The 2016 Kia Sedona. |
But there's one place where Kia hasn't brought its "A" game. And that's the Sedona minivan.
2016 Kia Sedona. |
Who's number one? The Toyota Sienna, which moved 137, 497 copies from dealer lots to suburban driveways in calendar 2015. Second is the Honda Odyssey (127,736 sold). Third and fourth are the Dodge Grand Caravan (97,141) and Chrysler Town and Country (93,848), which, since they're the same minivan with different badging and trim, could probably be combined for 190,989 sales and would then be in first place. That would bump the Kia Sedona up to fourth place from fifth, with 2015 sales of...
36,755. Ouch. The only minivans that people buy less often than Sedonas are the Nissan Quest (an acquired taste that only 11,018 people acquired last year) and the Mazda 5 (8,609 sold), which Mazda discontinued at the end of the 2015 model year.
2016 Kia Sedona interior. |
No, most of the problem comes with the back seats. Oh, it's first-class lounge seating (Kia's description) in the second row and a perfectly comfortable third row and one of the two sunroofs is theirs, but...
Let's answer one simple question: Why do most people buy minivans?
Answer: Because they have kids.
And what do most people want their kids to do on long roadtrips?
Answer: Shut up and stop driving Mom and Dad crazy.
Etch-A-Sketch, Highway Bingo and Wooly Willy don't cut it with today's youngsters. No, nothing works like the raw, hypnotic power of video. Whether it's Teletubbies or Deadpool (please be responsible parents and make age-appropriate viewing choices), there's no substitute for a couple of Blu-Ray-fed widescreen HD monitors that fold down from the headliner and keep the kids in a video coma for the drive to the mountains, the beach, Grandma's or wherever. Which is why Kia is in such big trouble. Because they have a rear-seat entertainment system for the Sedona, too. It costs $1,095 and this is it:
2016 Kia Sedona reat-seat enterainment system |
In addition to the rear-seat entertainment system, our tester had the SXL Technology Package (Xenon HID headlights with high-beam assist, lane departure warning, forward collision warning, a surround-view monitor, smart cruise control, chrome side sill trim and a power outlet in the wayback) for $2,800. With $895 inland freight and handling, the Sedona rang in at $44,690. That's a chunk of change for any minivan. Factor in that at an EPA-estimated 17 miles per gallon city/22 mpg highway, the Sedona gets worse gas mileage than the Toyota Sienna (18/25) or the Honda Odyssey (19/28) and that , comparably equipped, you can have a top-of-the line Odyssey Touring Elite for a couple hundred bucks more (as well as the priceless rear seat video coma) and the sales pitch for a Sedona becomes very labored.
Given Kia's quantum leaps in design and quality, which have them now in most segments with fully competitive vehicles that have an edge in features, fuel economy and price, you'd expect they'd make the most of a clean sheet when it came to designing a minivan. You can bet that they won't make the same mistake with the next-generation Sedona...but barring an emergency refresh of this one, that's likely to be at least three years away.