The dome light is set but it is not at the front of the car..... am I missing something, There are 2 dome lights, one in the middle one at the rear. Both come on, but the map lights do not and consequently it is dark at the front.
I triple checked this before writing, it's dark in there.
Yes, you're right about that. As for my own experience, it would have been nice if the map lights came on automatically in the front row while entering and exiting the vehicle, but the lighting coming indirectly from the dome lights in the back seem to be good enough on most occasions for my purposes.
There are a few things that fall short in the Rondo that you may not notice on a 10 minute jaunt around the block. The steering wheel controls are intrusive during parking lot maneuvers - I’m not sure how many times I have either changed the radio station inadvertently or upped the volume but it has happened enough to annoy me already.
I've owned the Rondo for about eight months now and I've yet to accidentally change the radio station or the volume due to inadvertently touching the steering wheel controls. Okay, maybe it has happened once or twice, but obviously it hasn't occurred often enough for me to remember.
Kia still has a weight problem : this thing is nearly as heavy as my much-roomier MPV. The regular doors, 2nd row bench and mandatory slushbox pushed the Rondo off the list of a few Mazda 5 owners I know. Even in Quebec, the Rondo is a rare sight. By coincidence (or not), both the 5 and Rondo were side-by-side at last year's Montreal Auto Show. 3rd row access - and room - is much better in the Mz5; if your needs include two child seats, then the "spare" 3rd row is useless. With 2nd row buckets, you just walk through to the back.
This just proves that different people have different needs. The fact that the Rondo comes with regular rear doors, second-row bench seats and auto tranny (especially the V6) are reasons why some people have chosen the Rondo over the Mazda5.
Me personally, I would rather have the second-row bench seats than two bucket seats because you have the option of seating three in the second row. Not only that, the seating for seven obviously gives you more flexibility and more options with the passenger/cargo combinations than with seating for only six.
I've also checked out both vehicles before eventually choosing the Rondo and I would say that the third-row roominess is about the same in both vehicles, except that the Rondo has slightly more legroom and the Mazda5 has slightly more headroom (this is after adjusting all the rows in both vehicles so that there were adequate legroom in each row). But if we're just talking about that "closed in" feeling, then the Mazda5 subjectively feels more roomy in the third row since there's an opening to the back between the second-row bucket seats.
I'm not sure what you meant about the third row being useless when your needs include two child seats--do you mean that if you place two child seats in the second row, you then can't access the third row? That's true, since you would have to remove a child seat in the second row so that you can fold the back of the second-row seat forward a bit to access the third row. I would say that's more inconvenient than useless, though. It's not ideal to place child seats in the third row, either, since the third row lacks the special tethers and LATCH attachments for child seats (that only appears in the second row).
I'm curious to see what fuel consumption will be at the end of the test; if the V-6 drinks like a full-size minivan, then, what's the point ?
The point is, some people don't want a full-size minivan and don't need that much capacity all of the time, and would rather have a smaller vehicle so it's easier to negotiate the urban nightmare. At least, that's my reasoning. Yes, size does matter (although not in the way that we usually think of it--bigger being somehow better).
Let's remember that the Rondo and Mazda5 can seat four quite comfortably and the additional seating is in reality for occasional use only. If you need seating for six or seven all of the time, you're better off with a not-so-minivan.
