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Kia Presents: Rondo Redux
by
Derek Kreindler
(IC: employee)
Published: September 19th, 2012
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Remember the Kia Rondo? If you’re reading this, then you probably do. The other 99.9% of the American public definitely doesn’t.
The compact minivan segment was never a hot one in the United States, and the Rondo was always inferior to the Mazda5, so don’t expect Kia to bring the next-generation Rondo (known as the Carens elsewhere) to our market. In Europe, it will do battle against cars like the Ford C-Max and Opel Zafira, in a crowded segment that just got disrupted by the cut-rate Dacia Lodgy.
Oh, did we mention it’s available with a manual as well?
Derek Kreindler
More by Derek Kreindler
Published September 19th, 2012 11:06 AM
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It's not a minivan! It's a tall wagon.
The problem with compact minivans is that they're smaller with the same MPG and roughly the same pricetag. My wife and I both liked the Mazda 5, but couldn't get past the fact that it's MPGs are within rounding error of the Sienna. The Prius V and the C-Max both at least get you MPGs. But, at 2-rows, they're wagons and not compact minivans. But you get something other than parkability for going smaller.