speculations on the next Kia minivan?

[teekadog]

We figure we will need a bigger minivan in a few years so we're wondering what Kia has up its sleeve. Googling and finding speculation that it will resemble their KV7 concept car is not great news to me... I want another competitor for the Toyota Sienna/Honda Odyssey arena- one that has all the good points of each model (roomy 8 passenger, LATCH everywhere, tons of safety features, nimble handling, easy access). What do people on here think?

 

[threeundertwo]

This is a great question! We recently debated trading in our Mazda 5 for a minivan but are hoping to make it a few more years. We were seriously looking at the Sedona but want 8 passenger seating so we could do 3 across in the 2nd row. Hoping the new Kia will not look like that whacky KV7 and be more like the previous Sienna with regards to seating. I'll be keeping my eye on this thread. Thanks!

 

[teekadog]

I contacted Kia. As I expected they couldn't tell me much but were very nice. There will definitely NOT be a 2013, but there definitely WILL be a new design in 2014. North America Kia has no idea on if it will be 8-pass. or not or any other details I asked for, but strongly feel it will have sliding doors. Kia wants to stay in the minivan market and that means sliding doors- they are already happy with their SUV/crossover models. (I asked because I used to have a Mazda MPV and hated the lack of sliding doors.)

 

[sirrahn]

I would be interested to know too, but I think I'd still be pretty leery of buying one. While they seem like great vans on paper features and crashtest-wise, The two that friends have had basically fell apart and were needing multiple repairs within just a few years of ownership. They were not all things that were covered under their warranty either.

 

[teekadog]

I would be interested to know too, but I think I'd still be pretty leery of buying one. While they seem like great vans on paper features and crashtest-wise, The two that friends have had basically fell apart and were needing multiple repairs within just a few years of ownership. They were not all things that were covered under their warranty either.

I've heard Kia horror stories as well But I also know multiple families that are still happy with their Sedonas/Entourages years later. And I have heard Chevy/GMC/Honda/Dodge horror stories too. Lemon stories get all the press, but these car brands have been around for years so they must be doing something right.