Kia Sedona EX Review

I've got to hand it to Kia. While they're rapidly improving every single product they make, they made sure that their biggest achievement would be right in the heart of the market.

Kia benchmarked the best minivans in the business (Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, Chrysler Town & Country) when designing the current Sedona...and it shows. The Sedona hits virtually every target, delivering 9/10ths of what Honda and Toyota do and arguably tying Chrysler, for a much lower price.

Minivans these days are $40,000 vehicles when you finish loading them up with the options. The Sedona EX I tested for a week started at $26,565...leaving a lot of room for a lot of options (The Luxury Package with leather, heated front seats, memory, adjustable pedals, three-zone climate control, sunroof, backup warning system, steering wheel audio controls and an engine immobilizer; The Premium Entertainment Package inlcuding a DVD player with 8-inch monitor, Infinity Audio system with mp3 and a CD changer and Infinity Surround Sound; The Power Package which means power sliding side doors and power liftgate; Cross bars and a tow hitch).

Bottom line for this loaded minivan? $33,000. A good five to seven grand less than the benchmarked competition. And the Sedona gets five stars in the frontal and side crash tests, four for rollover and packs an EPA estimated 16 city/23 highway mile per gallon estimate besides.

Minivans are bought on utility and value and the Kia Sedona aces both tests handily.