Used 2016 Kia Sedona Consumer Reviews
CUVs are for chumps
ahightower, 07/06/2016
SX Limited 4dr Minivan (3.3L 6cyl 6A)
39 of 39 people found this review helpful
If you need three rows of seats every day, and do not have $65K for a new Suburban, minivan is the ONLY way to go. We had downsized from 2005 Yukon XL to a 2014 Pathfinder, and that was fine for a while. But when surprise baby #4 came along, we realized the limitations of the CUV. Access to third row was a daily nuisance (constant flipping and folding of seats - easier in the Pathfinder than most of the competition, but still a thing that has to be done), and most importantly, cargo space in the way back is very limited. We took our annual Florida trip with two adults, four kids. Luggage stuffed to the gills, and a cargo platform hanging off the trailer hitch for extra capacity. We had some serious saggy butt. It handled alright, but clearly was not designed to actually carry a full load of people AND stuff. This was the trip that convinced me it was time to return the lease a bit early and get into a van. Wife wasn't quite ready to go dork mobile, but she eventually admitted if there was a really nice van than looked okay and had all the features she wanted, she would consider it. The Sedona and new Pacifica made her very short list. 3 minutes walking around the Sedona and marveling at the space and luxury finishes, and she was sold before I could even test drive. This one evidently has a bit less room behind the third row than Odyssey and Sienna, but it is downright cavernous compared to even the biggest CUVs (Chevy Traverse). And loading the baby is so much easier with sliding doors. These are all things I knew, but Mrs. Cool needed to live with her Pathfinder for a few months before coming around. We went for the SXL Tech 8-seater in dark blue - it's actually a really nice looking vehicle, and not just "for a van". I've stored away that 2nd row "jump seat" to create an aisle for two of the big to easily walk through to the third row. But I did want that 8th seat, just in case we have an extra passenger (grandma) for a long trip, or perhaps we will want to fold half of the third row to max out cargo space for beach gear next summer. And, I didn't really need the sun roofs, which we never used in the last car, and which they say compromise headroom in the third row where two of our growing young teens reside. Also didn't really care about the "lounge seats". One of them just has a baby carrier on top, and honestly there's not enough leg room back there to really utilize the "ottoman" feature for a teenager, unless he scoots all the way back and steals all the leg room from the third row. Just not something we would ever get any use out of, while the 8th seat has potential uses. Anyway, this is quite simply the most luxurious vehicle we've ever owned. The interior materials are beautiful, and I hope they are durable as well. I'd prefer darker leather, but other long term tests I read say they hold up well. The gadgets are "Sofa King" cool - I've never had many of these features before. Xenon headlights, automatic high beams (this really works!), radar cruise control (again, this actually works great - it can't do stop and go traffic, but it will take you down to about 5 mph and back up again), blind spot monitors, birds-eye-view camera for parking. I don't love the chrome wheels, although they look sharp it's going to be a lot of effort for the boys to keep them clean :) The bluetooth audio doesn't seem to work with the newest iPhones, you have to plug in to USB to get any sound from your phone. Nor does it read texts as it says. Wish it was apple car play instead of UVO. But the navigation is decent. I thought Nav was stupid, since that is free on everyone's phone anyway. But having it integrated into the dash is nice, and its directions on the info screen between the gauges driver side is cool. When we get the XM activated, will see how good it is at traffic. Cooled seats are a Texan's best friend. I'm 6'3" and have plenty of leg and knee room, even with the bulky baby carrier behind me, and his seat scooted forward a bit to give the third row boys some extra space. Wife is 5'1", so memory settings for seat and mirrors were an essential feature for us. We had the dealer install remote start, and it works fine with the factory key fob, though it will only run for 30 seconds once a door has been opened. We had been used to starting up the AC and taking our time loading groceries. Instead, you have to jump up front and hit the ignition if you want it to keep running, but that's a minor complaint. The ride is very quiet, and it really smooths out with a full load. Enough power, transmission is responsive. Steering is very light at low speeds but firms up nicely for the highway. The price was very fair, lots of features for the money. I am a little bit hesitant about Kia long term reliability in general, but we will be covered b2b for the duration of the lease, so I was willing to give it a chance. Overall, we are both very pleased with this vehicle.
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Could not have wished for a better minivan!!!!
CK, 03/25/2016
EX 4dr Minivan (3.3L 6cyl 6A)
26 of 26 people found this review helpful
We absolutely LOVE our Sedona! We spent a lot of time looking at minivans and trying to find the right one that would be safe for our family. After driving the Sedona we knew it was what we needed. It is always a little scary buying a new car but we have had it for a few months now and are still incredibly happy with it. I actually told my husband the other day that after owning this I will probably always want a minivan it is so comfortable.
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2016 KIA SEDONA EX rules the roost.
Dave, 03/07/2016
updated 03/14/2017
EX 4dr Minivan (3.3L 6cyl 6A)
40 of 42 people found this review helpful
This is our first experience of what was called a mini van, but what now is called a MPV, ( multi purpose vehicle ). We only considered the safer MPV's, Honda, Toyota and KIA, the other's were considered too much of a health hazard to their passengers. All 3 we tested drove very well, the KIA Sedona just has had a firmer, more confident driving experience. The fuel economy of the Honda was the best of the bunch, but was let down by the poor access to the 3 row seating, very dated interior, the price would be considerably more to get some the basic standard features of the Kia, and the concern of falling to 10th place in brand reliability, only average, by consumer reports . So our choice was between the Toyota and the KIA in the end. The Toyota is good, but only gets a acceptable rating for the small overlap front crash test, which is more important than it sounds, reliability is rated 2nd place behind Lexus, very good. The dash board looks and feels, if come from a different generation in the past, and price for a similar spec was nearly $5000 more than the KIA at list price. The Sedona just has a more modern design, inside and out, taken the best features of some the other's, and made them better still, then backed by a ten year warranty, became a easy choice. Update, we have had the Sedona now for 12 month and 12000 miles, and is still problem free, I can understand why the Kia brand is rated number 5 for reliability by consumer reports..
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Great minivan.
YY, 09/14/2015
updated 09/17/2018
SX 4dr Minivan (3.3L 6cyl 6A)
63 of 68 people found this review helpful
We have been very impressed. Ride is excellent. Handles like a car. Looks as good as a SUV. We had a 2012 Honda Odyssey Elite previously (lease). This Sedona SX is better. Ride is better. More tech inside. Definitely enjoying the surround view camera, the vented seats, the automatic high beam (useful when driving on a mountain road not having to worry about flipping the lights when paying attention to the curves). These are features not available on another 8 seater minivan currently. Also we like the fact that Kia comes with a much more reasonable warranty. Honda and Toyota both has only 3 year 36K mile warranty - this is low in the industry. And ... to those who says Honda and Toyota don't break ... guess again ... they do! Our 2012 Honda Odyssey had transmission problem - fortunately just before the warranty is up. That is the reason we are not keep it beyond our lease. Very glad with our 2016 Kia Sedona SX right now (8 passenger tech package). The only grip I have is: why Kia doesn't make a 8 seater loaded and with the panaramic sunroof? Our $40K Sedona is loaded - but has no sunroof? Fortunately my wife hates the Sun and does not like to have sunroof. I on the other hand would wish that being available as an option. The SXL comes only in 7 seat. Why? Otherwise we would have bought a SXL. Update: Apparently the SXL comes in 8 seat now. Wish we had known about that. Vehicle still running great. We had been very happy about the purchase. Drives better than our prior 2012 Honda Odyssey with a more upscale interior. I am also happy to read that Kia now has better reliability than Honda according to a 2016 Consumer Reports article. Update: 20K+ miles - still doing fine. The lever used to retract the 2nd row seat fell off. Dealer screwed it back. Other than that - no other issues. Update: 40k+ miles. No issues. Good car. But resale value is poor. At end of lease car value is less than buy out so we decided to turn it back in. Overall MPG prob less than competitors also. Would be a great 3 year old used car at $21k fully loaded with all the tech. Someone will be getting a deal! We got a new 2018 Pacifica Hybrid Limited! Even better car. Look for my review there!
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Fabulous vehicle, still after almost 40,000 miles
Peter, 07/14/2017
updated 01/22/2019
SX Limited 4dr Minivan (3.3L 6cyl 6A)
20 of 21 people found this review helpful
Had for over one year, two huge road trips. On 12,000 mile trip at the moment. Getting 24.5 mpg. Looked at Pacifica, didn't like. Turning circle much better on Sedona, didn't like transmission knob. Sedona can be shifted manually, was great in the Colorado mountains last week. Sedona looks and operates more like a SUV than a minivan. Zero problems. Update January 2018: The Sedona still has not had one problem. It has nearly 29,000 trouble-free miles, and has averaged 23.9 mpg in all types of driving. For some reason car reviews knock the Sedona for bad mileage. Lead foot maybe? Normal driving gets excellent mileage. Plus it's quick. Car and Driver clocked it at 7.4 seconds 0-60. I had an upscale 2015 SUV as my last car and it didn't handle as well as the Sedona, was less comfortable, had much less cargo space, had poorer visibility, and on and on. To me, the minivan makes a lot more sense than an SUV -- unless you plan to go off-road, which few people do. There are other good minivans to buy, but I wouldn't trade my Sedona for any of them. Plus, it has the best warranty in the car business. Easy decision, at least for me. Update July 2018: Just returned from a 6000 mile road trip. Again, everything was perfect. No problems whatsoever. MPG was 24.9 for the whole trip. Now have over 39,000 miles, not one problem. A friend came up to me today as we were near the car and said, "I thought you had a minivan"? I said, "It is a minivan". He said, "It looks like an SUV". The car does look more like an SUV inside, and out, but has all the conveniences of a minivan. I am 79, my wife 75, and we LOVE our minivan. It handles well, has incredible room, has three uncrowded rows of seats (vs most SUV's), has rear entertainment for the grand kids, has a very tight turning circle, has great manual shifting for the mountains, etc. I could go on and on. Oh yeah, and the price was better than the competitors. Sedona now has 43,500 miles. I took it to the KIA dealer last week for 40,000 mile maintenance. I told them to go over it closely to see if there are any problems. They did, and found NOTHING. Frankly, I think that's unheard of -- 43.500 miles and nothing wrong. The brakes were even still good. I had another couple in the car a few days ago for a 45 mile drive. He has a Toyota Sienna van. He remarked how smooth the Sedona was on the road, and how well it seemed to handle. He liked it better than his Toyota. It has been a remarkable car.
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