Kia’s luxury Sedona is truly Grand
Sedona has morphed into an MPV capable of taking on Caravelle
SOUTH Africa’s family bus market got very busy in 2015 with the launch of the newgeneration Kia Grand Sedona, VW Kombi/Caravelle, and MercedesBenz V-Class.
Kia’s been in the people-hauling game ever since the Carnival introduced in 1998, which in its second iteration was renamed the Sedona. Now the third-generation of Kia’s large MPV gets the word Grand added to its name to signify its evolution into a somewhat more upmarket offering.
When the previous Sedona was discontinued in late 2013 the two models sold for just over R400 000. Now the price for the new entrylevel Grand Sedona starts at 535 grand, while you’ll shell out a full R705 995 for the top of the range Grand Sedona SXL on test here.
That’s big money, but this Korean bus has become a full-blown luxury people mover with features like electric sliding doors and heated seats. Both price and spec-wise it’s moved out of the realm of more affordable seven-seaters like the Hyundai H1 and Ford Tourneo Custom, and into the league of luxury barges like the Volkswagen Caravelle and Mercedes-Benz V-Class.
The Grand Sedona’s sold in 2.2litre turbodiesel and 3.3 petrol variants, both six-speed front-wheel drive automatics. There are sevenand 11-seat configurations and three different spec levels.
With a more streamlined shape than the traditional boxy bus, the Grand Sedona looks more like a giant station wagon. It’s the final model in the Kia line-up to receive the famed Peter Schreyer design treatment. No one could call it handsome but it does have a certain presence with a giant, gulping version of Shreyer’s signature ‘tiger grille’, framed by modern headlamps with daytime running lights.
The huge seven-seater cabin does what it says on the box: swallow people. In comfort, with stretch-out legroom for all. The boot’s enormous and the seats can be folded to accommodate varying quantities of passengers and luggage.
With the spare wheel mounted underneath the centre of the car instead of in the boot, the standard luggage capacity is a generously sized 960 litres. Need more? The third row of seats folds flat into the floor with one easy motion, opening up a cavernous 2 220 litres which easily swallowed four peoples’ holiday luggage when we took the Grand Sedona to KZN’s south coast for the December holidays.
The second seating row can also be folded up to ease passenger entry to the third row, and to extend cargo space to a panelvan-like 4 022 litres.
Cabin clutter seems to breed when you’re on a holiday trip, but the Kia’s plentiful nooks and crannies swallowed it all.
Instead of walk-through space to the rear seats like in some other family buses, there’s a giant storage bin between the front seats which seems nearly big enough for a small child to hide in.
The 2.2-litre engine muscles-in with 147kW and 440Nm, making this the most powerful diesel people-carrier in the country.
It results in an easygoing cruis- ing nature and ability to scoot past long trucks in a quick overtaking move. It kept up the pace even with a full load of passengers, and on our trip back to Gauteng from KZN after the holidays it eased up the steep climbs of the escarpment.
The diesel engine’s as smooth as strawberries and cream too, with no noise or roughness to reveal it quaffs the darker fuel. It glides along comfortably and there are no complaints about the ride quality.
On the mostly open roads of the holiday trip the test vehicle averaged 8.1 litres per 100km, impressive given that it was usually full of people and luggage.
It’s a very well equipped bus. The baseline Grand Sedona EX already comes with six airbags, 17” alloys, front and rear parking sensors, separate airconditioning at the rear, and a Bluetooth compatible stereo with six speakers.
The middle SX versions add 18” wheels, leather upholstery, 12-way electric (front) seats, tri-zone climate control, a colour instrument cluster display, a 4.3” touchscreen system with reversing camera, power sliding rear doors, HID headlights and a power tailgate.
This range-topping SXL in addition comes with heating and cooling for the front seats, heated middle seats, a heated steering wheel, an eight-speaker Infinity stereo system, a dual sunroof, and blind-spot detectors with lane-change assist. RCTA (Rear Cross-Traffic Alert) warns against other cars driving behind the Grand Sedona in car parks.
Cruise control is a must on any December journey along the radarlittered N3 freeway and we had the Kia’s working full time, but the bus didn’t always manage to hold the selected speed on steeper downhills and I fear we may have inadvertantly triggered some speed traps.
The interior ambience is fairly classy, and the two-tone cabin features a high proportion of soft-touch materials.
There’s a smooth top section to the leather steering wheel which feels great to the touch.
Each passenger row can independently set its own air conditioning settings, while the second and third rows have built-in sunshades.
The audio system offers USB and Bluetooth connectivity, but it was difficult to read the info on the small and way-too-dim radio display. VERDICT Kia gets into the people-schlepping business in a grand way. The new Grand Sedona ferries families in great comfort, class-leading power with fuel-sipping economy, and plenty of high-end features.
All models come with fiveyear/150 000km warranties, fiveyear/100 000km maintenance plans, and three-years unlimited roadside assistance.