mellifera33 Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 What do you think of it? We are in the market for a cheap minivan since learning that my Volvo SW requires extensive repairs. *sob* We are not exactly flush with cash atm, since we closed on a new house two weeks ago, and the Sedona looks like the most value for the money. Are there any other cheapish minivans we should look at? I like the Ford Transit passenger vans, but nobody has any used in the area. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbecueMom Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 I have a 2007 Sedona, bought in 2011 or 2012 (can't remember). Only minor, typical hiccups so far. My brother is my mechanic, and he hasn't mentioned any problems with it, or Sedonas in particular. That being said, there are three minor recall notices out on it right now. The problem is getting it to the dealership on a weekday when our other car doesn't fit all the kids in it. Grrr. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymonster Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 We have a 2008 Sedona. No issues except one of the sliding doors' locking mechanism doesn't work unless you manually lock and unlock the door. I attribute that more to my children's behaviors than that of the manufacturer's carelessness. It has been a great vehicle for us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 We have a 2008 Sedona. No issues except one of the sliding doors' locking mechanism doesn't work unless you manually lock and unlock the door. I attribute that more to my children's behaviors than that of the manufacturer's carelessness. It has been a great vehicle for us. ^ Exactly what she said, right down to the kids and manual lock on one of the sliding doors (insert twilight zone music here)... It has been a very good van to us. Much better than the Dodge we had before. I would buy this van again in a heartbeat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavender's green Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 ^ Exactly what she said, right down to the kids and manual lock on one of the sliding doors (insert twilight zone music here)... It has been a very good van to us. Much better than the Dodge we had before. I would buy this van again in a heartbeat. Our too! Except ours went out right away and our van is a little newer than that. Overall it's a great van for us. I vaguely wish the back seat were a little wider for when we bring guests somewhere with us. The kids are all in carseats or boosters, which really limit how much we can use that space. Maybe all vans have this problem, though. This is my first van. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 We have a 2012 Sedona. It's fine, but it gets terrible gas mileage. Does anyone else experience that? We rarely drive it now that we're down to only one kid at home most of the time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4everHis Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 We have a 2008 Sedona. Love it. Gas mileage equals past Mazda mini vans. More space than a Mazda. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Don't go too old on the Kia my 2008ish model was a piece of poop. Small things like plastic handles breaking drove us nuts. The sliding doors had issues. One of them fell right off one day. That was exciting. We found that certain parts were made of plastic that shouldn't be made of plastic so they broke. It's sitting in my driveway now getting ready to go to the junkyard. The newer models may be better made but I'll never buy another one. We like vehicles that hold up forever and that's not been our experience with the Kia. Most of our vehicles we keep past 200,000 miles and that one just didn't work out for us. We're letting it go way before that because of the issues. Oh one more thing that's a headache for us is that it is a pain to work on yourself, just with the configuration of the motor and stuff. We like doing our own basic repairs and the Kia was configured so oddly that it was hard to do that. Just my experience for what we expect out of a vehicle. Perhaps we got a lemon and perhaps we got an earlier model that wasn't as well designed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifera33 Posted February 9, 2017 Author Share Posted February 9, 2017 Thanks to everyone for your input. We are planning on test-driving a Sedona tomorrow. I'll check out the locking mechanisms, although honestly it probably won't make or break the sale. If they break easily then my kids will find a way to crush them. Lol. I never thought I'd be looking at a Kia. The first year that Kias were available in the US, I test drove a Sephia, and was horribly embarrassed when my then relatively small, pre-children, rear end did not fit in the drivers seat. I had mentally filed Kias as "cars for people with tiny butts" and when my dh suggested looking at the Sedona, I initially thought that there was no way my post-three-kids rear would fit in the driver seat. I am happy that they are being made to accommodate a more typical mom-sized rear end. Maybe Sir Mix-A-Lot should do a Kia commercial to win over those of us who were scarred for life by the early Kia models. Or maybe I was the only one. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 (edited) We drove one from about spring, 2011 (so a 2011 van, I think, as we bought it new) to fall, 2016. We got about 160k miles on it, in a bit over 5 years, so, yes, we drove it hard! We had zero problems. No repairs other than the standard oil changes, tires, etc. The only reason it was killed at that point was because my young adult daughter delayed addressing the "oil pressure" light . . . If she'd done what she should have done (had it immediately evaluated before more driving), it would have been a 1500-2000 repair, but delaying meant she drove it dry and killed the engine, so we sold it for parts/scrap. I have no reason to believe it couldn't have gone for many more miles and years if dd hadn't killed it before its time. The Kia was reliable, cheap, safe, and just fine. Worked great for us and was *such* a bargain. I knew we'd be driving it hard and we had 3 kids coming of driving age when we were in the market, and so I knew we'd both "wear it out" quickly with all the miles plus we'd be buying a *lot* of vehicles in the approaching years (yes, very true!), so I was not inclined to spend anything more than needed to get the job done. The Kia van fit the bill perfectly for us. ps. Before the Kia, we'd had a Ford minivan and then a Toyota minivan. (All bought new.) The Kia was MUCH less trouble than either of those!!! Both the Ford and Toyota were retired around 125k miles IIRC (and about 5-6 years each), but those two had lots of expensive mechanical issues towards the end of their life times, not due to abuse, just due to bad luck. The Kia lasted longer problem free and never did have a problem that wasn't due to abuse. Edited February 9, 2017 by StephanieZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 (edited) Believe it or not, we now have 2 Sedonas. One is probably about 7 years old and old is probably about 3 years old. They've both been great vehicles for us. No major repairs. We did have 1 recall issue that was taken care of. We've replaced batteries, tires, etc. Edited February 9, 2017 by WoolySocks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stratford Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 We have owned 2 Sedonas in the past (with some overlap between them.) One was a 2007, purchased one year used, one was a 2012, purchased new. We loved them both. They were both very reliable and had no major repair issues except for an A/C problem in the 2007 that occurred while still under warranty. They were both unfortunately totaled in accidents (not at the same time, and they both did well in a crash, no injuries in either accident) and had we not needed to move up in vehicle size we would have happily purchased another Sedona. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4everHis Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 We have made many trips from Michigan to Texas and a round-trip Michigan, Mount Rushmore, Texas trip all with 7 kids, 3 being teens. Maybe because we had the Mazda before (tiniest minivan know to man) but we've had plenty of room for those trips not using trailer or cartop carrier. DH does all our maintenance and doesn't have problems. Some things are tight but doable. Motor is a Ford motor if I'm not mistaken. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 We have a Kia mini van. I actually don't know what's kind. :p We just had to replace the Cadillac convertor. This was a costly repair. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 We have made many trips from Michigan to Texas and a round-trip Michigan, Mount Rushmore, Texas trip all with 7 kids, 3 being teens. Maybe because we had the Mazda before (tiniest minivan know to man) but we've had plenty of room for those trips not using trailer or cartop carrier. DH does all our maintenance and doesn't have problems. Some things are tight but doable. Motor is a Ford motor if I'm not mistaken. We had a Mazda MPV before our Kia Sedonas too. I actually really liked that little mini van! We've taken our Kias on very long cross country trips too. We are hard on our vehicles and put many miles on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILiveInFlipFlops Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 (edited) I think I have you all beat! I drive a 2002 Kia Sedona. Granted, it only has around 130,000 miles on it, but it's still going strong (though I am nervous about saying that "out loud" now). The only problems I've had that weren't age-related were that the handles on both sliding doors broke off within about a year of each other. Otherwise it has just really been the usual stuff that you might need to repair on a 15-year-old car. And frankly, I love this van. I kind of want a shiny new SUV, but this thing is a workhorse. I do agree that the gas mileage stinks (about 16 MPG) but it's because I'm basically driving a tank (the safety ratings were the big selling point for the models year at that time). As for seat size, I have PLENTY of "back" and the seats are more than wide enough and are comfortable. I'm saving for a new car now, and I'm looking at Kias for the next one as well. So in your shoes, I wouldn't hesitate to look at a Sedona. Edited February 9, 2017 by ILiveInFlipFlops 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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