I was down in Phoenix for the past week on vacation with my family and my wife's parents and brother. We rented a minivan for the week and were presented with a 2015 Kia Sedona LX. I was interested to see how this minivan would compare with the Odyssey, Sienna, and Grand Caravan.
The LX trim is pretty basic, but comes reasonably equipped. Bare in mind, that I had a US spec model and not sure how it would line up with Canadian Spec equivalent. Some notable features included automatic headlights and power folding mirrors that you can put in a "auto" mode so when you lock/unlock the car, they fold/unfold. There is an "active Eco" more which slows the response down in the name of fuel economy, but I didn't think it was unbearably slow and left it in that mode all week. It was far smoother than the Eco mode in the Grand Caravans which I find got the transmission quite upset. The backup camera is decent, but the screen in this lower trim is tiny. It was supplemented by backup sensors which was helpful. One welcome feature was that the guidelines for the backup camera bend and curve with the steering direction indicating the trajectory.
Initial impressions were not good. The "walk-in seat" on the drivers side was not latching and I was afraid I would have to go back and talk with the rental agent. I managed to figure it out and had to make an adjustment to get it to latch. This van was only a 7 seater (2 captains chairs and the 3rd row bench) and Kia only provides LATCH for child seats in the 2 captains chairs and the passenger side of the third row (Odyssey provides a total of 5 - 3 in the middle row and 2 in the third, Sienna for 2015 provides 4 if I recall correctly). We installed the child seats in the 2 captains chairs. However, this really impeded ingress/egress to the third row. The "walk-in" seats do not work with child seats like what you might see with the Pathfinder. The relatively narrow door openings also did not help. We basically used it like an older minivan with a single sliding door on the passenger side and would slide forward the passenger side front seat to provide more room. The Odyssey is much better in this regard as I can put 2 car seats next to each other in the middle row and the third seat can still flip forward to allow access to the third row. The Sienna XLE and higher allows for a much longer travel on the second row captains chairs (to accommodate the lazy boy style foot rest) and would also allow for better accessibility to the third row than the Sedona. The key for the van is like a circa 1998 Mercedes Benz switch blade style key. However, the pin that holds the key in was quite loose and wouldn't allow it to close completely. Seems like this not something that should happen in 7000 miles.
The third row passengers all complained about the small rear windows giving a claustrophobic and dark feeling to the back. They also complained that the third row was not comfortable at all. I checked it out myself and found that it was very small, short on the bottom and not as high off the ground so your knees are up and thighs are not supported well. Additionally, I believe the third row doesn't have as much width as the competition. My wife commented once she got into the third row of our Odyssey today that the space and comfort was much better than the Sedona (my parents and nephew brought the van to pick us up from the airport today and my wife and mom sat in the third row). If I had to rate back seats in minivans, the Odyssey is the best, followed closely by the Sienna, then the Grand Caravan / Town and Country, and lastly the Sedona. Overall, the interior seemed smaller than the other comparable minivans.
The fixed center console is quite high up. So you can't even think of stepping over it nor can you remove it. I feel this feature makes it the least family friendly of all the minivans as one parent can't easily access the back if they need to. Kia does provide a 12V outlet inside the center console as well as some illumination inside in case you are looking for something inside at night.
Driving wise, it had enough power. Despite the numbers, I didn't find it anymore powerful than the Odyssey. But that doesn't surprise me as neither do the Sienna or the Grand Caravan. If I recall correctly, the Odyssey has a peak torque arriving at a much lower RPM than the competition, might be a little lighter and have better ratios to give it a similar acceleration feel in comparison. The transmission was smooth in operation. Steering felt artificial, but was still accurate. Still can't beat the feel of the good old hydraulic setup in the Odyssey. Ride quality was decent, but despite having 4 wheel independent suspension, the back end felt more like a torsion bar / solid live axle in feel compared to the Odyssey. Not quite as composed over bumps and rougher pavement. Suspension tuning seems like one area where Kia still has some learning and work to do. Visibility is decent out the back window and up front. The second row windows also offered decent visibility for shoulder checking.
One thing after 7000 miles is the Kia felt like it had a few interior rattles. Not as bad as GCs that I have rented in the past, but not up to the level of Honda or Toyota.
At the end of the week, the fuel economy ended at 12L/100km with a 50/50 mix. A little disappointing because in similar driving with the Odyssey I get about 10L/100km, in similar flat terrain with air con running. It is worth noting the Sedona has the worst EPA rating at 17/22 mpg. The GC is 17/25, Sienna 18/25, and Odyssey at 19/28.
Overall, it is a much needed change and improvement over the previous Sedona which was long in the tooth, but hardly a game changer. If I recall from my rental of a previous gen Sedona around the same time last year third row comfort was higher and it was more accommodating of young families than this new generation. In short, if you have a need for a minivan to be family friendly (isn't that the definition of a minivan?), look elsewhere. I think the direction Kia has taken is for the worse and I can't see their sales improving while trying to justify a price in line with Honda and Toyota. All they will likely do is pack it full of features that the competition doesn't offer and sell it on that premise. But features in my opinion do not amount to depth in substance.
If anyone has any questions, I will try my best to answer them while the info is fresh in my memory.
