Brian Chee’s 2006 Kia Sedona Driving Impressions:
So we were in the process of putting the Kia Sedona through its paces on the track, when suddenly…wait a minute. Track…Sedona…minivan? Okay, so maybe that was a weird convergence of another test, a slow practice lap and the availability of the Sedona. Whatever. Point in fact, that little bottle-nosed whale of a van held up admirably around the corners and even put forth some vehicle dynamics in its own right – albeit at a pedestrian pace – keeping its composure, accelerating in a timely fashion and, generally, acting quite spry.

Heck – and no one got car sick for the experience. The experience was eye-opening, how planted the Sedona was when driven beyond the normal suburbanite crawl. The body roll, while pronounced, eventually shifted and settled; the tires, though squealing like five-year-old girls, kept good rubber on the track; and the brakes handled the increased demand capably, though with some fade toward the end. Back in reality, however, and on the road where it actually belongs, the Sedona is a pleasing enough ride, with a powerful 3.8-liter V6 that nicely lugs around the van’s 4,387 lb. curb weight thanks to a five-speed automatic transmission with “Sportmatic manual control” – for you hopeless Grand Prix Dads out there. Actually, using the shifters does enable the driver to wring more out of the engine, and I found it to be a useful benefit. Braking was excellent, and steering felt precise – though heavy – and unsure of itself over rough pavement. The suspension feels much softer than what you’d get on an Odyssey, but nicely connected – though it fairly bounced through some potholes and along a bumpy road. Those roads also revealed another ugly mole on the Sedona’s pretty face: noise and clatter in the cabin. With one or two drivers inside, there was some vibratin’ and a shakin’ goin’ on inside, enough to be a distraction. Other than that, for a minivan not named Honda, the Kia Sedona was a nice, firm and responsive ride. Take it to YOUR track today! (Just kidding)

Mike Sullivan’s 2006 Kia Sedona Driving Impressions:
The first thing I noticed about the 2006 Kia Sedona was how easily I found a comfortable driving position. The Sedona’s driver sits with a commanding, upright posture, surrounded by an enormous glass canopy that makes it feel like you’re floating down the road. Front and side visibility was outstanding, but understandably, with such a large vehicle, rear visibility was limited. The optional back-up warning system would have been useful, but our test van didn’t have this.

Overall the Kia Sedona drives like a car, albeit a big, heavy car. It travels softly on both the highway and city streets, but with enough nimbleness to make easy U-turns on standard four-lane streets and to find parking in a crowded, cramped lot. The V6 engine did a good job of getting the Sedona up to speed, and always responded readily under foot. However, the automatic transmission felt slow to shift when passing on the highway. Hitting the gas would make the engine roar, but a moment would lapse before the transmission responded by shifting into a lower gear. Also, though braking power felt strong, I sometimes had trouble forecasting the amount of force necessary to stop the vehicle precisely where I wanted it to, often progressively applying more pressure as my stopping point approached.

Thom Blackett’s 2006 Kia Sedona Driving Impressions:
Get that foolish notion about a minivan being fun to drive out of your head. Unless the topic is the current Honda Odyssey, there’s no sense in even dreaming. But, there are minivans out there that promise to soak up miles of both congested and desolate freeway with ease, if not with great amounts of verve. Such is the case with the 2006 Kia Sedona. The 244-horsepower V6 and five-speed automatic tranny do a nice job of getting this seven-passenger front-driver off the line, though with more than 4,300 pounds to motivate, acceleration is well short of breathtaking. Nail the throttle only to discover a decent dose of torque-steer, after which the engine starts to lose some of its initial gusto. That gas pedal feels well modulated around town, though there are times when ample foot pressure does nothing in terms of gaining speed; other times the accelerator feels touchy. Maybe it was a short in my brain-foot connection, or more likely the throttle acting a little schizo.

Smooth shifts are the norm with the automatic transmission. However, while attempting to accelerate for a highway pass I noticed a significant delay before performing the required downshifts. Oddly, there’s a manual-shift mode that’s accessed by moving the lever to the right – click forward for an upshift, rearward for a downshift. This is a nice feature, to be sure, though one that seems a bit out of place and superfluous in a budget minivan. I suppose it’s better to have unexpected additions than inconvenient deletions.

This being a minivan, the chances of owners tossing their Sedonas around decreasing-radius turns are a few notches below nil. Hence, I didn’t subject this Kia to any tortuous canyon carving. On city streets, highways, and gentle curves the ride was controlled with minimal body roll. There was some understeer and squealing from the Hankook Optima 225/70R16 tires when pushed a bit. Steering was vague and too light at speed, points somewhat compensated for by the tight turning radius (in minivan terms).

After quite a few miles evaluating the Sedona, I found a lonely stretch of flat asphalt to test the brakes. Throughout the drive, the pedal felt a little mushy and hard to modulate. However, a full-on panic stop from about 60 mph suggested that there should be no worries about the Kia coming to a quick halt in an emergency.