There have been a few Kia Sedona posts and discussions here lately, though it’s not a vehicle which is much on my radar. But going through some old pictures, I found this CC-worthy picture which I snapped in Sedona, Arizona in 2006.
To be honest, at the time I don’t think I even knew that Kia sold a minivan, and probably wouldn’t have seen this if one if my kids hadn’t noticed it and pointed it out. It’s interesting that the Kia badge was removed or masked, but not the Sedona badge. Nor the roofrack or rear mudflaps. Looking at it now, the parking lot streetlight makes the Sedona look like a Google Street View car.
Oh, Korean cars. Funny that this thing was no older than 3 or 4 years at the time and was subject to a very poor paint job. Speaks worlds to the faith they had in this car and/or the resale value.
I believe the yellow paint was done by the cab company, or at least contracted to the lowest cost shop by them. My favorite cab paint scheme was a 2010ish Chevy Impala in white that simply read “Yellow Cab” on the doors. It was painted in similar fashion to this.
Interesting that the yellow color AND the checkerboard pattern are almost mandatory symbols for a taxi. Originally those two brands were fierce competitors, sometimes moblike in their ruthlessness.
Sort of like using a blue oval AND a bowtie to symbolize a low-priced car.
Well, if I was ever wondering if yellow was a good color for a Sedona, that has now been answered with a resounding “no”.
Sam,
A lot of immigrants go into the taxi business here; it’s an easy market to enter in most smaller cities and thanks to the miracle of GPS requires little local knowledge or even language skills. Further, of all the professional licenses a driver’s license is probably the easiest to get. In fact, in Arizona it would appear that only an ordinary operator’s license with no special endorsements or requirements is required for a Taxi driver. Your 85 year old grandmother could be a taxi operator by noon today if she chose.
So, all that is required to become a taxi operator is a enough cash for a vehicle and whatever down payment might be required to join a fee-based taxi dispatch outfit.
When starting out, capital is scarce, and a Korean vehicle provides (realistically) 80 percent of the reliability of a Toyota for 50 percent or less, of the price. The yellow paint is probably required by the dispatch company for two reasons: taxis are traditionally yellow in the U.S. and it lends a facade of professionalism, and secondly it commits the driver to the dispatch company with a dedicated vehicle. If he wants to change dispatch companies, he’s going to have the repaint the car.
Hence: Earl Scheib
Note, of course, that the paradigm is changing somewhat thanks to Uber. It’s a good news/bad news situation for drivers. The good news is that the percentage going to the dispatcher is lower while the bad news is that vehicle standards for Uber are higher.
You have now completed the Sedona Trifecta here at CC. As an owner of a second generation version (and one who continues custody of a third generation version that I wrote about recently) these early ones (1998-2004) have been oddly appealing to me.
I remember when these were new. My main memory of them was a magazine test that pointed out Kia’s crude substitution of metal for engineering ability – the thing weighed 5,000 pounds, about the same as my much bigger Ford Club Wagon.
I may have even rented one once, but my memories of it are quite dim, restricted to a fuel fill-up somewhere out of town. It is my understanding that these are not nearly as robust as 2nd gen versions. They may be better than Windstars but I would choose a contemporary Chrysler over one. But perhaps someone out there has some firsthand experience?
Yo, Man – we heard you like KIA Sedonas so we photographed a Sedona in Sedona working for a business with Sedona in the name.
If that color were named Sedona Sunfire or something like that this would be about perfect. 🙂
Agreed about the weight since my folks have an 05 Sedona and it is heavy. Parts of the body sure feel solid and do not give off a hollow sound when you rap them with your knuckles.
Given the Ford/Mazda/Kia relationship, do these share anything with the Windstar?
It was still on the road, so I’m guessing no. 🙂
Well, I did take this picture 12 years ago. And I saw an actual Windstar just last week … though it was stationary 🙂
Well, it hasn’t rusted either, so that’s something! 🙂
I am not aware of any parts sharing between this Sedona and the Windstar. I believe these were home grown, but I am open to correction by someone who has deeper knowledge of these.
If I remember correctly it actually had used a frame not unibody
That was the Sorento and the first generation sportage that had the full frame
A Sedona in Sedona- I wonder where else you can find namesake cars?
There are certainly Colorados in Colorado, and Durangos in Durango, but are there any Aspens left in Aspen?
I doubt a Versailles ever cruised the boulevards of Versailles, and a Parisienne has almost assuredly never been seen in Paris, but perhaps a lucky Biarritz once visited Biarritz…
How about a Capri on the island of Capri or even a Cordoba in Cordoba? Tuscons in Tuscon and Santa Fe(s) definitely in Santa Fe.
Well… Probably not a Chrysler, but there might be a lot of SEAT Cordoba in Córdoba, Spain
There are probably not many Newports in Newport or Saratogas in Saratoga, perhaps a few more New Yorkers in New York. There are undoubtedly plenty of Galaxies in the Galaxy. All of them, in fact.
How about a Corsica in Corsica? I don’t see that happening. There’s probably an old Grand Ville in Granville (TN). Perhaps there is a Calais in Calais, Cadillac or Oldsmobile, and a better chance than you’d think of there being a Seville in Sevilla. Lastly, is there a Montreal in Montreal?
I live in Santa Cruz, California, and I’m curious how the upcoming Hyundai Santa Cruz scheduled to launch in 2020, will do here. However, we have no Hyundai dealer in the county, which may limit sales. Though we have no Chevy store in town either, and I’m convinced that the Chevy Cruze is disproportionately more popular here, compared to its predecessors. Or maybe it’s just a better car than the Cobalt or Cavalier. By the way, my Tacoma has never been to Tacoma. Nor to Takoma Park, Maryland
When’s the last time a Mercury Turnpike Cruiser cruised a turnpike? How many Montclairs in Montclair, NJ, or Montereys in Monterey, Cal.?
Or the last time a Plymouth Savoy, Plaza or Belvedere driver checked into its namesake hotel?
Not to mention the last Sun Valley in Sun Valley.
How many of these miserable Korean Pontiacs have ever been to Le Mans?
Very few Chevy Monte Carlos ever graced the streets of Monte Carlo. A Lancia Monte Carlo (Scorpion in the US) is more likely.
I doubt there are many Malibu owners living in Malibu, unless it’s live-in household staff.
Lots of Tucsons in Tucson.
I have an Avalon but I can’t find Avalon on Google Maps…
Avalon is on Catalina Island off the SoCal coast…
Yeah, I was only aware of the King Arthur one. Shoulda known I’d be fact-checked. It’s the only joke I could think of. My other cars are a ’10 Elantra and ’05 Taurus. No jokes there. Except maybe owning an Elantra and a Taurus…My ’03 Avalon is the finest driving car I’ve had. It’s what a Buick should be in an alternate world where they don’t just make ugly CUVs for China. “That doesn’t look like a Buick”. No, they do not. However, the new Avalon’s front looks like the face of that Venom movie. Pretty soon entire cars will be flat black unpainted mesh. With ventiports. And teensy windows. And angry, oh how very angry eyebrows. Yay, more aggressive styling! Bleecchh!
Vehicles are strictly regulated on Catalina, currently there is a 20 year waiting list for residents to own a car on the island. So there are few or no Avalons in Avalon.
I’ve only been to Catalina Island once, and the only car I remember was a VW T3 Doka. Maybe I even saw two of them. Other oddball stuff too, several old Minis, and a lot of newer, very small Japanese stuff (kei class) gets imported and are apparently legal. I don’t recall any Toyota Avalons or Pontiac Catalinass.
Maybe because Avalon is a mythical idyllic island from the legends of King Arthur, so no, it wouldn’t be in Google Maps 😉 . I didn’t know that before looking it up.
There are plenty of Avalons in the US and elsewhere if you look in Wikipedia.
I rode in one of these a couple of years back, it was being used as an UberXL (5+ riders.) It was night and I sat in the third row but I remember being mildly impressed with the quality. Literally all I remember was that above the leather armrest there was a 6×9 speaker finished with a painted mesh grill. It just struck me as a more premium effort than a Caravan or Windstar.