The Kia Sedona/Carnival Thread [ARCHIVE]

**diesoline** · December 18th, 2003 10:27 PM

i am about to say goodbye to 4x4s in a few weeks' time. my growing family needs a more spacious vehicle and i personally think that the kia sedona would just be perfect. this would have been an easy choice but i tend to get a lot of negative feedback (with and without basis) regarding the reliability of korean vans. personally, i think that reliability has a lot to do with the way the owner takes care of his vehicle.

carnival/sedona owners, can i hear from you? thanks.

**altec** · December 19th, 2003 12:02 AM

The local sedona has several changes over the local carnival. Emphasize the word local because there are a lot of imported gray units, mostly called park 1 or 2. The starex before got severely criticized mainly because of the problems with gray units. The local version, though, comes with a 3 year 110,000 km warranty. So for any "korean" reliability problems, it will be addressed by the warranty. The sedona is has improved dash, sliding doors, and has a rear bumper rubber stepboard. Engine, underchassis is the same. Better headlights and brakelights design in my opinion as well. The body roll is still noticeably excessive though it has an american car like ride, and the turning radius is lousy, very wide. Its ground clearance is car-based, while the AUV and the Starex have higher ground clearance.
Engine power is great with 125HP or so, compared with the Starex and the other AUV which is 100 or below HP. In the 2003 units (I don't know if until now), the units come with DVD system, not VCD!! Great for the family.
Problems encountered, loose seat bolts, rough left sliding door, leaking power steering which was identified to be due to a loose clamp, defective front ash tray cover, loose rear seats, all covered by the warranty. Problem encountered with my friend's local carnival was leaking aircon hose, and squeaky sliding doors, which was also under warranty. Goes 7 km/liter in city driving, and 10 km/liter in highway driving (fully loaded)

**sikuya** · December 19th, 2003 12:27 AM

kia sedona:
pros:good brakes,increasing realiabilty but not quite up to par with the japs,exceptional warranty,low price,plenty of storage, well equippe,good sound system

cons:bland dash and interior,penalties for handling,ride noise and comfort,tiny wheels and tires,edgy ride and body rolls,weighs too much with so-so powertrain(3.5L in US but way slower than the 3.5L Honda engine---2.9L in Phils.) thus poor mileage.

in the US, the toyota siena, honda oddyssey and nissan quest have pulled way ahead of the competition but the philippine market has very few van choices and lackluster road performers at that. kia sedona and chevy venture......i'll take the sedona by a hair. there's always something against chevy's.

**altec** · December 19th, 2003 12:33 AM

sikuya, the 2.9L here is the diesel engine. They recently launced the 2.5L V6 gas engine, though. Just a month ago, toyota (finally) launched the previa, which is the sienna in the U.S. Costs additional 400K pesos or so than the sedona but I don't think it has the same engine displacement as the sienna in the U.S., coz I think they use only a 2.4 liter gas engine 4 cylinder here

**sikuya** · December 19th, 2003 01:29 AM

altec, thanks for the infos.the previa has an edgy design it looks better than the sedona i think.isn't it the chrysler town and country is available there too?there are more van choices in the philippines then.
anyway, this is what i know. that the sienna is not the previa. the previa was a failure in the US thus toyota designed a new van only for america and in 1998 came the sienna.it was small compared to the american vans and honda odyssey though, so it didn't do quite as good as toyota wanted it to.the new sienna came out in march and is currently the toprated van in the US and outselling the honda odyssey for the 1st time.i think the sienna is only solf in the US and canada (unless i'm wrong, somebody tell me) and is now powered by a 3.3L v6 with 230horsepower.my best friend drives a new salsa red model and the van is sweet!
between the previa , venture and sedona? if money is not the issue, previa is the choice then.

**Hero** · December 19th, 2003 03:17 AM

the sienna is different from the previa...sikuya thats the sienna right? .. check out toyota.com.ph..for the previa..

**diesoline** · December 19th, 2003 12:23 PM

thanks for all the replies folks! i have also considered taking the previa before but the price is a bit more than what i expected. besides, i have been driving diesels for the past 15 years and i am not about to quit on them especially now that the new common rail diesel engines are just around the corner. actually i have my eye on the gray market kia carnival park with the crdi engine. it makes around 143bhp. the sedona/carnival grabbed my attention when one of them blasted past my friend's starex when it was going 130 kph on one of those long straights in the highways between pangasinan and tarlac. i will be doing a lot of trips up and down marcos highway so the excessive body roll that altec noted is a point for concern.

altec, have you driven your sedona to baguio yet? or have you other owner's notes regarding driving on winding roads?

again, thanks to all of you folks. you all have a good day ahead.

**mikey177** · December 19th, 2003 12:55 PM

hi diesoline. i have an 2003 Sedona RS and I've brought it up to Baguio twice. I also drive it practically every weekend from QC to Tarlac (I probably was not the guy who blasted past your friend's Starex, as I rarely go over 120 kph).

How do you define excessive body roll? I don't think I've experienced this driving up to Baguio, but then maybe I was going too slow.

I'll second altec's comment about the wide turning radius. minsan kinakapos nga ako pag masikip talaga ang corner, and I have to back up to complete the turn. I always though it was a given disadvantage with most long vehicles.

No major problems with the engine or electrical systems since I got the unit last year. A minor complaint I have is wind noise coming from the driver's side door when I go over 110 kph. I also don't care much for the OEM horn, so I swapped them for a set of Fiamms since I'm on the highway a lot.

Another minor irritant is the rubber of the OEM wiper blades... they seem to leave a thin film when you use them, so the windshield becomes less-than-clear the more you use the wipers. Easily fixed by changing the rubber with another brand.

I'm still on my original set of tires, but as other owners have suggested, I'll change them to a brand that will give me less second thoughts about pushing the speed limit on the NLEX.

I love al the little nooks and crannies for storing things, and my two kids do too. I find myself constantly discovering missing toys, pencils and what-nots whenever I clean the interior.

Another thing you might look into is the airconditioning system: the front vents seem to provide less cooling than the rear passenger vents. Thus, assuming that both front and rear blowers are set to the lowest speed, the rear passengers will already be feeling cold while the driver will feel less cool. I don't know if this is because of the proximity of the front aircon to the engine.

That's all I can think of for now. Feel free to ask about anything that I may have missed.

**altec** · December 19th, 2003 02:47 PM

excessive body roll means when curving, it tilts more than what we expect to be normal. You will notice that if you go through potholes or if you go through a hump na di diretso. It has a tendency to sway. What I did is just be conscious about it and not let it be too much sway. Malambot ang shocks and if you drive it through the hump at a fast clip, may tendency mag-bottom out ang front shocks, so drive slow.
Mikey, the front aircon is not really a problem of the aircon but that the vents blows it to the back and the inside cabin is without partition so it is expected the people at the rear will feel colder. 2nd, the front windshield malaki so more hot sun hitting the dashboard. Adjust mo na lang ang front vents to hit you directly.
Regarding the wind noise and the wiper, yes, same observation. Considering the price, ok na ok na ang sedona.
Sikuya, yes, there is the chrysler town and country. But when the carnival was introduced here at 900K or less, the chrysler was already going for 1.6M or more! Now, it should even be more!! Not much really chrylsers sold, sobrang mahal.