2007-2009 Kia Rondo

Second review of the day...another Kia.


Introduction: The Kia Rondo is what's considered a small MPV(multi-purpose vehicle). Essentially its a small minivan. The vehicle is called the Carens in South Korea, the original car was made in 1999. The Rondo is the 2nd generation of this car and was released for the 2007 model year. It initially sold well, but it was later discontinued for the US market in 2010 with Kia hoping Rondo buyers would instead go for the newly designed 2011 Sportage.

Like most Kias it doesn't have a big history, my opinion of Kia wasn't very good when I began to drive them.


Performance: The Kia Rondo comes with a 2.4L 4-cylinder engine found in the Sonata and the Magentis, it also has the 2.7L V6 also found in the Magentis. For this review I'll only look at the 4-cylinder. Like the Magentis this engine produces 162 hp for earlier cars, 175 hp for later ones and 164 lbs.ft of torque for earlier cars and 168 lb.ft for later cars. Unlike the Magentis, due to the taller shape and its overall bigger heavier body with this engine the Rondo is not very quick. Its acceleration time from 0-100 km/h is about 9.5 seconds. Its only marginally quicker with the V6. Considering the Rondo can be fully loaded with 7 passengers, I'd highly recommend the V6 mainly since its already slow without passengers and with significant weight added with a fully loaded car its ridiculous. Like the other cars that use this engine it can be a bit noisy with a annoying drone. Another downside to the 4-cylinder is if the Rondo gets stuck in snow its unable to rescue itself on its own power.

My Score: 3/10 - Underpowered considering its application, noisy and not all that refined.

Handling: With its intention being a MPV, driving dynamics also suffer. Its high center of gravity along with its soft suspension make it not a very good choice for cornering. Fortunately it does ride reasonably well. The lack of agility however makes it just as poor as a regular minivan. I just don't really see the point if it loses the car agility. The light wheel makes it easy to turn the wheel but it lacks feel. This car just doesn't like changing directions quickly.

My Score: 4/10 - Rides alright, unfortunately its handling is as bad as a bigger minivan


Interior: The Rondo is one of the nicer Kia interiors from this time. Not a great interior but at least one that doesn't look extremely dull and grey. Once again the interior is full of plastic but you can tell a few of the touches are at least better than a standard Kia of this time. The best thing about the Rondo is it has the optional 7-seater configuration. Getting to the 3rd row of seats is done by moving the 2nd row forward and then folding it. There is enough room for children in the 3rd row and if the 2nd row passengers aren't very tall there can be reasonable amount room for both 2nd and 3rd row passengers. I like how its not difficult or confusing to use and its operation is solid. As for problems, the D-pillar is rather thick so seeing out of it isn't that great from inside. When using the 3rd row, tailgate space is sacrificed meaning you can't carry many extra things. The build quality in these vehicles appear to be pretty good, these vehicles come from Hwasung, South Korea.

My Score: 6/10 - Build well, a mostly usable 3rd row, built with average materials

Styling: Kia didn't really try to make the Rondo look different. Its a rather generic MPV or crossover, its the same shape as everyone else and the front is pretty generic. I just don't see the effort. Its not ugly, but its totally forgettable.

My Score: 2/10 - Looks like any generic MPV, no real effort put into it.

Value for money: The idea of the Rondo is to save you money from buying a minivan. Unfortunately I just don't see the point in having a Rondo over say a Sedona. Its just too slow and weak, also when using the 7 seat configuration it loses a lot of trunk space. Its more difficult to park the Rondo due to its size than the Mazda5 which I think is even more clever and more agile than the Rondo. The Rondo is quite cheap even with the 7 seats but a minivan is not that much more but is more comfortable for 7 passengers. If you rarely carry 7, just get a normal sedan and rent a minivan when you need that capacity.

My Score: 4/10 - Yes its cheap and its not all that terrible, but the vehicle is sort of pointless. I just don't see the value in buying it.

Overall: 19/50 - Kia did some things right, but sadly its a rather pointless car. Its not as good as a minivan for capacity and driving position, yet its not as efficient or as good to drive as a regular car. It doesn't have the prestige of a SUV either(I admit I don't get it myself). If you somehow want a car that's not very good at anything that sits right in the middle between car and minivan I guess you could then want one.

2007-2009 Kia Magentis

My first car review since August. For the first of the cars will be a Kia Magentis.



Introduction: The Kia Magentis was first introduced in 2000 as a replacement for the Mazda based Credos. The Kia Magentis is mostly a re-badge of the Hyundai Sonata with minor differences. Since 2009 Kia has decided to take a slightly different route by altering Kia's styling and interior styling from its Hyundai parent.

Yes, the Kia Magentis does not have a very interesting nor long enough history. Its no surprise that when I first encountered it I didn't have much interest in it.



Performance: The standard early Kia Magentis are equipped with a 2.4L 4-cylinder engine that develops 162 hp and 164 lb.ft of torque. In 2009 the Kia Magentis got an update in its 4-cylinder where the engine now produces 175 hp and 169 lb.ft of torque. The early Magentis was capable of acceleration from 0-100 km/h in a bit over 9 seconds while the newer 2009-2010 Magentis was able to accelerate from 0-100 in a bit under 9 seconds. The older Magentis engine was not very exciting nor felt very refined, the noisy drone was present. The newer Magentis engine felt a bit more refined although it overall didn't change perception of the car very much.

My Score(both): 5/10 - A mediocre engine, not very exciting in both versions.

Handling: Starting with the older Magentis, unfortunately the car handled a lot like how the engine felt...boring. The steering on the old Magentis feels particularly numb and feels disconnected. It doesn't inspire any confidence in the corners, you might even back off because of how very little information the wheel gives you. Ride comfort was surprisingly disappointing given how the car isn't able to carve out corners. Its a bit choppy when driving over rougher roads. When given the wheel of the new Magentis, things are a little big different. The wheel no longer has the same numb feeling and disconnected feel the older car had. The wheel is still as light as the old one but the turning feels more sharper and thus you're more confident to take the car into the corner. The ride comfort is also nicer than the older car surprisingly despite its improvement in performance. The newer Magentis feels much nicer to drive over the old one but it doesn't feel as sporty as other midsized sedans nor is the most comfortable.

My Score(2007-2008): 3/10 - Numb, inert, feels disconnected, not that comfortable thus makes driving very boring

My Score(2009): 7/10 - Decent steering feel, better cornering, better ride comfort but still a bit lacking though.



Interior: Once again starting with the old Magentis. The interior is unfortunately very boring and not a particularly nice place to be. Its a sea full of dull grey and black plastics, none of which looks very nice and none of which looks like material of quality. The seats don't feel all that comfortable. The stereo like all older Kia and Hyundai vehicles is awful to use and listen to. Fortunately interior space is decent so is trunk space. With the newer Magentis a few changes have been made. Most of the dull grey plastic was removed. The stereo was also replaced with a newer unit with red display to fit with the newer white and red dash gauges. The plastic quality has also been stepped up a notch. The seat is still a bit firm but not as stiff as the older seat. I didn't find the Magentis interior to be as good as the Sonata's interior redesign, a sense Hyundai gave Kia little money. Still, its a bigger improvement over the older boring one. The build quality in both cars are pretty good, both cars are built in Hwasung, South Korea.

My Score(2007-2008): 3/10 - Depressing, low quality plastics, a rubbish stereo, not very comfortable seats and overall very boring but its at least reasonably spacious.

My Score(2009): 6/10 - Decent level of plastic, a nicer environment, better stereo but compared to other vehicles just a average interior.

Styling: With the old Magentis, much like everything else I've said about it this car looks so dull. This particular styling is so anonymous that I'm sure people can point out each part that looks similar to some other cars. It appears Kia spent no money to style this car probably due to the problems from the old Magentis which was styled but not very well. The newer one again changes things up. The headlights are much more aggressive and sharper than the dull round ones from the older car. The grille is now Kia's signature grille and it actually goes quite well with the newer front styling. The rear is a little bit more conventional and looks a lot like a Honda Accord, while it goes well with the front considering how different it looks there...I was hoping Kia would also do the same to the rear. Still, its good that Kia wants to change its image.

My Score(2007-2008): 1/10 - So boring, you can tell nobody bothered to style it.

My Score(2009): 7/10 - Front end looks nice and different, rear is still on the boring side.

Value for money: The Kia lineup in general has never been bad value for your money. Whatever Kia is often always the cheapest in its class and if that's all that matters to you then they're usually worth it. The older Magentis is so anonymous that as a used car its a bit of a bargain often lower than 13K for one that has a bit above 60,000 kms. The newer one because its better doesn't suffer the same bargain. The problem the newer car has to deal with is its sibling the Sonata. The 2009 Sonata is just as inexpensive but overall a much better car and a nicer car to be in. Unless Kia offers a nice deal on a Optima, it'll be overshadowed unless one likes its looks over the generic looking Sonata.

My Score(2007-2008): 8/10 - Very cheap to buy, even cheaper to buy used.

My Score(2009): 6/10 - Its Hyundai sibling the Sonata is nearly as cheap but overall better in every way, its best hope is on its looks.

Overall(2007-2008): 20/50 - A below average car, its just too bland and boring.

Overall(2009): 32/50 - Much better than the older one, sadly it suffers from not being as good as the 2009 Sonata.

2007-2009 Kia Spectra

Well it took longer than I expected but I'm finally putting up another review.


Introduction: The Kia Spectra was introduced in 2000 as Kia's replacement for the Kia Sephia. The Spectra was redesigned once in 2004. This version of the Spectra shares the same platform as the 2002-2006 Hyundai Elantra. It sold reasonably well as it was Kia's best selling vehicle.

Sorry I got nothing else, the Kia Spectra's history is pretty thin and has nothing groundbreaking or exciting about it. It summed up my thoughts of Kia as a company back when I first got the opportunity to drive one of these cars. Keep in mind this was when I had a very low opinion of the company along with Hyundai.


Performance: To begin with the engine the Kia Spectras I've driven all had the 2.0L 4-cylinder engine. This engine produces 138 hp and 136 lb.ft of torque. When it comes to accelerating the 0-100 km/h time I've managed to find with the automatic is 9.7 seconds which is pretty low. Getting a manual transmission for the Spectra provides a better 8.5 seconds. The engine isn't very quick, unfortunately its not very refined either. When the car revs past 3000 rpm it makes a terrible droning noise which can get on your nerves for highway driving. Most disappointing is the fuel economy numbers are not that good either, lower than its outgoing Japanese rivals. To sum up, not a very good engine.

My Score: 2/10 - Produces a horrible noise, not that efficient and not quick.

Handling: The Spectra was never designed to take corners quickly and unlike an equivalent sized Mazda3 this shows. The Spectra rolls pretty badly when taken to a corner reasonably quick. All that's left is to put enough power to understeer it. Steering response is extremely vague, while its not very light it still doesn't provide you with enough information. This can be forgiven if the ride comfort was very good but its surprisingly stiff. It feels like Kia corners when designing the suspension.

My Score: 3/10 - It rolls, steering is vague and the ride isn't comfortable.


Interior: From a visual perspective, the Kia spectra is not all that exciting inside. Much of the interior is very bland and very plastic. The materials do not feel they're of high quality and the seat material has a horrible habit of leaving stain marks from even water. The stereo is the same Kia/Hyundai unit used during the mid 2000s which is very low quality. The biggest upside to the interior however is how well equipped most Kia Spectras are. Controls do not interfere with your driving or confuse you with layout as they're set up like a Japanese car. The build quality of the car is mediocre, overall most pieces are put together properly but some smaller less important pieces don't stay in place. The Kia Spectra is built in South Korea.

My Score: 4/10 - A very bland interior with not very good materials, but its very equipped and easy to use.

Styling: The Kia Spectra was given a facelift in 2007 removing the 2 strange spaces between the grille. Unfortunately what Kia replaced it with was a very generic grille. The rest of the car is extremely generic in its styling as it looks like any typical car. Very little effort was put into styling the Spectra.

My Score: 2/10 - Its just a car with no unique features, its just so generic.

Value for money: The Kia Spectra starts out very well equipped for a car of its size. Its original MSRP is also very low all things considered. While the engine is terrible when put up against its outgoing Japanese competition its more competitive with less fuel efficient cars in the segment. I'm sure that during 2009 it was very inexpensive to buy a Spectra due to the arrival of the much more interesting Kia Forte. Kia also offered a 5-door hatchback which meant it only had to compete against the previous Ford Focus, Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe and the Mazda3 meaning the Spectra was the least expensive to buy. If you only want a cheap car well equipped and don't care about the overall weak package the Spectra is then a good buy.

My Score: 10/10 - Offers a lot and provides a lot of what would be options as standard equipment, all very a lower price than much of its competition.

Overall: 21/50 - A pretty weak car but sold at an attractive price.

*Note while I don't like the Spectra very much, I believe its successor the Forte is a much better car. Its done pretty much everything the Spectra did well except retaining the 5-door hatch but vastly improved everything the Spectra did bad.

2008 Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tuscon

Normally I consider a Kia and Hyundai to be different from each other. This is one of the few examples where I almost couldn't find a single difference, as a result I will review both since they're almost identical.



Introduction: The Kia Sportage is the older name of the two, it was originally a rugged off-roader built in 1993 and actually managed to stay in production until 2002. The original Sportage was one of the models to receive Mazda and Ford parts due to the Ford-Mazda-Kia partnership. When the Sportage was discontinued in 2002 it had no direct replacement. In 2004, Kia now under the direction of Hyundai due to South Korean government interference revived the Sportage name, however Hyundai also released the Tucson. Both use the same Elantra platform particularly the 3rd generation Elantra, the earliest car I reviewed. The result for the Sportage was that it no longer was capable of going off-road. As with other similar Kia and Hyundai vehicles, they're both manufactured from different South Korean factories. Hyundai has scheduled a redesign of the Tucson for 2010 due to be on sale soon, its unknown if the Sportage will receive similar treatment outside of Europe.

By the time I drove the Tucson and Sportage I've come to distingush Korean cars with the old being the bad ones and the newer being the good ones. The Sportage and Tuscon belong on the old column.


Performance: The Sportage and Tucson both share the exact same engines from the 2.0L 4-cylinder to the 2.7L V6. For this review I've only driven the 2.7L V6 which produces 173 hp and 178 lb.ft of torque. Unlike the Santa Fe, I don't feel this V6 moves this SUV very well. Its just too low powered even for a 2.7...I mean Chrysler's V6 of this size is very old and does 190 in both stats. The acceleration is pretty poor for both going from 0-100 km/h in 10.2 seconds. Its not a particularly nice sounding engine either, sort of coarse for a V6.

My Score: 3/10 - Disappointingly slow for a high end engine.

Handling: Both of these SUVs use the old Elantra's platform as a result these SUVs are not very rewarding to drive but rather feel like tools. Neither is particularly terrible taking the corners but it always seems like a chore to do so driving these. The steering feel is somewhat lacking especially compared to the Santa Fe.

My Score: 4/10 - Not particularly horrible...but then again it could be so much better.



Interior: Normally this is what sets Kia and Hyundai apart, but for these SUVs they're extremely similar. Usually Hyundai build quality is slightly better, but due to the similar parts its just not noticeable. The seats are pretty decent and there's adequate room for passengers of average size. The stereo is the old Hyundai/Kia unit and its still as bad as I've said. The plastics however are not adequate, they age particularly badly when shown beside Hyundai's current plastic trim. There's nothing clever or anything interesting to note aside from this.

My Score: 4/10 - A regular SUV interior with some low quality materials and a bad stereo.

Styling: The Kia has a slightly more agricultural look but the plastic bumper sort of ruins that image. The Tucson is more like a normal crossover but not particularly interesting. The Tucson also shows its plastic front bumper which I don't find very appealing.

My Score: 4/10 - Pretty generic with a cheap looking bumper.

Value for money: As inexpensive SUVs both the Sportage and Tucson seem like a good deal. The weak engine is not very appealing to people who do research their cars. Those who want a practical vehicle won't find these SUVs to be appealing either due to their small size but pretty conventional layout. A Legacy Wagon or Outback is more practical and in my opinion better at everything. The only people who will want these vehicles are those who want the high driving position but don't want to pay a lot.

My Score: 4/10 - Few of these vehicles seem like good value compared to a wagon, most appealing to those who like a high driving position.

Overall: 19/50 - A result of being outdated, the 2010s and Hyundai's rise seem more promising...best to wait for those.