Entering a new phase of life…

Yep – that’s right, a new phase of life for this guy. This phase involves purchasing vehicles based on utility, safety and ‘family friendliness’ rather than how they look or how fast they can go. I’ve known for a while that it was inevitable that my truck would have to go eventually but that didn’t make it any easier to say goodbye. I certainly wont miss the high cost of keeping it running (fuel) but I have to say, I already miss driving my old truck. To me, there is just something about driving a truck that you can’t get from any other vehicle – maybe it’s the high seating position or the fun of rear wheel drive, or maybe it’s just cause I’m from back east and it’s ingrained in me, I don’t know…

At any rate – as you can see from the photo accompanying this post, we settled on a new Kia Rondo to replace the truck. So far I’ve been very impressed with it and I guess time will tell if we made the right decision.

We wanted something big enough that we could fit three car seats into it if required (just in case we end up with twins on our next attempt at a baby) but we (or rather I) didn’t want a minivan. I also wanted something that would be decent on fuel – not such a gas hog like the truck was.

We looked first at the Mazda 5. It is a nice enough vehicle, if a bit on the ugly side (IMO). Sadly it doesn’t have a 60/40 split bench option for the middle row of seating which means even if you could find car seats small enough – there is no way you could fit three of them in it without going to the third row of seats. After looking at it, we decided that fastening a child into a car seat that is in the third row would not be a fun task. That, coupled with the saleman dismissing anything Amy commented on, forced us to keep looking.

Getting back to the three car seat dilema – I asked Amy what vehicle it was that showed in the commercial three car sets across the middle row of seats. She informed me that it was the Kia Rondo. I immediately started researching the Rondo on the web and everything I read was favourable. Turns out this is the first year that the Rondo is available in North America, but it has been available in Europe for years (since 1999) under the name Carens and Kia is currently on its third generation of this vehicle. At the very least, we figured we should go and take one for a test drive.

We found a Kia dealership just down the road from our place (Donnelly Kia) and stopped in to have a look. We liked what we saw (I didn’t think it was as ugly as the Mazda) and even liked the salesman that was answering our questions. Unlike the salesman at the Mazda dealership, if we pointed out something that we felt could be improved (such as the rather large doors instead of a sliding door like the Mazda) this guy would agree with us. We arranged to come back for a test drive when we had more time. The test drive went well (both Amy and I liked the way it drove) and so we started talking numbers. I should point out that we had already decided that we wanted the top-of-the-line model which had all the features (leather seats, heated mirrors, heated seats, sunroof, etc) we wanted included and…was still only $27K! We were a bit off, mostly due to the fact that I thought they weren’t giving me enough for my truck, so we left it at that and went home to think about things and continue looking at other vehicles. Jack (the salesman) called me back and said he would continue to work on the deal in the background to see what they could do to get closer to what I wanted for the truck.

I figured I might as well give Ford another shot since I’ve been so happy with my previous two ford trucks and so we stopped into Kanata Ford to have a look at the Ford Freestyle (renamed to Taurus X this year). Not long after we arrived, we were sitting in a used Freestyle and going for a test drive. The vehicle was big – definitely bigger than the Rondo (and the Mazda 5) and it drove like it. Neither Amy nor I really liked the way it handled. In addition – the fuel economy was worse and it didn’t have the safety features of the Rondo, plus it was two years older and already had 30K kms on it…and they wanted the same amount of money for it! I stuck around long enough to find out what they (the people I bought the truck from) would give me on a trade in for my truck and then left. If I had been a bit miffed by what the Kia dealership originally offered me for my truck – I was downright insulted by Ford. That pretty much sealed the deal for me – the fact that the Kia dealership had offered me about $2K more for my truck than the place I bought the truck from showed me that they weren’t ‘jerking me around’ and so I went back and talked to Jack again. In the end we worked out a great deal (IMO) and like I said, I’ve been very happy with the Rondo so far.

I’ve alluded to it, but I’d like to give a shout out to the salesman, Jack, at Donnelly Kia. He didn’t pressure us at all and made the whole experience quite enjoyable. If you happen to be in the market for a new vehicle, and are considering a Kia, then please have a stop by Donnelly Kia and talk to Jack. As a bonus he’s an ex-maritimer like me.