2002 KIA Sedona EX reliability???

On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 22:37:28 -0500, 99trooper took a five-minute break from flipping burgers to boot the etch-a-sketch and scribble out:

First off, I never trust Consumer Reports. The editors there seem to like to bend over and drop their pants at for the Toyota and Honda exectuives. They seem to think that a sub-compact like the Accord or the Camary is a good car.

I've not heard of issues with the '02 Sedona. Mine has 56K miles and is running just fine. In fact, I like Kia enough to have convinced my mother to buy a new Sportage when she tired of her '98 Stratus.

So far, I've had the following issues (all taken care of under warranty):

Alternater dead. This happened while en-route to the store. I called the Kia hotline and they sent a tow truck and arranged for a rental while the new alternator was shipped.

Front Pass. Power Seat died. This was actually the result of my two-year-old messing with the wires. Kia took care of it in one day.

CD Player died. Again, the two-year-old. He had jammed four CDs into the slot. Kia replaced the radio/CD unit at no charge.

Chrome accent on door handle stripping. Kia is replacing this right now.

Glue on rear hatch trim coming off. Kia is replacing the entire trim assembly at no charge.

Other than that, I take it in for an oil change about every 4000 miles and keep up the maintenance. I think the wiring harness was replaced as a recall (but I had no issue) and the rear seat belt bolt was replaced also as a recall.

It looks pretty good (for a minivan) and only has scratches on the paint due to somewhat heavy off-road usage. (I realized a long time ago you don't need a 4x4 to go off-roading.)

I agree that Consumer Reports is a VERY BIASED group. I wouldn't put any faith in anything they say. They have bad mouthed several of the cars and trucks that I've owned over the years and I never experienced anything they said was wrong. Reading their magazine is like listening to Howard Cosell call a Cassius Clay boxing match. You often wondered what fight he was watching.

I also had an alternator go bad and then the dealer managed to keep screwing up things. Took four visits to get everything fixed. That's the dealership, not Kia. We like the Kia enough to buy a new Hyundai, which is one and the same.

I've had my '02 Sedona since January and it now has about 100K miles on it. The engine seems strong and so does the tranny. However, I've heard stories about the transmissions going bad. I also (so far) can't find anyone who has seen one with more than 150K miles on it (not precluding it, of course). I've also heard stories about suspension problems.

Some of the bugs won't be worked out under warranty because they're not covered by warranty.

Gas mileage is terrible compared to many other minivans.

A big drawback that I've personally seen is that "little" things break. My gas guage takes about 5 minutes to move from half-a-tank to full and still doesn't track accurately. The trip computer (clock/miles until empty/temp/etc) is fried. A bushing on the middle guide on one of the sliding doors is gone, causing binding. (You may be able to get those bushings upgraded under warranty, so check into if you take the plunge). Had a climate control switch fall apart. The front wipers don't return to the correct position after they're used. On the left side, the wiper tip has actually scratched enough paint away on the top of the hood to allow it to rust. The front inside door handles have so much slack in them that, if we're not paying attention, we have to try twice to get the door open. There's a fair whistle from the right front door at highway speeds. Took it through a carwash last Friday now the airbag light is on. So, until we get that fixed, we may be without that extra protection.

Incidentally, we bought the Sedona after blowing a head gasket on our '96 Plymouth Voyager. Now that the Voyager is fixed, even though it has 192K miles, I wish we had only it and not the Sedona.

-- Christian

I bought my 2002 Sedona EX over 4 years ago and I love it. Consumer Reports can go pound sand! I've never found their recommendations worth anything in the real world.

The Kia Dealer in Santa Ana, CA is the best dealer of any car brand I've experienced in my 61 years. They fix whatever needs fixing and when the payment responsibility for the fix seems "iffy" they are always on my side. When the alternator went out it was replaced with a bigger, better version in just a few miles. If I could have a wish about the van granted I'd love better gas mileage, but I sure wouldn't trade the safety record of my very sturdy vehicle for a few bucks per tank.

Bill O'Neill Irvine, CA

We have a '05 Sedona EX. Not a single problem, yet, with 10,000 miles. It's a beautiful van and gets many compliments. Sage green with the EX fancy bits -- chrome, alloy wheels, leather, etc..

Hard to tell reliability with a small track record.

This doesn't seem to be too prominent here. I had 88K miles on mine when the engine blew. I was VERY religious with oil changes (never more than 3K between changes.) I know it was nothing I did. I bought it used with 31K miles on it. I'm thinking the original owners got rid of it because they saw something wrong with it.

I have seen VERY FEW of these vans make it past 100K miles. Either they are reliable and consumers decide not to sell them. Or, they blow up and consumers decide they are not worth fixing. Although, from my experience they are not reliable. Anyone want to add to my comments?

While the '02 Sedona did have some significant problems, the incidence of powertrain problems (engine and transmission) is actually pretty low, and impressively so against other minivans.

Still, getting an '02 would be a risk, because there were so many bugs in it, especially with things like electrical bugs (a ton of switches fail in those early Sedonas), air conditioning, fuel system problems, air leaks and whistles, etc.

If you even think of getting an '02, MAKE SURE that the timing belt has been replaced in it, or get it done as a part of the deal.

Personally, I would be looking for around an '05. Even better, there are some pretty good rebate combos available on a new '08. The '08 is one seriously good minivan, maybe Kia's best product ever, and in its third year since the redesign, so all the bugs should be out, if there were any.

Never ever buy a 02 03 04 all of KIA for them years is Crap in 05 they started to get a Handel on their Problems.Many of the Problems stem from Kia America which is made up of EX Chrysler Croons!