Mazda5 vs KIA Rondo comparisons and articles (merged)

Well, you still can't make me like it, but it's actually kind of refreshing to get an unbiased (positive) review on the Rondo. :)

I just can't get over the squished-bubbly looks or the "Kia" badge, even if it's superior to the 5 in every other aspect. But fortunate for you that you get to play around with the Rondo without a commitment to buy it... pretty sweet deal!
 
offset_98 said:
No, I didn't own a 5 before...have been trying to get one for a company car for some time. I have a CX-7 at home. I still like the looks of the 5 better and speed isn't all that important to me but I'll keep you guys in the loop.
Click to expand...

Got it, I dunno why I thought that you owned one before the CX-7 (confused), but thx for dropping by and let us know! Oh, and possibly in six months your company sees the light and gets you guys an MZ5 :D
 
Not a chance. I really like the sliding doors on the 5, and I find that it just looks better to my eye. Oh, and I wouldn't buy a car that didn't have a manual transmission.
 
I think pedro_mazda is secretly studying the behavior of Mazda5 owners in this forum. He always asks questions that are itchy, jump to the screen, are somehow controversial and generate many replies (biased and unbiased)

(hahaspit) just kidding of course, or Is it just me?

LOL
 
And continuing with this saga. I was with wife today and saw a Rondo. She is not into cars but I can tell that she would have considered a Rondo if there was a 4cyl with Manual Tranny option and I would not be around, except by one thing: she noted that the Rondo does not have sliding doors. In a nutshell she said:

"If the Rondo does not have sliding doors, What is the point of trying to compare both?"

I think that said it all (boom07)
 
yep,

the 5 is just more practical, and MUCH BETTER looking. the v6 is nice, but I will take the hit in power for the sliding doors, and better looks and build.
 
If it was a KIA5 and MAZDA Rondo... I might lean towards the Rondo.

But I think a MAZDA Rondo will be a contradiction.
 
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Quick update on seat fabric:

I picked the dog up from the pet hotel since we were on vacation for a few days and couldn't take her with us. Well, normally she's very good in the car but on the way home she crapped in the back seat and then proceeded to walk around in it. When I got home i thought, great, light tan seat w/ dog crap all over in a brand new car. I'll never get it out. Well, with some stain remover my wife had in the the house and a little scrubbing...every single stain came out. Even if you knew what had happend back there, you couldn't tell. To me, that says a lot about the fabric in the seats. Had this been in my G6, I don't think it would've come out as easily or completely. Anyway, just wanted to give everyone a heads up on a clean up...now the true test will be when my daughter drops red juice or who knows what into the fabric...lol.
 
^^ Yikes, good thing that it came out (2thumbs), just don't get your nose too close to the seat for a while ;)

Interesting that you mention it, in other forums I once read that the Rondo tan/gray seat fabric has a serious issue with water (i.e. rain drops) as it leaves stains as soon as it touches it.

On the same note that is why I love the black fabric on my seats, my little one's feet now reach the back seat (rear-facing baby seat) but it gets cleaned in no time. My 06 (which has grayish fabric in the middle) looks a little bit dirtier, but almost negligible.

Dark fabrics have helped a lot, even when Sippy cups fly around with juice or milk (freak)
 
My friend bought new Kia ,he was having so many problems that he traded it in for a Mazda6.
He says he will never go back to KIA, just too many problems.

Im sorry i just dont trust Kia, I dont want to take it to the shop all the time.
If you look at Consumer Reports , Kia has poor reliability, one or two models might be just average .
Mazda has that Japanese quality and a long history of making decent and reliable cars.
 
jjac28 said:
My friend bought new Kia ,he was having so many problems that he traded it in for a Mazda6.
He says he will never go back to KIA, just too many problems.

Im sorry i just dont trust Kia, I dont want to take it to the shop all the time.
If you look at Consumer Reports , Kia has poor reliability, one or two models might be just average .
Mazda has that Japanese quality and a long history of making decent and reliable cars.
Click to expand...

The Mazda 3 has had good reliability in Consumer Reports, the 6 though is just average. The 5 for 2006 was average, but I believe 2007 will be better then average (the little red half circle), though I can't recall if that came out yet.

The problem with KIA and even Hyundai is that the newest versions seem to have much higher build quality, (esp the Hyundai based KIAs), but most haven't been out long enough to have a multi-year history.
 
I won't claim a perfect ride, my 2006 has had all the bugs (read TSBs and the exhaust recall) but I was expecting something like that for the first year model (dunno). Now, for my 2008 so far nada.

Regardless of the bugs nothing critical (yet), so still love the thing :D

I read something similar to what mrbwa1 is posting above, that the initial quality for Hyundai and KIA is good, but who cares about the initial quality if 6-12 months down the road you'll be having a lot of trouble.
 
coolmazda5 said:
I won't claim a perfect ride, my 2006 has had all the bugs (read TSBs and the exhaust recall) but I was expecting something like that for the first year model (dunno). Now, for my 2008 so far nada.

Regardless of the bugs nothing critical (yet), so still love the thing :D

I read something similar to what mrbwa1 is posting above, that the initial quality for Hyundai and KIA is good, but who cares about the initial quality if 6-12 months down the road you'll be having a lot of trouble.
Click to expand...

To expand on that thought,

Kia has a longer warranty, but by using that as a comparison point, you are banking on something warranty-related going wrong down the line. One of the turn offs of the Rondo to me was the interior quality. It's not really bad, but there is a definitely different between LX and EX trims. The 5 may be a lot of black plastic, but it is nicely textured.

Make no mistakes, I always started wanting the 5 when we were shopping, but was trying to shop around. The sliding doors and the handling seal the deal for me.
 
I've driven both Kia Rondo and M5 and after that I decided to go with M5 and bought GT version. The Rondo seemed OK to me (it appears to be slightly bigger than M5 )when I drove it but I was not amazed by it. The suspension of the Rondo is to soft to me, steering not precise and the exterior design is boring (but this is a personal preference). I tried I4 and V6 and have to say the latter was much better. I didn't like the leather - the texture was similar to vinyl, same with leather on steering wheel. What I didn't like as well was fact that there are many things you can't even get as an option - Bluetooth, Xenon lights, automatic climate control, Homelink, NAV, etc. The MPG of 2008 M5 is much better than both versions of the Rondo while the new 5-speed transmission of M5 significantly improved both MPG and performance. The European crash test results (more strict then US) for Mazda (5 stars) are much better then for the Rondo (4 stars). The warranty for the Rondo is much better, though. When I was an owner of the Sonata I've driven a few Hyundai and Kia cars (mostly loaners) and their stop&go MPG was always 1-3 miles lower than estimated. Mazda so far is giving me 2 miles more to the gallon than estimated in the same driving conditions. This observation has been confirmed by other users opinions I've read on Mazda and Kia forums. This as well as the resale value of both cars were also strong factors to me.

My previous car was 06 Sonata V6 and it was much faster then M5 but M5 drives and handles much better.
 
My week with a Kia Rondo

I spent the last week working out of Toronto and rented a 4-cylinder Kia Rondo for the time I was there just to see what the car was like.
I must say that I was very impressed by the ride. The engine was smooth and the tranny shifted effortlessly.....I was very imnpressed.
Some of the things that I didn't like were:
The driver seating position is too much above the steering wheel so you feel that you're driving a bus.
The rear suspension sagged quite a bit with two people in the 3rd row. Accelerarting from rest cause the front end to lift.
Fuel economy was way worse than the Mazda5. I averaged jkust about 20mpg over the week with a combination of city and hwy driving.
Accessing the rear seat was a chore with the middle row being hard to slide back and forth.
Space behind the 3rd row was even less than the Mazda5.
Fit and finish were a tad lower than the Mazda5.

At the end of the day I would always buy the Mazda5 over the Rondo, but I can see why so many people are buying the Rondo as it is a pretty decent vehicle.
 
Thanks for the good report. The downs you list kind of support the idea of the other KIA/Hyundai rentals I've driven and why I would not own a KIA in general.

But I agree, if any of the items listed as "don't like" are not important for a to-be owner, then it seems to be a good bang for the buck.
 
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