Mazda 5 vs Kia Rondo

I get the US figures from the newswire as they come out first, but KIA US does post their sales for all their models on there website. For some reason KIA Canada doesn't do this.
If you like sales statistics for all manufacturers, I find this site very good and entertaining. He covers both US and Canada.
http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/

Replies to this message:

speddy (Feb 05, 2010 8:17 am)

#831 of 859 Re: US sales for January 2010 [conwelpic] by speddy

Feb 05, 2010 (8:17 am)

Replying to: conwelpic (Feb 05, 2010 7:09 am)

Thanks! I used to read this kind of information in Car and Driver, but they stopped puting that sort of information in a long time ago.

#832 of 859 Re: Driver Seat comfort [driversherri] by mazda5owner

Feb 05, 2010 (5:45 pm)

Replying to: driversherri (Jan 29, 2010 4:41 am)

My wife is 5' tall and finds the Mazda 5 comfortable.

What we are not happy with is the horrible reliability.

We have a 2007 and the sunroof exploded for no apparent reason soon after getting the car. The clutch exploded at 92,000 km and the engine went at 108,000 km. None of this was covered by Mazda.

The car has been extremely expensive due to all these problems. I'd go with the Kia. It can't be any less reliable than a Mazda

We joke that our Mazda goes Boom Boom Boom instead of Zoom Zoom Zoom

#833 of 859 My wife wouldn't even let me look at the Rondo. by speddy

Feb 23, 2010 (12:53 pm)

Can you say ugly? My uncle also said that he had a Kia and something went wrong with it and the mechanics couldn't fix it. They even told him that. It would go between half power and full power with no explanation. He had to trade it in for next to nothing. So two big factors to buy the Mazda.

Replies to this message:

ofionnachta (Feb 24, 2010 6:01 am)

#834 of 859 Re: My wife wouldn't even let me look at the Rondo. [speddy] by ofionnachta

Feb 24, 2010 (6:01 am)

Replying to: speddy (Feb 23, 2010 12:53 pm)

Was your uncle's Kia a Rondo or another model, and how long ago? I understand they have made great improvements in reliability in recent years.

We did buy an '09 Rondo just before Christmas. So far, so good. When my heavy footed husb drives it, the mileage is not good. But all the more reason not to make short stops, and zoom when the light turns green.

I drove it most of the way from MA > NJ and got 35 mpg. So there.

One thing that does annoy me is the dome light does not go on when you open only the back gate (Only annoying at night! lol) I am planning to get a stick-on LED light for the post next to the gate.

Otherwise, very manueverable, peppy drive, lots of room to haul both cargo and people at same time---which is what we were looking for---without being a minivan or a big honking SUV. And it has 3 seats in second row, which the Mazda 5 does not, and which we also need.

Oh, one other thing---DD goes to college in another year. We were able to put a large down on this one, and we will have it paid off before she eneters---so we will not be carrying a car laon when she is in college. That matters a lot to us. A 30 - 35k car wd not have made that possible.

#835 of 859 Re: Driver Seat comfort [driversherri] by ofionnachta

Feb 24, 2010 (6:32 am)

Replying to: driversherri (Jan 29, 2010 4:41 am)

Driversherri--

We bought an '09 Rondo just bef Christmas. I am 5'3" and DH is 6'2." I'll be the primary driver, so the comfort etc for me counted most in choice--although he has to be able to sit in it too!

The driver's seat has 3 adjustment controls--you can push a ratchet-lever that makes it higher, you can push another one that changes the angle of the seat back, and there is the usual bar under the seat that slides it back & forth. I make the seat as high as possible--DH finds that too high & changes it. There is plenty of head room no matter who is driving.

I slide the seat forward more than he does, but you can keep from being right on top of the steering wheel. I also angle the seat back a bit -- I really do not like the way the head protector bumps the back of my head. But I can fix that with adjustment of seat angle.

We chose the cloth seats (not liking leather in summer), and I sprayed them 3x with Scotchgard before using them. It had snowed heavily 2 dys before we picked it up, so we brought beach towels to put on the seats before we drove it home! I also Scotchgarded the carpeted back deck. I don't know why they put carpet back there--no one is going to sit on it. Plastic would have been better imo. No I did not get the cargo tray--the dealership was a bunch of crooks and we were not going to get anything we did not have to from them. I'll buy one from that place someone else recommended, and I can get it to match the car color there, too.

As far as comfort goes--I feel fine. I had been driving a Grand Caravan, so this one is a bit less plush than I am accustomed to. But I haven't had a problem on long drives. If I really wanted more softness under my heiny I suppose I wd get a cushion, but so far, it's not an issue.

I have to say though, that when I scoot up the seat, the console is left behind. I have never driven resting my arm on those things, so this is not an issue for me. In a Rondo the console has 2 "decks," one for items and the other is where the iPod docks, and where you shd stash small stealables. Ours is getting plenty of use from DD. One compartment covers the lower, and the top one has a slightly padded lid.

If armrests and cushy seats and lumbar support matters so much to you, and mpg does not, have you thought of a Honda Odyssey? Those things are like driving living rooms! Very reliable and safe too.

#836 of 859 I-Start by bobw3

Feb 24, 2010 (11:48 am)

I wonder if the I-Start technology replaces the starter for cold-starts??

Replies to this message:

9394 (Feb 24, 2010 9:17 pm)

#837 of 859 After a year w/our '08 Rondo LX V-6 we're happy w/it. by smoothsailin

Feb 24, 2010 (1:16 pm)

We have put about 10.5k miles on our Rondo and so far have not had a single problem w/it. Fuel economy has been a bit disappointing, but whenever my wife will be the primary driver I've come to expect subpar results from any vehicle. Part of the problem is that we only live about three miles from where she works. As a result she tends to to make a lot of short trips and especially in winter I've come to realize that short trips can murder any vehicle's average fuel economy results.

Note that for the first 2k miles I was the primary driver of our Rondo so that I could be sure it was driven carefully during the break-in period. While I was doing most of the driving most of the initial tank averages fell in the 24-to-29 mpg. However, since my wife took over as primary driver it's been fairly rare for her to top 20 mpg/per tank except when she's driven the car to visit family members living 60-80 miles from our home.

Except for (my wife's) fuel economy results we've both been very happy with our first Kia. The Rondo appears to be a well-built, reasonably comfortable, fairly quiet, suprisingly roomy, reliable and versatile vehicle (ours is equipped w/the third-row seat).

I'll mention that I also own a '05 Mazda 3i which has also been totally problem-free as the car's 5-year anniversary approaches with just over 71k miles on the odometer. With conservative driving so far I've averaged 38.8 mpg with my 3i (2.0L w/5-speed manual) with most of the miles accumulated while commuting between home and my office

~55 miles/day. Note that this average is based on all miles driven and gallons purchased since I brought the car home from the dealership on 3/1/05.

While I admittedly like the looks of the Mazda 5 somewhat better than that of our Rondo, I have no regrets over our decision to purchase our Rondo vs. a Mazda 5 due to the better deal we were able to negotiate. We ended up paying 15.1k for our '08 LX V-6 before taxes and fees. MSRP per the window sticker including options for our LX V6 was ~ $22k.

#838 of 859 Re: I-Start [bobw3] by 9394

Feb 24, 2010 (9:17 pm)

Replying to: bobw3 (Feb 24, 2010 11:48 am)

i don't think I-Start will work very well on a cold engine, in freezing winter.

.

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