Too easy. Bbob has officially crossed over the ''washed-up
geezer'' line.

It's so pathetic, and funny.....but mostly pathetic....in a
humorous way.

Scotty


"Capt.Mooron" wrote in message
news:nm4cg.18282$zn1.17572@clgrps13...
YAWN.... Bobby Buys a Mini Van... a perfect match for his
plastic boat and
plastic life!
B-O-O-O-R-R-R-R-I-I-I-I-I-N-N-N-N-N-G-G-G!!!!!!

[Scotty... you're up for edit on my post here... you know
what to do]

CM-


"Capt. Rob" wrote in message

ups.com...
Yep, we decided to buy a minivan so my wife could
car-pool with other
nurses and I could also carry boat stuff more easily
than our smaller
cars....The 2006 Kia Sedona is an all new minivan
designed to go head
to head in the 30-40K luxury minivan segment. This has
very little in
common with the old 2005 Sedona.

Full review-2006 Kia Sedona EX
Yes, you'll need to get past any stigma associated with
the Kia name.
Kia is climbing the ladder just like Honda and Audi did
years ago and
gaining respect as their cars improve. We checked out
the Honda and
Toyota entries and the Kia just seemed to do everything
as well and in
some cases better. The handling of the Kia is certainly
up there with
the Honda, perhaps a hair better. Power is excellent.
This van is
probably faster than it needs to be. I've read 0-60
reports of 7.1 and
7.3 seconds and even prior to break-in the van feels
very quick. Build
quality appears to be quite good with nice fit and
finish.

Our fully loaded example has power sliding doors and a
power rear
hatch. If you have kids these come in really handy and
are fun to show
off as well as all 3 doors open and shut smoothly via a
button or the
keyfob remote...cool!. The doors will sense an
obstruction and open if
need be. They can also be operated manually. Locks
prevent a child from
opening them from inside of course.

Inside you get a full leather interior in gray or beige.
Go with the
gray as it will wear better. Front seats are 8 way and 4
way power. The
driver's seat is a bit short on legroom for taller
drivers. I'm 6.3 and
would like another inch or two. There's no reason for a
seat to be
short on legroom on a large van. Passenger and rear
seats have a LOT of
room. Even the split bench fully aft is pretty good and
the middle
seats will also slide forward making this true 7
passenger vehicle.
Make no mistake about it; this is a pretty luxurious
interior by any
standard. We found the Honda a bit more stark, but the
Odyssey and
Sienna are equally plush when fully loaded.

The rear seats tuck away into a storage well, but the
procedure is a
bit awkward and could use some refinement. Overall it
works okay. When
the seats are out the well is a great place combined
with the cargo
net, but some sort of retractable cover would really be
nice to hide
gear. With seats down there was room to carry a friend's
full racing
sail inventory, 8 sails for a C&C 38 and plenty of room
to spare for 5
passengers.

The loaded EX also comes with a killer Infinity
stereo/DVD rear seat
entertainment system. I know it's a cliche to refer to a
sound system
in a car as "killer" but you really need to hear the 13
speaker system
in action to realize how much better it is than any
other. The top of
the line Honda and Toyota don't even come close. The
flip down DVD
screen is a mere 8 inches. I consider that size
adequate, but others
are larger. On the other hand, unlike the larger
screens, the Kia's
doesn't block as much of the rearview mirror so it's a
better tradeoff
for safety. The system also has IR remote control and IR
fed headphones
that work well and very comfortable. Popping in a copy
of Star Wars III
I was treated to true 7.1 Surround sound. The center
channel is mounted
in the middle of the dash, a bit away for the rear
seats, but it works
very well. The picture quality is typical for these
systems, but many
people will hear sound that is superior to their home
systems. There is
depth, clear highs and fairly impressive midrange that
surprised me and
I'm someone who's owned stereo systems costing 9K. It's
that good. On
the other hand, you can question the logic of such an
elaborate system
in a car. A lesser system like the ones from Toyota or
Honda are still
"just fine." But as long as Kia is giving them away,
I'll keep mine!

On the port side of the cabin are jacks for plugging in
a camcorder, or
X-Box type game system. Amazingly Kia neglected a
Ipod/Sat. radio jack
up front and you'll need to correct that at your local
stereo shop for
aftermarket help. Also missing at this luxury level is
integrated
navigation/GPS, but expect that on the next year's
model. Buy a Garmin
I5, as we did and you'll do just fine.

Unlike many other vans on the market, the 2nd row large
middle windows
actually power down! This is a very welcome feature to
say the least.
The rear windows also wing out with the press of a
button. 2nd road
passengers no longer have that bus window feeling.

The 3rd road is less comfortable than the 2nd of course.
These are
seats that fold down into the floor and the only seats
to do so on
board. Kia's research showed that most people never
stowed or removed
the second row, so they left those as fully comfortable
chairs with
armrests. The 3rd row, because it's stows in the floor,
is inherently
less comfortable, but they really aren't bad at all. 3rd
row passengers
get cup-holders, a small storage bin and the inputs for
video game
consoles.

Each row of seats has port and starboard AC/Heat vents
and the second
row has it's own dedicated controls for temp and fan
speed. Shotgun
gets dual AC/Heat controls so the driver and passenger
don't compromise
and heated seats with 5 way settings. Very nice.

There are really too many little extras in vans of this
size and luxury
level to list here. The fully loaded Kia Sedona for 2006
also gets
memory seats/mirror/pedal, homelink controls for the
garage, backup
proximity sensor, power sunroof, 2 way adjustable
headrests, fold away
snack tray, and quite a bit more.

Back to Driving the Sedona....it is not quite like a
car, but close
enough that an hour or two of driving will have you
pretty well
acclimated. Acceleration is strong at almost all points
of the
powerband due to a healthy amount of torque. On the
highway the ride is
quiet and subdued. Wind noise is well controlled. I'm
certain that the
new Sedona is quieter than my Subaru Tribeca and that's
quieter than a
Lexus RX330. At cruising speeds above averages that most
people would
drive this van, the Sedona remains composed. Fast lane
changes are not
a problem, but steeper turns produce a bit more body
roll than I'd
like. There are moments when the Sedona will remind you
that it's
actually a 2 ton plus van and not a car. You must learn
when those
moments are likely to come up.

For the driver all of the controls are well laid out and
we've come to
expect this from most imports compared to the often
terrible American
made entries. Kia has essentially hit the nail on the
head with the new
Sedona for drivers, passengers and of course kids. When
our two year
old has a toy crisis, my wife can get to the 2nd row and
take charge
with ease. This is something our SUV could not do.

Parking the Sedona is something that will take practice
if this is your
first minivan. This is not a small van and the driver is
well up front.
Still, exhibit some confidence when you park and use the
aft proximity
sensor. When reversing it beeps faster and faster as you
approach an
obstacle. When it becomes a steady tone you're about 15
inches away. It
works great.

Because I've not broken the engine in I can't report on
the MPG yet.

If you have a small child, a fully loaded 2006 Sedona EX
will make for
a lot of smiles. I believe that the Honda and Toyota are
also fine vans
and you really can't go wrong with them either. I don't
like ANY of the
American entries or the Nissan Quest for whatever that's
worth.

The warranty on the Sedona is 5 years overall and 10 for
the
engine/powertrain. That's good news so long as it
doesn't have too many
problems. Trips for dealer service are never any fun
free or not. Only
time will tell how well constructed Kia's first entry in
maxed out
minivan segment really is. The matching warranty from
Toyota or Honda
will cost you 1500 more and still won't cover everything
the Kia
warranty does.

With Kia's current rebates and some aggressive shopping
we got our
fully loaded EX for $27'950. That included the 1000
rebate and a
graduate rebate of 400 dollars as well. That's an
amazing price when
you look at a Sienna optioned out the same way which is
around 5-6K
more. Kia also threw in two years worth of free oil
changes, free
remote starter and a second remote for the DVD player.
In a few months
I'll update this and let folks know what "new car bugs"
turned up
(There are always a few) and how Kia service dealt with
them here in
NY. This will be a great car for getting friends to the
boat in one
shot.
Cheers!

Capt RB