Woohoo, my kinda vehicle, love this one and hope to trade up at some point. Currently have the 2011 SX version and yes this car has had three rows since its redesign. It may have been available in certain trim packages only, which may have changed for the new one.
So far I have 45k miles of driving bliss. The new interior is very similar to the outgoing model, supposedly all the changes were made to the chassis and suspension. Kia really listens to the journalist complaints and adresses them. The third row is suitable for kids and adults, in my opinion.
I know everyone complains about the handling, but I have no issues, find it a little 'heavy' on the highway and pretty light in parking lots, almost a perfect combination. I may not be an expert on this sort of thing so take it for what it's worth. The other previous complaints were 'stiff ride, feel every pothole'. I prefer stiff rides and to slice and dice on the poor roads. And the gas mileage is on the traditional Kia poor side. I would say I average 20.0 to 21.0 US mpg (sorry I don't know the l/km equivalent) on my commute to the airport and back (60km), doing the 407 standard mph (read 30-40 over)
. Not stellar, but not horrible, I refuse to hypermile or drive to conserve fuel. Oh yea, the A-B and C pillars are too large, but use your mirrors folks, that's why they are there. I feel it's the price of good design. Schreyer is the king.
I cross shopped this with the Journey, Outlander and Equinox. Outlander is way smaller, and the third row was really for kids only. The Equinox is alot bigger, would have been real tight in the garage and i'm not a fan of Chevy vehicles, I have memories of 80's Impalas and Parisiennes. The Dodge was close, it looked good, price wasn't crazy, the questionable reliability (although some would say the same about Kia), alot of it was Kia offered a lot more value.
Bought used over the border so a good deal was had. And so far no gremlins, knock on wood.
Cheers
