Review of the new Kia Sedona - Travel Story

If you're taking three adults, three kids and a week's worth of luggage on a family holiday, then you need a large people carrier. A very large one. Not many fit the bill but Kia's Sedona ticks all the boxes and does so at a price others find hard to match. Given the fact that we were trying to keep costs down on our annual family trip to Lyme Regis, that seemed as good a reason as any for choosing it for the trip.

Family holidays in the UK are fine - once you get there. By that time however, it's possible that your nerves may be shredded beyond repair if you've just shared a people carrier for five hours with three screaming kids and a partner questioning your navigation skills every five minutes. A decent car can make the whole process a lot less painful, something I was hoping the Kia would be capable of doing.

This Sedona is the second generation version, launched here a few years ago and still almost unrivalled as the value choice in the large MPV sector. Lots of MPVs have seven seats like this one, but few of these have much space behind the third seating row for storage of meaningful amounts of luggage. The Kia is an exception in this regard but I still took the precaution of ordering a roof box - which was just as well as it turned out. Why more MPV buyers don't need or use these is beyond me.

Our destination, Lyme Regis in Dorset, was one of those British holiday coastal towns that's bucking the recession. The place was packed and, mindful of this likelihood and needing our own space, we'd booked a three-bedroom apartment rather than a hotel - with the area specialists, Lyme Bay Holidays. This saw us right near the beach but far enough away from the hubbub to get some peace and quiet too.

Lyme came to fame as the town used for the shooting of the Jeremy Irons/Meryl Streep film 'The French Lieutenant's Woman', with the rainy Cob (a stone walkway by the harbour that juts out into the sea and is crashed by high waves in bad weather) an iconic landmark. In the Summer, this seaside resort comes to life, especially in Regatta Week held over the first week of August. For seven days, the town is in celebration mode, with competitions, processions, a carnival parade and almost endless family activities.

"A car that quietly gets on with the job of comfortably and economically getting families from A to B.."

It was with all this in mind that we piled into the Sedona for the trip to Lyme, the Kia's doors bulging with probably unnecessary luggage. Upon loading up, we'd immediately appreciated its versatility. Both the middle and third rows of seats can slide on runners and it's possible to recline them and fold them in half, though that's about the extent of the car's party pieces. The seats can come out too, of course, raising the carrying capacity of the Sedona from 364 litres to 1,753 when the rears come out and then 3,440 litres if you convert your Kia into a sexy two-seater. No chance of that on this trip.

The Sedona is a little shorter and a whole lot prettier than the first generation version, but repackaging the wheelbase has meant that the cabin is significantly bigger. This means that there's more room for people and less sweaty brow when the time comes to parallel park the thing. A 'walk through' section between the front seats meant that, even at 6'4", my cousin (drafted in to control the kids on the journey) had Club Class style legroom in the second row. However, the need to carry a lot of bags in the back saw the third row seating slid forward to its foremost extent: this inevitably limited legroom for the smallest members of our brood.

Fit and finish is better than you'd have any reasonable right to expect in a car of this price. Even the screwheads that hold the door pulls on are finished beneath hinged plastic covers. I've driven cars four times the Sedona's price where this would never have occurred to the manufacturer. The dash is slightly busy but there's a lot of equipment and a decent double-DIN sized JVC stereo. The twin sliding doors make access to the back easy and also at times on our trip prevented the kids knocking chunks out of other cars in the carpark. Front, side and full curtain airbags are standard on all models while the front passenger bag can be deactivated if you have a child seat fitted. ISOFIX anchor points and anti-lock brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution are also present on all versions.

Our Sedona was an LS model, which meant it came pretty well equipped, given the asking price of around £20,000. The rear parking sensors were useful in the tight streets of Lyme Regis and we appreciated the peace of mind provided by the active headrests, ESP stability control and traction control. You can also count in climate controlled air conditioning, front and rear electric windows, remote central locking, natty electric side doors, privacy glass to keep prying eyes away from your beach towels, roof rails and something I really liked, a small 'conversation mirror' so I could see what the kids were getting up to in the back.

You can theoretically order your Sedona with petrol power, a 185bhp 2.7-litre petrol unit, but hardly anyone does. Over 83% of buyers go for the CRDi diesel unit we used, improved in recent years to offer more power (185bhp), better economy (we managed well over 35mpg on our trip) and far better emissions (at 206g/km) than its predecessor. The second generation common rail fuelling and variable geometry turbocharger help here and while the Sedona is no ball of fire, accelerating to 60mph in 15 seconds, it's acceptably refined at cruising speeds. Accelerate it hard and it becomes a little vocal.

The brakes required a bit of a prod on Lyme's steep hills but they're powerful and reassuring when they clamp down on the ventilated front discs. The steering is notably improved, although handling is still spongy and a little vague. The upside of this is that the Sedona now has ride quality to compare with the best. Refrain from chucking it at a corner and it feels a class act. Taller drivers may want a little more height adjustment on the front seats but aside from that, ergonomics are largely good.

Could I have opted for a more luxurious mode of seven-seater transport for the trip? Almost certainly. But I wanted something more likely to figure on the shopping list of the average budget-minded family. The Sedona certainly ought to fall into that category. It's big, still very good value and overall, a car that quietly gets on with the job of comfortably and economically getting families from A to B. Taking real world family motoring into account, there's not a lot that beats it.

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