KIA Mini-Van

I drive a 99 Ford Windstar mini-van and am looking to purchase a new or up to 2 years old mini-van. I would like to hear from KIA mini-van owners their likes, or dislikes, about the KIA mini-van. Any particular problem areas, such as the Windstar manifold problem (OBD-II P0171 and P0174 codes) and intermittent ABS light, with KIA mini-vans?

Thanks for your time and information.

Reply to
Ford Driver
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These are problems I have or have had with my 2002 Kia Sedona minivan (currently mileage: 106,000 and holding since it's currently a lawn ornament) :

Acceleration - Sometimes the vehicle runs only at idle speed regardless of how far the accelerator pedal is depressed.

Engine - The motor periodically jerks (or stalls) hard. Even though it continues to run, the Check Engine Light illuminates.

Oil consumption - The vehicle leaks or, more likely, burns about =BE of a quart of oil every 3,000 miles.

Air bags / Passive restraint - After going through an automatic carwash, the airbag light lit up and has been glowing consistently ever since.

Interior door handles - The interior door handle on the drivers side broke into two pieces making it impossible to open the door from the inside. Additionally, it is often difficult to open the passenger door from the inside.

Sliding doors - On the left sliding door, the plastic bushings on the rear support bracket broke and fell out, causing the door to bind while being opened and closed.

Windshield wipers - For some time the front windshield wipers had a lot of slack. So, while being used, they would flop past the edge of the vehicle. Finally, they stopped working altogether.

Air conditioner - When the air conditioner worked, it did not work well. Air was not as cool as it should have been and the speed of the cabin fan was too slow to be fully effective.

Paint - The paint beneath rear window is peeling. Clear coat paint on piece above license plate is "alligatoring" or "checking."

Body - The metal dents extremely easily.

Fuel gauge - After filling up with gas, the fuel gauge immediately moves to half but takes about five minutes to move from half to (nearly) full. It fails to read accurately. While driving, it slowly drops as would be expected). The problem here is, it shows only =BD a tank of fuel when it's really =BE full.

Digital display - The trip computer (clock, temperature, time-to-empty, etc.) in the overhead console failed. The display for the various functions is wrong. For instance, it'll show time as 3:69 p=2Em. and the temp readings are preceded by a small L.

Instrument cluster warning lights -- The warning ("idiot") lights for the charging system and brake fail to illuminate even though the bulbs and fuses are good.

Charging system -- The alternator and/or other parts of the charging system have failed. The vehicle will run only until the battery is drained. Then, it stalls. To replace the alternator requires dismantling of significant portions at the front of the vehicle including a portion of the air conditioning system.

Reply to
Christian M. Mericle

As an owner of two Kia Sedona minivans, I would like to make some comments. I have no doubt that there are at least a few people like "Christian M. Mericle" out there, especially if their Sedona was an '02. That was the van's first year, and it had a lot of bugs that needed to be worked out.

But Kia has shown a remarkable ability to see what is wrong and fix it. I owned an '02 and admittedly, it was a little rough around the edges. My '04 seems to have solved all the problems.

Here are some things to consider.

*The '05 is the last year of the previous minivan design ('02 to '05). These vans are smaller (which many people prefer), tend to be very smooth vehicles and actually have some things that the new re-design ('06 and '07, if it is out yet) do not have, most notably a full-size spare tire. The '05 seemed to be the best in terms of one you probably won't have problems with.

*The '05 has a very good powertrain with a 3.5L V-6 and 5-speed automatic. Only negative is that the engine requires a timing belt, an expensive maintenance item that is to be replaced (along with spark plugs and other things) every 60,000 miles.

*The '05 will be an excellent value, that you can probably pick up at a pretty good price used.

*The '06 is an all-new re-design. It is a larger minivan, comparable in size to the re-design of the Toyota and Honda. It has most of all the best features of every other minivan out there.

*The '06 has a larger 3.8L V-6, with a timing chain. It has a sportier ride. This van will spoil you and at thousands less than comparably equipped vans. But it performs, handles, rides and carries with the best of them. Reliability is an unknown for a few more months yet, but if you owned a Ford minivan (I also was a Ford man, but NOT with their minivans) this is a step up in every sense of the word.

*The Kia has surpassed the Ford (and all others) in terms of safety, a real accomplishment in a van costing less than the others.

More and more auto magazines and testing agencies have now had a chance to test the re-designed Sedona. Get one and see what they say.

Bottom line - I have thought (and still do) that Kia is now the way to go for minivans.

Hope this helps.

Tom Wenndt

Reply to
Rev. Tom Wenndt

Well Kia were just learning with the 02, but don't appear to have put right the faults for the customers who bought them. How nice , what a way to start, at the customers expense.

Reply to
Spanner

We have a KIA Sedona 03 EX, have had absolutely no problems whatsoever,

40,000 miles. Tires are wearing out, that's about it. Runs strong, electronics work well.

Plastic a bit under par on interior trim, scratches easily.

Reply to
MikeT

Excellent comment!

The myriad of problems are galling enough. The fact that Kia, once alerted to them, offers no form of goodwill to have them repaired is inexcusable. Given the sheer number of bad vehicles sold by Kia, I know it is not practical (though it is fair) for the company to bear the entire cost of cleaning up its own mess. However, it could service safety-related issues (air bag problems, acceleration issues, broken door handles, etc.) under recalls. And, for the non-safety-related issues, it could pay part of the service fees. At the very least, it could provide replacement parts at cost, instead of making a further profit off of people who trusted in Kia when purchasing an automobile.

-- Christian

Reply to
Christian M. Mericle

Can't really speak on the previous generation vans but the 06+ models have seen few problems from what I have read. The biggest annoyance for some has been a steering wheel wobble around 72 mph on some vans. Balancing or new wheels has solved that for most. Noisy fuel pumps have also been reported. (The pump and tank is under the 2nd row, left seat).

I own the Hyundai version of the van (Entourage) and also dealt with the wheel wobble initially but it was solved with now problem. The Entourge is basically the same with a few small cosmetic / trim differences.

Visit the Entourage / Sedona Forum.....

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Reply to
art.obrien

Thanks. I was not aware that Hyundai made a van.

Would you buy another Hyundai?

Reply to
Newby

Hyundai is the parent company of Kia.

-- Christian

Reply to
CMM

Thank you for the education.

Reply to
Newby

"Would you buy another Hyundai?"

Absolutely! The Entourage is actually our 5th Hyundai! We had 2 accents a Santa Fe and an Elantra as our family grew before the Entourage. We have had good dealership experiences so we kept going back. Unfortunately this seems to be the weak link for Hyundai as well as Kia as lousy dealership experiences really stain the brand.

When we moved recently we actually asked owners in parking lots as well as dropped in the service waiting rooms of the two local dealerships to get an idea of whom to deal with. Remember the car is only new until you drive it off the lot. It is the rest of the ownership experience you will remember.

Reply to
art.obrien

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