General Comments:
I bought this car off an eBay auction from a man in Connecticut; I live in NY State. The car was titled in Georgia and it had relatively low miles for the year. The body had no corrosion on it, which was a big advantage when buying a car in the Northeast.
Right after having towed the car home, I discovered that the head gasket was blown ($700.00).
I did a complete tune up (plugs, wires, coils etc) when fixing the head gasket. I was told by seller that the A/C was great... when the warm weather came it wasn't working at all. I had the A/C serviced and it lasted for most of the summer. Recently it has been not working properly. There are no leaks, so the reason for the lack of AC is unknown. When the rear A/C is turned on, the front AC is more likely to work.
The audio system in the car is junk. The CD player will not work (error message) and the radio tuner is of poor quality. The car is hard on tires. Alignment is perfect, but tire wear is rapid compared to another van we have in the household.
The sliding doors on both sides are poorly engineered. I had to modify both of them so they could be opened from the inside.
So what I thought was a good deal on a southern car has become a real bummer. NYS inspection is due in another two months, so I will need to spend more money in addressing the misfire and evap issues. The car has, with no warning, stalled while driving it. Not sure at this point if that is connected with the misfire issue.
My previous car was a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan. I never appreciated just how great the engineering on the Dodge was until I had this KIA. This Sedona reminds me of the Yugo's of the 80's. You might think you are getting a good deal, until you get it on the road.
I understand that KIA quality has improved greatly on the 2006 and later models. I have several friends with these newer models and they just love them. I'm still thinking that the Chrysler minivans are better engineered.
10th Sep 2012, 16:26
I can't suggest to buy a new Caravan, not when they've made it so you can't change your own transmission fluid.
But as for the Kia, I think that you should've looked at it in person before buying it. One of the big rules when buying a used car is "Don't buy it until you drive it".