I love, love, love dual power-sliding doors on minivans. With the push of a button on the headliner, door post, or key fob, they make a departure or an arrival an event to behold. They also provide a mini Apocalyse Now fantasy. You know the scene: Flying a Huey through the jungle with Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" blasting through the outboard speakers? Anyway, the 2006 Kia Sedona has those (not the speakers), but more: Power side doors, power-tilt/slide moonroof (natch), and power up-down lift gate, too. Cool eh? I discovered a problem, however.
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
Soon after the odometer turned 25k, the Sedona's tire pressure monitor warned us of a flat right-rear tire. It was just our luck that the screw we picked up punctured the tire where the tread meets the sidewall. We needed to replace the tire altogether.
The Kia dealership closest to our Santa Monica office was 12.5 miles away. That being said, traveling 20 miles to Car Pros Kia in Carson didn't seem too much farther out of our way. We had positive experiences with them in the past, so we scheduled an appointment...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
I got busted. I took the Kia Sedona for the long weekend and then didn't even take it to the car wash on Tuesday. I know, I know. I contend that with that beige interior that thing will never look clean...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
This weekend, our long-term Kia Sedona lived the active single life with me as I drove it to a hip downtown bar to meet up with an old friend visiting from out of town, to a trailhead in the Angeles National Forest for a 9-mile hike, down over to Playa del rey along with my bike so I could cruise down to the Fiesta Hermosa street festival, to Long Beach for the requisite Memorial Day barbecue and then to West Hollywood for a Wii party.
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
Minivans are awesome! Anyone who's not buying one because of image is lame.
In addition to hauling around cousins and a grandparent all weekend, the Sedona also proved useful in another way. My wife and I have been looking for a good patio set but refuse to pay $650 - $1000 for a new one...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
If you don't have a load of Muppets to cart around everyday in a minivan, the Sedona is still a practical choice as it makes a great cargo van with its third row folded flat.
I needed a large vehicle this weekend to pick up a chair and I knew the Sedona would be able to handle the load. Last weekend, I tried to pick up this same chair but I was driving a compact SUV for a road test I am working on and the chair would not fit. The Sedona had room to spare...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
There comes a time in every young car writer's life when he must drive a minivan. At some point, I will have to write about them, so it's good to get acclimated. But I'm about as far away from the typical Sedona buyer as you could get -- a mid-20s male with no kids, no pets, or even hobbies that involve large leisure equipment like Fender bass amps or kayaks. Needless to say, my weekly Tuesday-night cruise through UCLA's Westwood Village to meet attractive young women wasn't as successful as usual. When I tried to show off the Sedona's nifty remote sliding doors to a pair of co-eds, they announced they forgot to make a call and started running toward a public phone with a blue light on top. Seriously, who doesn't have a cell phone nowadays? *
Proving that the Sedona is not in fact a good vehicle for picking up women, I decided to find another way for my automotive odd coupling for the evening to pay off...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
A drive from Ventura County to Sonoma County in our long-term Kia Sedona produced only a few whines between vineyard visits. For the most part this van accomplishes the mission of comfortable and capable family transportation. Our EX model has the rear entertainment DVD system with wireless headphones, which means the digital ritalin is always in ready-fire mode for quelling second-row disturbances. The wife, a former 2000 Honda Odyssey owner, was quick to note the Sedona's "floatier" ride and handling, and after four hours both of us noticed a posterior ache from the somewhat squishy seats. After long drives in the aforementioned Odyssey, plus a cross-country jaunt in a 2003 Honda Pilot, we were both somewhat disappointed in the four-hour limit on Sedona seat comfort.
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
Here's something you don't see everyday. In fact, I've driven this Sedona several times over the past week and just noticed it. It's the side airbag warning sticker, and it tells you all the things you're not supposed to do because of the side airbags. I find myself in a conundrum on this location, because on one hand I hate the obligatory (and unnecessary) airbag warning stickers that litter the average new-car cabin...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
As the resident cyclist on staff I probably use our long-term Sedona's flexible cargo area more than anyone else. I appreciate the way its third-row seats flop into the floor with almost no effort and I often fold its second-row seats forward to make room for bikes. But this weekend I found its cargo area isn't optimal when it comes to carrying a ton of people, bikes and gear.
Renting a minivan to haul three people, three bikes and luggage over the weekend in Tennessee forced me to choose between a Dodge Caravan or the Kia...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
After over 22,000 miles with us, the paint on our Kia Sedona EX seems to be improving with age. When this minivan is nice and clean, the Claret Red paint holds a nice gloss and shows a lot of depth. Who knew?
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 22,037 miles
Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
Faced with the challenge of moving my daughter's beloved sandbox to our new backyard (without having our long-term Silverado available), I was pleased to find the Kia Sedona open for the weekend. What you see here are the dozen bags of semi-wet sand and a trash can with more wet sand becuause my eyeball estimate was about three bags shy.
With the sand taken care of, there was the not-so-small matter of the sandbox itself.
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
As Hyundai and Kia unveiled so many improved products within such a short time, watchful eyes would notice a slight dichotomy when it came to interior design. Namely, the first batch of cars tended toward a somewhat inelegant, pieced-together appearance while the later models (Azera, Optima, Elantra) possessed a grace and beauty almost on level with Lexus – at least to these eyes.
Well, the Kia Sedona falls into the former group. The center stack is a collection of style-free shapes, the dials are frumpy, the colors aren't exactly vibrant, and the fake wood comes from one of the lower-grade plastic forests.
On the other hand, the Sedona does have tons of storage space, a couple million cupholders, windows that open for everyone, power doors, power liftgate, power points everywhere, and second-row seats that are notably easier to take out and snap in than the Toyota Sienna’s. I suppose in a minivan, supreme functionality will suffice.
Brian Sy, Automotive Editor, 21,800 miles
Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
I'm in the market for a new city bike and have my eye on the Electra Amsterdam. And I was more than happy to take home the Kia Sedona for the weekend so that I could transport my new purchase since my real-life car, the Corolla, could do no such thing without a rack. With easy-to-stow seats and a maximum cargo capacity of 142 cubic feet, I'd have ample room. Plus a power lift gate that opens via the key fob meant that I could load the unwieldly cargo in one fluid motion, without having to struggle with the key and pulling open the heavy lift gate...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
We've been driving the Sedona for about nine months now and we already have over 21,000 miles on it. This morning I was reviewing the fuel log to see what kind of numbers we are earning.
On the average over the life of the vehicle we have been getting 17.7 miles per gallon. Our best-ever tank was 29.3 mpg, our worst was 12.3 mpg.
We're running a little below par as Kia's advertised numbers are 18 city and 25 highway...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
Whenever we have shopping to do or a lot of things to carry around, the Sedona is usually our first choice. It has plenty of space and is way comfortable. Even with the second row in place, the cargo area is cavernous. And the rear hatch is power operated...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
It's slightly embarrassing to admit, but I like minivans. Soccer mom stigma or not, their utility combined with their car-like driving characteristics are a draw not found in any other kind of vehicle. When Keymaster Kelly hands me the car list at the end of the day and my choice is between a Chevy Tahoe or Kia Sedona I'll choose the stigma of the minivan over the hassle of the large SUV every time.
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
Last night, while slogging though my homeward commute, I was very happy to find a "useable" 12V jack for my iPod FM transmitter/charger....
It's hard enough to locate an empty FM frequency, but I'm annoyed with 12V plugs that are placed in odd places (for my particular use). Inside the center console armrest , in an ashtray, or at the base of the dash don't really help much when trying to flip between podcasts or skip to the next song. With the Sedona's plug location, my iPod was easy to see, and handle safely.
John Adolph, Video Production Specialist @ 20, 665 miles...
Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
I ran out on Saturday evening to pick up a couple of things needed for dinner and my $10 trip to the local grocery resulted in a few hundred bucks of body damage.
As I walked out of the store, I saw a white Ford Escape driving the wrong way down the aisle where I'd parked the Kia Sedona. Just beyond the Sedona, the Escape cranked a hard right turn, attempting to pull into a parking space that was angled the opposite way. Part way into the spot, the driver decided he couldn't make the turn, backed out, and took off...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
It's Girl Scout cookie season in Southern California, and Brownie Troop 421 has been busy taking orders since late January. Cookies are the troop's annual cash cow, and these ten first and second graders have been working their Brownie beanie charms on family members, neighbors, and of course their parents' co-workers in an effort to make their troop goal of 910 boxes.
As the troop's Cookie Mom, it was my responsibilty to pick up the the entire order from the warehouse, all 1,176 boxes, which equals 98 cases or three towering pallets. The veteran moms informed me that 100 cases would fit in an open-bed pickup truck, but since our Silverado was at the body shop and the weatherman was forecasting the threat of rain, I opted for the Kia Sedona instead...
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Categories: 2006 Kia Sedona EX
