We bought a new car last week – a new 2008 Kia Rondo. We looked at a bunch of cars – Honda Odyssey (mini van), Toyota Highlander (SUV with 3rd row seats), Toyota Camry (and hybrid), Kia Optima, etc. We settled on the Rondo because:
- It has good reliability and safety ratings from Consumer Reports and it was one of their recommended cars
- It has the 3rd row of seats so we can put extra people in the car if we *need* to. These seats are tight so it would work fine for kids (our kids’ friends) or adults for a very short distance.
- It was a great time to buy.. Kia was giving a $4000 rebate and the dealers needed to get rid of the old 2008 models so this model was nearly $9000 under the MSRP
So far we’re both pretty happy. I traded in the old 1997 Geo with 135000 miles. Now my car is the 2000 Honda Civic with 60000 miles and D will drive the Rondo since she has the kids most of the time.
My main goal was to get D and the kids into a bigger and safer car than the civic. The Rondo has all sorts of safety features that are new to us – stability control, tons of air bags, anti-lock breaks, etc.
I had my reservations about Kia since they have had some bad reliability ratings in the past. Consumer Reports says this model should be reliable so I hope it is true.
We got the tricked out version (EX) with leather, heated seats, moon roof, power windows, power locks, rims, roof rails, 6 disc changer, etc, etc. We weren’t shopping for the upgraded model but as they flew off the lots because of the huge price discounts we ended up getting a better deal on the EX model than the normal model. Total price was $15,200 after trade in (They gave me $700 for the Geo after a fight).
Monty Kamath 
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