscured. In both cases, in two different cars, the ABS allowed me to do what cannot be done if the tires stop turning - steer. Other points on ABS in this forum are valid, but nevertheless I will always insist on ABS because being able to steer during an emergency maneuver can be all the difference.
I am cautiously optimistic that the Sedona may be our next vehicle. I'll keep you posted.
From the reading on the Daewoo forums, the Kumos are not as good, most likely comparible with the BF lineup.
I'm not sure what rating of Hancooks are on the Sedona, but my Leganza had "H" rated tires. Most likely a little higher rating than used on mini vans.
Brought the red EX/ABS/Leather/Sunroof home for $1200 under MSRP, or more importantly $5000 less than the Honda with cloth, and a 2.9 APR, and a better warranty, and a sunroof, and fog lights! and...
More importantly, the Kia dealership acted in a manner consistent with valuing me as a customer. In lieu of ranting more about the Honda experience, I'll simply say that they did me a favor. I am so much more satisfied with the feature set and buying experience.
Now, is there any way that Edmunds will review its "could use more power" comment? As per other comments on this board, the van is bolting off the line with no coaxing whatsoever, and it's a small disservice to those researching their next purchase, imho.
Of course, this is one reason for the lower expectations on the MPG around town.
(I have updated my profile to accept offlist inquiries for any information that I might be able to offer to those interested.)
Thanks for your feedback on the tires. I went to the local dealership today and checked out the tires which were on the Sedonas. All EX versions had Hankook RA 07's on them. All LX's had the Kumho tires on them.
I am looking forward to taking delivery of my EX on Thursday! So far I have been treated exceptionally well by the folks at Kia-Direct in La Crosse, Wi. They are one of the few stand alone Kia stores in the country, meaning they sell only Kia. This is the first totally loaded vehicle I have purchased new in years, mainly because the price was so appealing. I am hoping the Sedona is a winner for all Sedona owners and for Kia, and it shows every indication it will be. I don't think I am going out on the limb stating I believe the price wil increase on the Sedona, because of the demand for them. This would make the "charter" Sedona owners purchase that much sweeter, even a greater value! The reports on this board would offer good insight as to any problematic tendancies and so far I have seen none. I can't wait to smell leather again! I feel like a little kid again getting my first Schwinn Speedster! By the way, for those of you that have leather I highly recommend Lexoil, available at most tack or leather shops. Its not expensive, and lasts forever because a little goes a long way. I have used this for over 25 years on my imports, and it is top shelf. I use it on my leather Lazy Boy which is ten years old and it looks and feels like new. It feeds the leather and keeps it soft and supple. From looking at the seats I believe the leather is only on the seat and backrest portion of the seat. I believe the rest of the seat is a matching naugahide. I would use a Armor All type product on that portion. Happy 2002 New Year to ALL!
P.S. phone # too.
What I don't know are Kia specifics, so you'll need to check the owners manual for that.
First, I don't believe there is such a thing as break in oil. I've never been able to purchase it at a dealers parts counter. And I've never read engine rebuild directions that call for breakin oil.
I do suspect that some manufacturers use a "friction modifier" that helps to seat parts. That may be as close as you get to a breakin oil.
Instead of changing the oil at 1K, we simply changed the filter and topped up with enough oil to reach the full mark. If any metal bits fall out, I would hope the filter is where they are caught. If they sink to the bottom of the oil pan, they probably won't go anywhere until you drain the oil.
I would change oil at the intervals you plan to with the vehicle. I personally go with 6months or 5K on our MPV with Mobil 1, starting at the first change at 5K. Many cars come with a factory fill of Mobil1 or other synthetics.
I let my 87 LeSabre go 10K between changes now of Mobil 1 with a filter change every 5K. That's still three oil changes and six filter changes/year.
Best bet on the break in is to avoid the freeway on the way back.
Enjoy your van, take the scenic route back that will cause some stop and go driving. As your manual probably will say, avoid full throttle starts, panic stops and cruising at constant speed for extended periods of time.
I doubt the tranny fluid needs to be changed so soon. It is so hard to get all fluid out of automatic transmissions because probably half or more is held in the torque converter. Just change it at the specified interval or sooner, and you will probably be fine.
TB
(It's not what you drive, but how you drive it that counts!)
(The only thing I didn't list in my previous post was the HomeLink, which to me is an otherwise extremely expensive garage door opener - and I have the X10 system. I did get it to work with the rolling code on my genie opener this morning, though.)
Basically, all of the marketing incentives are drying up this week (my guess is until President's Day in February), so this could be a good month to deal for something off any lot for any make. If you've missed some incentive, might be wise to wait to see what comes up for Washington's birthday in a couple of weeks.
The breakin described in the manual is for the first 600 miles as described in post 396. The key appears to be avoiding constant engine speeds for too long.