Kia Rondo

We are thinking about getting an 09 Kia Rondo with low miles. We don't know much about Kia vehicles and are wondering what people here think of them. I know that there are no top tethers in the third row. DS's primary seat is a Nautilus, but he is 5 1/2 years old and probably about 40 pounds. While we would love to have a second, its not in the immediate plans.

What do people think? I see the Sedona mentioned here frequently. We're wondering about safety, reliability, etc. I've seen some concerns about their warranty not being what you might think based on their advertising. Anyone have any experience with that?

Thanks!

Tina

We have an 07 Rondo and LOVE it! We haven't had any problems with it, reliability wise. We also have one DS who is almost 5. We have him in a FR85. He's in the 2nd row with seatbelt and tether. We're trying for #2 and don't think we would have any issues with space in it. We bought it with the 3rd row so we would have some extra passenger room for when family comes out and such. I've also used it several times to transport 4 kids. The 3rd row works awesome for rear facing kiddos. You just load and unload them through the hatch. The only issue we've had with it has be keeping the seats clean. We have the tan seats and they get dirty really quickly. They clean up well though with the hand tool on a carpet cleaner.

We haven't had any experience with the warranty, so I can't answer that question for you. The IIHS hasn't tested the Rondo yet, but it's the same chassis as the Optima, which rated average for crash tests. Edmunds.com has some good reviews for it.
http://www.edmunds.com/kia/rondo/2009/consumerreview.html?tid=edmunds.n.crrindex...1.Kia*

Overall, I would definitely recommend this vehicle. It's cheap, gets decent gas mileage (avg. 22mpg) for it's size, and has great cargo room (with the 3rd row down).

Were there any other questions he had about it?

The one thing with Kia is when you buy used, you won't get all of the warranty. For first owners, I believe it's 5 year 50k miles bumper to bumper and 10 year 100k miles powertrain. Second owners will just get the 5 year 50k mile bumper to bumper part and NOT the part that goes to 100k miles.

IME, Kias don't hold their resale value very well. That's not so good if you buy it new, but it is good if you're buying used.

I have a Sedona I'm selling right now. It's an older one and had quite a bit of quality issues even when it was almost new. I'd dealt with two Kia dealerships and their service department left a lot to be desired. But even with that, I'm still considering buying a used Kia for DH's commuter car.

I love Kia, the new gen vehicles are really great. The 5 year 60000 warranty transfers, and resale is still low because the reputation uisn't there yet(but i believe it will be soon), so you can get a 1 year old kia at like half price, and still have 4 years left of warranty, which is what we did. The 10 year warranty only applies to the first owner, and only to like the drive train or whatever. Weve dealt with the deealership a coupole times, had a so-so experience once and a great experience once.
I really like the rondo, its a great car, and will give you a bit better mileage than the sedona. Both vehicles have VERY high safety ratings. However - even though it can technically seat 7, the rondo is NOT really a minivan replacement, and I would only recommend it for families like yours who only have 1 kid or 2. I wouldn't want to transport 3 or more kids in it on a regular basis, it's just not that roomy, unless the kids were older and out of seats. When you use the 3rd row seats, you lose all cargo space, so again, no room for strollers and other kid gear. But if your intent is to use it like a sedan that has the occasional ability to pop that back row up to transport a few more people, I think it's great. Just be careful when buying used, because for the first several production years, the 3rd row was optional, so many of them don't have the 3rd row seating....I think it became standard in the last year?
The sedona is an AWESOME minivan..it might not be quite as plush and have all the creature comforts of the ody or sienna, but the crash test results are AMAZING, it has plenty of room, easily foldable seats, lots of cargo space, etc. IT also fits me VERY well, ,and as a barely 5 foot driver, thats so important to me, and yet my dh was comfy also. You can get 1 year old sedonas around here for $14k.

From what we are seeing, its the 2010s that have the 3rd row. The one we are considering does have the third row, which is a requirement for us. We won't use it often, but we want to have the option to have room for a few more when family are in town, etc.

We don't want a minivan or SUV, but like the option to have extra passenger room when we need to. We also want to have some flexible room for cargo.

It's just the 3 of us, so a sedan is mostly what we need with some room for "stuff" when we camp, etc. Our 2000 Subaru Impreza has been a workable sized vehicle for us. We have a Thule box that we should be able to make work on the top for those times when we really need more space.

I knew the part about not getting the 10 yr/100,000 mi power train warranty as the second owner. I just don't know that much about the reliability of Kia's vehicles. We want to keep this vehicle for more than 5 years -- is that reasonable to expect in your experience?

Are there any things that we need to know about if we get this vehicle? Any weird maintenance stuff or anything?

Thanks for all of the input. Its good to hear from people who have owned Kias and/or Rondo's specifically.

Tina

No, the rondo had a 3rd row *option* since it was released. But at first, it was just an option, some cars had the 3rd row, some just had a rather large cargo/hatchback area with extra storage bins where the seats would have been stored. Since the 2010 MY, the 3rd row is now standard, and therefore every Rondo has it.

The reliability of the newer Kias has been pretty good so far. The problem of course with knowing long term longevity is..it's only been a few years since the newer generation Kias have been around.

My car is the Optima, which is the same platform as the Rondo, excecpt it's just a regular sedan. Ours is a 2007, and has not had anything go wrong with it that hasn't been our fault or regular maintenance (busted taillight from a fender bender, new brakes, etc)

We have a Rondo, and I've been mostly happy with it. I don't have the 3rd row, I don't know if the second row is closer to the front in the ones that do have 3 rows?? but there's a TON of room in my backseat, which I love. My
6'4" brother rode in the back seat behind my 6' tall husband and was impressed by how much room he had.
LOTS of storage space in two-row vehicles - the "floorboard" or whatever you wanna call it lifts up and I've been able to keep headrests, toys, diaper bags, emergency stuff in there with no worries about them flying around in a wreck. And we've gone camping with all of our stuff in the back part without needing to put anything in the back seat area. (It's not "seperated" but I still feel like it's a lot safer for most accidents...if the car rolls or tips it'll come into the passenger part but just a sudden stop, it should stay back there, I think.)
We did have some problems w/ recalls, but I think more of a problem because our dealership is retarded (kept the car a whole day several times, and even two days once, and couldn't figure out how to get the warning lights to go back off after fixing one of the recalls. ALL of the warning lights on my dish were on constantly for almost a year before they figured it out. The one mechanic kept telling us they didn't have the right computer system for the Rondo, but the desk guy insisted that wasn't true, so I don't know.
It's horrible in mud though. Meant to be a city car so expected - but even a tiny bit of mud and it'll be stuck & need towed...something to keep in mind if you or any of your family lives on dirt roads. My husband's Neon does better than the Rondo. (and yes, we did get stuck in the middle of a dirt road after it'd been raining once....not even a heavy rain so not a ton of mud...and in the middle of the road) The other time it got stuck when I pulled off the side of the road to take some pictures (and let a cop get past & away from us) and it looked dry but it was muddy .... had been snowing that morning & the snow melting made it muddy. Not a puddle or anything, just wet mud.

You can't do a rearfacing Radian w/ a seatbelt (or we can't anyway) but with LATCH it works great.
FR85 won't install with a seatbelt no way.
And a FF Radian seatbelt install in the center is iffy. We had it in there and DS was "dancing" in the carseat one day and unlocked the seatbelt so the seat was almost not installed - about gave me a heart attack when I went to take him out - only drove about 2 miles like that, it was tight at the bank then we went to the Farmers Market and it was loose - but still. I think maybe because the middle belt is very close to the buckle, and the Radian sits so close to the seat, so not much of the belt is used, and maybe when he wiggled it let it move enough to get back in enough to unlock? Just a theory, I don't really know, but I don't put him in the center anymore because I'm afraid of it happening again. Haven't had any issues on the sides though.
No center LATCH but it does have three tethers. you'd have to check in a three-row though, not sure how that is set up.

nmb said:

FR85 won't install with a seatbelt no way.
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really? Not LBP? My belts must be different, or there must be a difference between the 80 and 85, because I can get a fr 80 in my car LBP.

bobandjess99 said:

really? Not LBP? My belts must be different, or there must be a difference between the 80 and 85, because I can get a fr 80 in my car LBP.

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Yeah, we're not techs, so include that. But we spent about an hour and a half at BRU one weekend trying to get it to work.
If the buckle wasn't twisted, the buckle was "in" the belt path - right at the corner of the red piece (ETA-the red plastic that would be the lap belt guide if used as a booster) where it wouldn't tighten - and the belt was barely long enough to buckle which is part of what made it hard to tighten. And if the buckle was twisted down, then the belt wasn't long enough to reach. SBP, the buckle was hitting the edge of the belt path whether or not it's twisted. We didn't try it in the center. I'm worried about that seatbelt coming loose again. I'm not sure if that's a valid concern, we've had him in a Signo and a Marathon in the center with the belt and it didn't loosen, but he was younger & lighter too. Both RF. (I want to say the Marathon was there FF too but not sure?)

nmb said:

It's horrible in mud though.

FR85 won't install with a seatbelt no way.

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Do you have the original tires on it still... those were pretty bad, but after replacing them it does AWESOME on snow, mud, and rain. I've noticed that most new vehicles have pretty bad tires to start with.

I have an 85 installed in the passengers side (LBP). It was a push, but it can be done. This was the only seat I could get it installed in because of the 40/60 seats. The buckle just fit better with it on the 40 part. I agree that I don't like the center seatbelt. It just doesn't seem as 'sturdy' to me.

bobandjess99 said:

No, the rondo had a 3rd row *option* since it was released. But at first, it was just an option, some cars had the 3rd row, some just had a rather large cargo/hatchback area with extra storage bins where the seats would have been stored. Since the 2010 MY, the 3rd row is now standard, and therefore every Rondo has it.

The reliability of the newer Kias has been pretty good so far. The problem of course with knowing long term longevity is..it's only been a few years since the newer generation Kias have been around.

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Thanks for saying more clearly what I meant about the third row seat. This Rondo does have the third row.

The dealer is too far away from us and any mechanics we have used, so we got a referral for a neighborhood place that does a lot of business and isn't too far from the dealer. Ends up he used to work for Kia, so we talked a bit about their vehicles and reliability. He came highly recommended as someone who was/is very trustworthy. He said he thought this would be a good vehicle. It really is almost new.

ajtastad said:

Do you have the original tires on it still... those were pretty bad, but after replacing them it does AWESOME on snow, mud, and rain. I've noticed that most new vehicles have pretty bad tires to start with.

I have an 85 installed in the passengers side (LBP). It was a push, but it can be done. This was the only seat I could get it installed in because of the 40/60 seats. The buckle just fit better with it on the 40 part. I agree that I don't like the center seatbelt. It just doesn't seem as 'sturdy' to me.

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Good to know about the tires. What tires have people found to make a difference? I was telling a neighbor we were getting a new vehicle and one of the first things he asked was if it was AWD. He's the neighbor with the either access to a plow truck, skid steer or a big snow blower and always helps us out in the winter. He said he'd make extra sure we could get out in the winter. He lives in the middle of the block and we are almost on the end, so he just does from his house down past ours to the street when needed

Thanks all for the info on the car seats. Right now DS has a Nautilus or either a Turbobooster or old style Parkway, so we are good. Anything else, we can try before we buy.

The vehicle has a sold tag on it tonight. If all goes well with the last of the paperwork Wednesday, we get to take it home that evening

Tina

Congrats! I'll try to check to see what tires I have on there today. We got them at Sam's Club and I believe they are the 'mid-priced' ones. I'll have to check though. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

We have a 2007 Rondo and while I do love it, we have 3 kids and our 3 across was a nightmare (we couldn't fit anything in the back (RF) and there are no tethers as someone mentioned)!

We have the third row and don't use it (it was a floor model so we didn't have a choice). Maybe someday we might but it's tight back there! I wish it had tinted windows though but that's an option.

FWIW, we can fit a RF RN in with belt. Our YDD is in the centre installed with a belt ... but the buckle stalk is entirely inside the belt path. At first we thought it was impossible (because twisting 3x didn't work either) but it really does fit! Installing with belt in the outboard positions (RF) hasn't been an issue ... we've just used the LATCH.

MarathonMama said:

We have a 2007 Rondo and while I do love it, we have 3 kids and our 3 across was a nightmare (we couldn't fit anything in the back (RF) and there are no tethers as someone mentioned)!

We have the third row and don't use it (it was a floor model so we didn't have a choice). Maybe someday we might but it's tight back there! I wish it had tinted windows though but that's an option.

FWIW, we can fit a RF RN in with belt. Our YDD is in the centre installed with a belt ... but the buckle stalk is entirely inside the belt path. At first we thought it was impossible (because twisting 3x didn't work either) but it really does fit! Installing with belt in the outboard positions (RF) hasn't been an issue ... we've just used the LATCH.

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The only RF I've tried in the 3rd row is a Triumph 5 (older model). I was actually able to install it all the way inclined also. The only other seat we've put back there has been a TB. I really like installing the triumph in the 3rd row, we just take them out through the back hatch. I've thought about trying our Signo RF in the 3rd row but haven't gotten around to it yet. We also got our windows tinted, which has been awesome!

Hyundai bought out Kia I believe in 2006 and that is when the quality went up. Anyway I own a 2007 Hyundai Elantra and just love this car. Maybe I am not driving a name brand car but this car gets me from point a to point B. Hyundai/Kia may not hold their value well but I think they are really decent cars.