At some
point every parent considers his or her options for a family hauler. Do I need more space than a sedan? How many kids do we or will we have? Are we planning to do a lot of activities
like soccer and camping? What kind of
image do we want to present? What
company produces the most reliable product?
These are just a few or the many questions to consider when looking for
the ideal family vehicle, not to mention the price of entry and cost of
ownership propositions. My purpose here
is to discuss two of the most common family vehicles: the minivan and the
medium sized SUV or crossover. These are
the vehicles you see most frequently with a “baby on board” placard, the family
or honor roll stickers in the back window or (most telling) the exhausted mom
or dad playing taxi shuttling the little ones from one place to another while
singing nursery rhymes. This is a major
decision that parents will deal with on a daily basis; get it wrong and you
could be regretting it for years.
To answer
this question I will be testing two new offerings from Kia: the all-new 2015
Sedona SXL and a recently refreshed Sorento to be reviewed at a later
date. I was able to arrange these
reviews after meeting the Kia marketing team at the 2015 Dad 2.0 Summit in San
Francisco. At that event the entire Kia
fleet was made available to the conference attendees to test around the city
and review with the #kiadad hash tag.
Needless to say, I was very impressed with Kia. I think many Americans would be skeptical of
me saying that Kia is a quality brand with innovative products and a truly
excellent value proposition. Let us be
honest, due to the relative newness of the brand in the US and previously below
average vehicles that were sold on the cheap, many Americans don’t really want
a Kia. If you are one of those people
let me level with you, it is time to give Kia some serious consideration when
making your next vehicle purchase!
I took the
keys to our Sedona on Friday for a seven-day test that will include a trip
(with two grandparents) to Disneyland from our home in San Diego. The first thing I will say is that this van
is a real looker! Clad in a shimmering
rich brown color with chrome wheels and a distinctively modern style this is
not your parents’ old town and country from the 80s! Yes it is still a minivan but if more
minivans looked this good I think more young parents would warm to the idea of
driving one. Open the power sliding
doors and no less than ten cup holders and at least seven different places to
plug electronics in for charging (two of them are outlets just like home!)
greet your family; two things that are crucial for a modern family.
Since this is a top of the line
model there are several features that make the owners manual a little more
necessary such as: driving mode, heated and cooled seats, heated steering
wheel, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control
and the 360 degree multi-view camera system which displays on the NAV
screen. The jury is still out on how
useful or necessary all these bells and whistles are but they will be fun to play
with. One feature my daughter has
already shown a love for is the huge second and third row sliding moon roof. On our way to the lake for our Friday run she
was crying so I decided to throw a Hail Mary and open the roof. She instantly quieted down and was mesmerized
for the rest of the ride… Priceless in my book.
So far I
have only had the chance to drive it around town and on the freeway to my
weekend Navy Reserve time but my initial impression is very good. The van is substantial (in a good way),
nimble, quiet and responsive. I was
especially impressed with how quickly I was able to complete a U-turn with a
tight turning radius and the perfectly positioned and very large dead pedal for
my left foot. When it comes to vehicles,
I think the details are really what matter.
I also decided that this test was the perfect time to try out our
daughter’s new “big girl” car seat. She
will ride around in the Britax Advocate we bought a few months ago based on
positive online reviews. It is a monster
of a car seat with large side impact cushions and a plethora of adjustments
that will make it her car seat for the next few years. Installation in the van was simple and
straightforward using the LATCH system that has become standard in vehicles
with passenger seats since 2002. I put
it in the driver’s side second row captains chair which, combined with the
large sliding door opening, should make entry and exit of the seat fairly
easy. I hope she likes it.
Tomorrow we
will be leaving bright and early for the land of magic in Anaheim with Mom,
Dad, Baby, Grandma and Grandpa. I will
have them test every seating position, ease of entry and exit, comfort of the
ride and give any feedback they think important. As empty nesters, Grandma and Grandpa are
just as likely to have a minivan as I am (they actually do); according to Motor
Trend, 45% of minivan buyers don’t have a child at home anymore. What they have to say will be just as if not
more important to the industry as my impressions. Let the family haulin’ fun begin!
