2007 Kia Rondo EX V-6

2007 Kia Rondo EX V-6 - As you can imagine, it isn’t only the spelling that differs here. The Rondeau was a Cosworth-powered projectile with just one seat. The Kia Rondo is a modestly powered tall wagon–cum–minivan based on Kia’s Optima that can seat up to seven people with the optional third row in place.

Powered by a 2.4-liter inline-four or a 2.7-liter V-6, and equipped with four- and five-speed automatic transmissions respectively, the Rondo’s only real similarity to Rondeau’s car is that it’s ready for any 24-hour journey you care to take. If the emergence of these vehicles is a sign that people are moving to more compact solutions for their car-pool problems, we won’t argue with that. Particularly not at this price. Kia’s four-cylinder Rondo starts at just $16,995 if you live somewhere that doesn’t require air conditioning. That costs another $900, and the third-row seat will add $500. Then you have a pretty well-equipped seven-seater that is agreeable to drive, is nice to look at, and has a very pleasing interior layout.

And it’s nice to know that even if you leave the showroom with the base Rondo, you still get ABS and stability control along with front, side, and curtain airbags. Soccer moms need these things, you know. What’s more surprising about the Rondo, particularly the EX V-6 we tested, is that sports-car freaks like us can drive it without chafing. There’s room aplenty in the front seats, and we found that one tall driver and two passengers of average height can sit one behind the other in all three rows in surprising comfort, as long as the driver can make do with less than optimal space and the center-row passengers make use of the convenient fore-and-aft adjustment to accommodate the tail-end gunner.

Best of all, with Kia’s 10-year/100,000-mile limited powertrain warranty, there’d still be nine years and 364 days of coverage after one 24 Hours of Le Mans. We bet Rondeau couldn’t match that.