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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Kia Sedona Prices Paid and Buying Experience
465 messages, Last post on May 07, 2008 at 4:27 PM
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Replying to: philberto (Aug 08, 2005 7:53 pm) I guess St. Lucie Cty. has the same tax rules as Volusia Cty. Ref: Black Grill-- Why not just paint the mesh with Flat Black paint? I did notice the LX models with all one color "Everything" didn't look as good. I bought a Kia bug shield/deflector and installed it myself and it makes the frontal area look much different, Better in my opinion. As for a Hitch, I checked with Kia and they want $250 - plus installation. I found a Reese hitch online for $113 at e-trailer.com How is your gas mileage? The way my wife drives, the best we get is about 16 mpg. Very disapointing. Boxwrench
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Replying to: boxwrench (Aug 10, 2005 2:39 pm) Last two posts on the posting gas mileage board were for 05 Odys and they both reported 16mpg as well. Think how much gas you can buy with the savings between the two platforms. You'll like the hitch you get from e-hitch...I've been using mine for about 18 months now. We left the wiring harness attached and inside the rear wiper fill compartment and pull it out when needed. You may wish to go through the subfloor and permanently mount it. My arrangement worked fine for the 2-3x a year we haul with it...and I never have to worry about corrosion on the wiring plug. OBTW, wife had a flat on the OEM Hankooks (her second...no dear, a tire shouldn't need 10lbs of air every 2 days). I changed it in the driveway so I could get it repaired. Put the OEM spare on...some cosmetic damage on the sidewall from the spare rubbing up against the bottom of the van. Everyone might want to check to see that their cage isn't tightened this much. All I had done was add air a couple of times when it was on a lift. For those changing a tire, watch the cage...it drops freely to the ground after you undo the bolt. I initially thought it might be a cable/winch set up like a pick up. Instead, it is attached on a hinge on one side (forward side of car). You start unscrewing the bolt (after removing plastic cover on floor of van), the front of the cage (at rear bumper) lowers about 3". You then need to stop, and undo a wing nut (covered liberally in sound deadener/undercoating) and manually lower the cage to the ground. Or, you can do as I did, and undo the bolt, not knowing the above, and have the front of cage drop the 8" or so to the ground attached by the hinge in back. Sturdy cage, so it won't hurt it. Somehow, lying on my back and lowering the cage on the roadside just probably isn't going to happen, so I'll stick with my "discovery" method. Will post again if I discover anything different about putting the spare back in the cage and putting it up. We have about 38k on the OEMs (I used snow tires this winter 47k overall) and plenty of tread left. I expect to get about another year out of these tires unless spouse continues to find road debris. Tire repair in Twin Cities has reached the cost of almost 1/2 a new tire, so road hazard warantee is a definate plus when I buy replacements. ($12, free rotation, free flat fixes, extended warantee vice $27 single flat repair)
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Replying to: boxwrench (Aug 10, 2005 2:39 pm) I think SLC does the same at 6.5 %. The extra 0.5% is taxable only up to $5000. That comes out to $25. Not too bad. Flat black? Maybe. My brother in law suggested we do it our selves as well. As long as it doesn't chip I could do that. Will the clearcoat take paint? I have to think about that before we ruin a grille. The hitch was part of my deal. I wanted the Kia hitch for warranty issues. None of the Sedonas' on the lot had one. They agreed to 'throw it in', but stalled me three weeks (so far) because the installation at the Kia service dept was too high (so they say). They want U-Haul to install it. Not what I wanted, but I get the hitch. They assured me it's a Kia hitch kit being installed and would be covered. Yeah yeah...talk is cheap. Not a good feeling. Time will tell. Saturday morning at 10:00 AM is the second attempt to have it done. I showed up last week and they said the parts were not all there. THANKS FOR THE PHONE CALL! (NOT!) I hate 'dealers'. My mileage on the first full tank was 21 MPG with 30% around town / 70% highway. A/C is always on. Because most of our driving is around town it has been 19 and 18 MPG on the other tanks. I should note that we baby the gas pedal. This Sedona has a very responsive acceleration. Absolutely no need to push it anyway. At highway speeds I hardly have to touch the gas. Not all of the Sedonas' I test drove were the same. The EX I drove was slow, sluggish, and needed pushing (not good). After break-in, and during long trips, I expect to get at least 22 MPG or better. I have yet to go on a 400+ highway only trip. On my first tank I just went for a long cruse with the family trying to run out the tank. The first part of that was training for my wife (learning the new controls and driving around local roads to get the feel) and beach hopping on A1A just for fun. Some was also idle with A/C on. Too bad my vacation is past. I think it will do fine, but my 95 Caravan still kicks  $$ at 500 miles per tank (high 20's). I just can't trust it on a long trip anymore. Around town? Fine. I really like the power, handling, and quiet ride of my Sedona. It's built like a tank! I like 'heavy metal'.  Comfort is very good except one small complaint. The steering wheel is a little far away. The position where my feet are right for the pedals is not as good on the arms. This makes using the armrests hard to do. Only my fingertips touch the wheel. Fully extended arms work, but might get tired on long long trips. Other than that, I love it. Phil ~ |
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Replying to: navyair (Aug 11, 2005 5:38 am) (Hyundai should have foreseen this problem and smoothed out the welded joints in the rack or made the rack shape slightly different.) Anyway, don't be a victim. |
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Replying to: philberto (Jul 22, 2005 4:53 am) I'm first time buyer, am interested to buy kia 2005 sedona ex model, i live near boston. Could anyone let me know where to buy(any particular dealer) what's the reasonable price to buy and how do you rate this model? Thanks to all. |
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Well, I went down AGAIN last Saturday (a week ago) to have the hitch installed as promised. Guess what? No hitch!  What are we up to? Four weeks? This time I lost it! He said it had to be done by his dealer or the warranty would be void on the electrical wiring. NO KIDDING! So they put me in on the schedule for 8/20/05 at 8:00 AM. Finally! I went and they did install it. A genuine Kia heavy duty 3,500 lb hitch and receiver. All I had to get was the ball. No biggie. Very nice kit! It is done! Now I just need to put those fog lights in and I'm set. They have to be hooked up in a way that is removable just in case I need dealer service. The easiest way is to run a relay off the low beams to avoid excess current draw. The relay switches FUSED 12 volt power off of the battery. No switches needed . Oh...and that black grille if I can get one.  I have 1,400 on it so far and it is running very well with good gas milage. Still in love! 
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It would take hours and volumes to relate the whole horror story of the botched deal, incompetent, unethical office staff, "stalker" salesman and the lack of interest or respect from the Kia Store in Clarksville, IN. This is part of all of the "Kia Store" chain in the Louisville, KY area that are part of the Montgomery auto group. NEW 2005 Sedona LX new $18K and change. Clean deal, no trade. All incentives and rebates to dealer for the price. Includes $1000 "competitive vehicle" discount for the old ratty Aerostar we're keeping. There are no document fees around here. Dealer prep was $200 and it took them two tries and they STILL didn't get it all done. First try they left all of the plastic on the carpet - just dropped the mats over it. Left several pieces of the clear tape on door posts, etc. They had overnight and a whole next day to get it done. After the second try it is resolved now but took us job time and drive time to get there. BUT - when we went to get it - finally - Monday - after "owning it" for a week without actually HAVING it - they gave it to my wife with a "check engine" light on! Turns out to be a faulty fuel system pressure sensor and they still have the car because they didn't have the part. Now, how in H*LL can you give a customer as much trouble as this deal has been (over 10 trips to dealer to try to fix this crap with time lost from work and family!) and then futz up AGAIN by handing over a faulty vehicle?!!! Paper work was, and still is a nightmare. Yes - bought in Indiana and going to KY. BUT - this dealership is four miles from the KY line and less than 10 minutes drive in peak rush hour. They are over here every day to transfer vehicles. First try they made out IN title work, not KY. Second try they convinced my wife (it's her car, but KY demands both spouses on title) it's okay to forge MY signature on the docs. Didn't realize they couldn't charge us the IN excise tax on the heavy vehicle until we caught them and brought it out. There was also a dandy dealer-installed "bonus" that is mandatory at the Louisville area Kia stores on ALL Kias - a pass-card anti-theft device. This is an e-bay $25 piece of crap that is crudely installed and marginally effective and comes with a mandatory "stripe" set that is the Walmart $4.97 plastic tape crap! Price for this dealer profit rip-off? $1295 - NON NEGOTIABLE! For $30 worth of crap. No, it will NOT be covered by KIA warranty and had to be installed by cutting the ignition switch relay wire which may actually VOID the Kia warranty! The "security stripe package" is included in the $18K deal, so it isn't all THAT bad -but the additional $1200 profit for the dealer just REALLY tees me off since you can't get one without it, and you'd have to go a hundred miles or more in any direction to get away from this gorilla dealer complex. We have a call open with KIA USA customer relations - the poor girl who called us last night all bubbly and charming to "welcome" us to the "Kia Family" doesn't get paid anywhere NEAR enough to hear what she had to hear about the dealer and the problems. We did not abuse her mind you - she didn't do all this - the Montgomery Kia Store did this. She has opened a file with us with the Relations folks who are supposed to call us back today. This oughta get good! About the dealer rep: He actually "came on" to my wife, suggested they could meet some time, then actually visited her, unannounced, at her place of work - a SECURE installation! He had some imagined paper-work "emergency" he needed her to RIDE with him - alone - to fix! Well, a call to the dealer manager (who ducks our calls now - we have to deal with the Montgomery VP level) proved he had been told to call us and see when we could arrange to sign the paper at the dealer! He also one time before engaged her in conversation at the dealer for ten minutes or more, under the guise of the office working on some papers - only to at last admit to my exasperated wife that in reality he was just keeping her there to visit with her! We have discussed this with the Montgomery people as a sexual harassment complaint and the dealership manager blew it away as a joke! Then they told us he was being suspended for three days without pay. We now know one of those days is his normal day off anyway, and the other days are Tuesday and Wednesday - the slowest sales days they have! We are actually investigating criminal complaint against the rep under KY stalking statutes. We feel he is a time-bomb waiting to assault or compromise some other woman some other time and simply shouldn't BE in a customer-contact job, so even if the charges were to be dropped, he'd have a "file" and the protective order would stand for a while. Anyway - we really would like to say how much we like the Sedona, but since we've driven it less than forty miles in nine days - all between our home and the dealer - we really don't have much to say! I'll get back to the forum on that maybe later, unless we can succeed in breaking this deal and getting involved with a conscientious dealer of some other brand. Too bad - we really want a Sedona but we can't put up with this crap. I have to honestly warn anyone in the greater Lousiville area to avoid the Kia Store as the incompetent, unethical, and abusive plague it is and just buy something else somewhere else. (We have since found WELL over two dozen people in a week who have had similar problems with these dealers and they, too, tell people to run for their lives!)
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Replying to: fortyfiver (Sep 14, 2005 7:07 am) I live in Louisville, Ky and bought my Mazda MPV at the Craig and Landreth Mazda which is in Clarksville, IN ...not to far from where you bought your Kia I believe. No problems with our paperwork. You may want to consider having the Kia Store in Louisville(on Preston hwy) service your Sedona....when you get the vehicle back. It sounds like the Kia Store in Clarksville is fairly incompetent all around. Good luck.
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Replying to: jipster (Sep 16, 2005 6:18 am) We spoke with and finally got some movement from a person fairly high up in the "Big M" corp who shelters himself down at the Preston Big M Chevy headquarters. He was very helpful and courteous. I do believe I caught him completely cold on the affair with no one below him ever communicating the issues to him. The people below him have all the manners and tactics of people between aluminum siding sales and child pornography. Anyway, we got the car back, finally, again, yesterday. They delivered it to my wife at work as agreed. It is in perfect presentation shape, full tank, 50 road-test miles and the service writer for Clarksville came with it to assure my wife that "service is an entirely different company and structure than sales" and that she need have no fear of doing service business with them. BS! Montgomery signs their checks just like they do sales people and the managers. One pocket, one management structure. I really think Chip Montgomery has lost focus of the old Big M over the years and there is no longer any interest in customer choice or customer satisfaction. Many loyal chevy buyers have left Big M for other dealerships, I know. I had gotten some help from someone at Preston Kia Store during this, to get to the "Big Kia Guy" and she assured me I can get service there, so we'll try it. They have offered us free service for a year to "make up for it" but I never got that in writing and I have no idea if that would include parts and labor or either. But for anything not requiring Kia - like mandatory service checks for warranty or actual warranty corrections - we're going to use a local garage we use for our other vehicles - a company who has never screwed us, always does fast, correct, clean work at a reasonable price, and are darned nice folks to boot. We have recommended them to many friends who are equally satisfied with their work. We'll see how this next chapter goes. At this point the wife drives it now, we have a long trip scheduled in November, and if anything uncomfortable comes up, it goes, regardless of our loss. We're sort of just waiting for some Chevy dealers to get a decent supply of HHRs we can look over. Craig & Landreth has a great reputation - well deserved over the years. We considered the MPV and for the life of me now I can't remember why we passed on it. We also considered the Honda Ody but it is price-prohibitive - or at least more than we wanted to spend on a vehicle for the use we intend. Chrysler products of any sort were out from the start as there are easily as many defects in them as any of the Kia line. We ran into some serious p*ss-poor sales tactics over at Swope Auto World too when we looked at Saturns and wanted to see some Hondas. Won't go into it but apparently with all the leftover 05 Vues in V6 FW-only there must be some hellacious bonus money for moving them, because that is ALL the salesman would even discuss with us. It ended up we really liked the Sedona despite what I know about problems in previous years. I've watched Kia and Hyundai carefully from the start because in my engineering career I worked with Korean engineers and businesses and they can be VERY good! Every car manufacturer has glitches and problems especially with components, and as someone said here - "KISS" is a good policy with cars these days. The serious troubles seem to be with expensive "features". Why we opted for the LX. Lesson: It all works out in the end. You may not really LIKE how it works out, but it all will work out. |
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