kia vans are tough!!

[red]

the body shop that my husband works at took in a kia van recently. on the surface the only thing that was really noticable was that both airbags blew and took out the passenger side of the windshield. upon closer inspection i saw that the front of the car was pushed to the left about 1/8"- 1/4", not real noticable in fact the estimator missed it completely! my husband was assigned to disassemble and fix...he said that the full frame structure on that van was one of the heaviest he has seen in a passenger car and was on par with some pickups. plus it was easy to take apart, better than most vehicles. come to find out that the van had been damaged when its teenage driver was practising around her family yard and the pet ran out in front of her...she hit the gas instead of the brake and went straight into the retaining wall that went around the garage at about 15 - 20mph!!!! aside form the slightly tweaked frame, windshield and airbags, the bumper supports are to be replaced, sensors checked/replaced and a slightly dented hood (fix/no replacement neccessary) and thats it!!!! i dont know of too many new cars or TRUCKS that can do that and basically drive away with only minor damage...no dented fenders, hood, door scruches or nothing...the body shop techs were impressed!! they may be ugly, they may be korean but the structure is like a tank!!!

[AKLGT]

quote:they may be ugly, they may be korean but the structure is like a tank!!!hey! now what are you trying to say about koreans? lol.

[Reynoma]

The one thing that the car magazines fault the Kia minivan with is being too heavy. Now I know why. I've looked at them (when I was shopping for cars, I considered the Kia Spectra). They are very reasonably priced - fully loaded with leather, for about $25K.

[QUIKAG]

quote:The one thing that the car magazines fault the Kia minivan with is being too heavy. Now I know why. I've looked at them (when I was shopping for cars, I considered the Kia Spectra). They are very reasonably priced - fully loaded with leather, for about $25K.Agreed. The Kia minivan is a tough machine, but it's also very heavy. I think Kia, in an effort to make it safe and less expensive, said, "Screw the CAD and computer engineering of the chassis/frame, we're just going to bolt a bunch of very heavy duty steel frames together and call it a day."

[red]

sorry!!!! just that kia's have gotten a bad rep over the years and dont seem to be improving much EXCEPT for their suvs and vans.

[AKLGT]

quote:sorry!!!! just that kia's have gotten a bad rep over the years and dont seem to be improving much EXCEPT for their suvs and vans.now, red, you should know i'm just giving you a hard time sorry, forgot to add [sarcasm][/sarcasm]

[nate66]

All Kia's, and Hyundai’s are heavier than their Japanese, and American counterparts. The Koreans currently don't have advanced manufacturing processes like hydro forming, so they just have to weld more steel into their vehicles to make them strong. Also the Sedona did horrible in the Insurance Institute’s low speed crash test. I guess the front air bags deployed in the 5mph front into barrier test causing all kind of damage. That said, I'd still look at one if I were in the market for a minivan, they seem like a super value.