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I am an executive officer at Kia HQ in Korea and have many reporting to me about good and bad things.
Hello from central Canada. I'd like to pass on a design flaw/oversight to the designers over at KIA with a few suggestions on fixing the problem. I have a seven seater with the LATCH restraint system. We installed a baby seat using the tether (hook) located on the back side of the second row seat. In order to attach the tether, you simply flip down the cover and hook the seat in. That's all fine and dandy until you use the third row. When the third row seat is returned to the storage area in the floor... SNAP, the cover breaks off. A removeable cover would have been better for us as it would not be torn off by the third row headrest snapping off the cover. The ideal would be a spring loaded cover that depresses inward when you apply the hook of the baby seat, and returns when you unhook the tether. (would you need a schematic for the department?)
Schnauzer is right, not many people post when they are happy with a product. I bought a slightly used 2006 Spectra SX a year and a half ago because of price alone. I can now say it is one of the best cars I have ever owned. I've had BMW's, Buick's, Dodge's, Ford,s and Suzuki's. Hands down, for the money KIA can't be beat. I just bought my wife a Rondo and am exteremly pleased with it. I buy a lot of cars and don't want to spend $25,000.00 or $30,000.00 for a vehicle. Kia will continue to get my business as long as they continue to give me affordable quality. By the way, I was astounded to find a $200.00 Micheline tire on the Rondo. Good job KIA !@
In response to Winterpeg - I totally agree! One possible workaround would be to take a phillips screwdriver and just remove that plastic cover entirely. It won't look as nice, but the little flip piece won't be there to break off, and you can put them back on when the kids grow out of their car seats.
On another note - I was mislead on the LATCH anchors and tethers in this car. We went through a broker service to purchase our Rondo, so only drove two of them prior to purchase, and heavily relied on brochures and the Kia website when researching. The Kia website indicated (and still does to this day, I might add) "Our LATCH child-seat system – Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children – comes standard in the second and third rows to help hold child seats more securely." This is simply not the case. There are no provisions for LATCH in the third row. This is one of those things you don't think to look for when you buy the car, but realize it a few months down the road when you go to use the feature. I realize the third row probably isn't the safest place in a rear-ender, but Kia has yet to correct the information on their website. The 800 line and the dealer are no help in this matter. Just a heads up for clarification.
i like the pictures shared by justas83 about the kia multi-s concept which was described as a tuned-up kia carens/rondo. I am about to buy a new carens here in the philippines, a 2.0 CRDi LX model and am hoping that from these forum, I can know what mods I can do to the carens. I think KIA has a bery bright long way to go here in the Philippines. IF we want value for money on cars with good looks and nice form, the carens provides it more than enough. MORE POWER to every KIA owners everywhere. Keep the concept to give KIA Carens a new look going!
hello there. i'm from the philippines. my wife and i bought the 2007 carens ex crdi last september. i would say, i'm really satisfied, now that gasoline prices here are increasing by the week. it's so powerful as well.