2007 Kia Rondo EX: Introduction

Looking forward to seeing this affordable people mover being blogged regularly.

Why didn't you buy it?

bradyholt, why would you buy it?
lol.
 
It's showing itself to be a horrible gas guzzler, and you don't even get the ground clearance of competitors.

It does seem a little unusual though. I thought most of the LT cars were purchased where this was provided by Kia.

I don't know if "most" of the Edmunds LT vehicles were purchased by Edmunds. To find out, check the very end of all the LT introduction articles.

Could be. I was just under that impression. I though recalled reading something about buying them to go through the whole consumer process and being as objective as possible. But I may have imagined that!

We're the only publication to purchase some of our long-term cars. But we do not purchase them all. Right now we have 23 active cars in our fleet and 10 are ones that we purchased. -- Donna

That's still very respectable and I'm glad that you buy a good percentage of them. I've always felt the whole experience from start to finish was important and although dealer experiences can vary they can be indicative of a trend or industry issue.

I'd like to see a comparsion test with this and the Mazda5. From what I've read so far, I see no reason to buy the Rondo over the Mazda.

The Rondo is a small crossover (same space as a midsized sedan) without the ground clearance.
The Rondo (midsized sedan) is bigger than the Mazda5 (compact sedan) by one size.

This is an interesting class of vehicle, one not usually brought to the US. Honda has the Stream and Mitsubishi had the Space Wagon but they never brought it, so kudos to Kia.

Sedan?!
 
One reason to favor the Rondo over the Mazda5 is NHTSA crash test results. In NHTSA's tests, the Rondo received five stars for both the driver and passenger in the frontal crash test and five stars for the driver and four for the rear passenger in the side crash test. NHTSA hasn't tested the Mazda5. (The IIHS has tested neither.) A car shopper may prefer a car that has performed well in crash testing over one that has not been tested.
 
In the European NCAP, the Mazda5 did get five stars overall while the Kia Carens (the Rondo's twin) got just four, but I, for one, would hesitate to consider European crash test results if I were shopping for a U.S.-spec vehicle.

Does anyone actually care that much about crash test scores to nitpick between the US and European crash test scores?
 
Every new design will likely be a bit better then before but the real world varibles of crashes are so great as to make the difference meaningless.
 
All new cars today are amazingly safe, it's the drivers that are a problem. Worried about safety, take an advanced driving course.
 
As for the Rondo, I would favour the Mazda because it's better looking, has sliding doors and it isn't a Kia. Mazda has proven they can make great cars over the last couple decades.
 
Kia has proven they can't.

crashtestdingo is hereby awarded the recognition for the most illogical post of the thread.

FirstWagon said: "I'd like to see a comparsion test with this and the Mazda5. From what I've read so far, I see no reason to buy the Rondo over the Mazda."
 
From what I've read so far:
 
Seven seats instead of six.
Stability control.
More space.
More power.
Better fuel economy (I4 versus I4).
Smoother and quieter ride.
 
And, of course, the jumbo warranty.

Nice to see this car added to the LT fleet, it's certainly intriguing on paper. However, I wonder how it will be able to compete with the new Scion xB, which costs less when similarly equipped.
  
And BTW, the crash test ratings (Euro and otherwise) ARE relevant, so thanks to crashtestdingo for posting that info.

bradyholt, you pretty much nailed the reason that I bought a Rondo over the Mazda5. One important other note - for parents of young children, the Rondo has a definite advantage, at least emotionally. The safest place for an infant or toddler seat is the middle seat, farthest removed from side-impact dangers. The Mazda's 2-2-2 seating precludes this positioning.
  
I admit it's more emotional than rational - but give a parent choices between "safe for your child" and "safest for your child", price and other factors being relatively equal, and you'll get a very predictable response.
  
In any event, I made the choice to deal with a relatively boring drive (and a ridiculous model name) in favor of all the rational reasons that the Rondo makes sense.
  
I've had mine for seven months. Curious to see how IL's experience compares to my own.

Other differences:
 
Hinged rear doors on the Rondo vs. sliders on the Mazda5.
 
A V6 option can be had on the Kia.