My New Kia

So, I bought an imported minivan after 15 years of being a GM car owner. I love GM cars. One of them saved our lives in a wicked car wreck. People talk about how American cars suck and they aren't reliable, but really, we've had nothing but love for our GM cars. However, this go around, GM didn't have a car to suit our needs. As a mom with three kids, I needed a mini van with the following options:

* Dual power sliding doors
* Removable seats
* Great safety features
* Decent gas mileage (due to the whole schlepping three kids to school, sports, and everywhere in between)
* and being a frugal mom, I needed one at a good price.

Any other options that the car came with were bonus beyond that.

So, feeling the call to go out and stimulate the economy, I bought a Kia Sedona - the first import vehicle since giving up the Toyota Celica and 1967 Volvo I drove in high school and college. GM sadly didn't have a van that was going to suit my needs. The Chevy Uplander was the dialed down version of the sparkly Buick Terraza I was trading in.

In reality, I could have driven the Terraza for much longer. An '06 with 52K miles on it, it was really sweet - leather package, cherry trim, entertainment package, power everything. The problem with it was the middle seats. Bolted in for side air bags, the seats weren't removable and that was a total necessity. So after two years of listening to the kids fight over getting in and out of the car, and having it be a bear to clean cause I couldn't reach around the fixed seats to clean it, I parted ways with the car.

I spent quite a bit shopping for the new minvan cause my husband wanted no part of it. But I woke up on Friday and decided I was done, and by yesterday afternoon, I had the new vehicle.

In total, I looked at a VW Routan, a Hyundai Entourage, a Dodge Grand Caravan, a Chrysler Town and Country, and the Kia Sedona.

I can remember when Kia's were pieces of crap. Somewhere along the lines, I think they were confused with Daewoo and other Korean made motor cars. And I think when they first started, they had a reputation about on par with a Yugo.

But I went out and looked at one, and I was pretty impressed. It looked nice, handled well, and had almost all the features I wanted at a price I was willing to pay.

For $24,600, I got an olive grey van, seats seven, dual sliders and an autolift on the trunk hatch, and pretty much everything else I wanted. Noticably absent were the stereo controls on my steering wheel (which I loved in the Buick), 110v outlet (which is great for charging all the kids' electronics) and the entertainment package (which I'll be having installed after market next week).

The price also included bailing me out of the Buick as I was negative equity in it $3K, mainly in part to the value of GM cars plummeting at a faster rate than I've ever seen in all the years I've been a GM car owner. I should have made the switch last September when I was about dead heat even in debt/equity ratio on the Buick. It's amazing what six months, a steepening recession, and all the flack on Wall Street have done to the value of American car values.

So, I do feel a bit traitorous switching to an import car. But I also need to be practical and right now, the GM cars don't have what we need, and the Dodge/Chrysler vans were too expensive, as was the Routan, VW's mini van made on the Chrysler platform and essentially, no different than the Town and Country mini van.

In two weeks, my husband is going to head to Iraq, and one of the other reasons for a switch to a new van is that I intend to beat the hell out of it and drive it like mad while he's gone. The plan is to take the kids and keep them occupied by traveling around by car this year and seeing the sites. I've taken a year off from work to spend more time with them, so we're going to spend a fair amount of it in the car to keep us occupied while their dad is gone.

My New Kia will be about my family's adventures in the van, and whether or not the imported van really lives up to the new reputation, or whether or not I made a mistake giving up my Buick and beloved GM van. One way or another, I imagine it will be interesting!

Here's hoping the American love of cars translates into Korean and that our driving adventures are just as good in a car that didn't come out of Detroit!