Monday, August 15, 2016

Kia Rondo 2016 Platinum Review


“Help me Rondo yeah”… I’ve always wanted to weave a Beach Boys lyric into a vehicular review and the 2017 Kia Rondo Platinum has been the best – if somewhat lame – opportunity for me to do so.
The Kia Rondo sits in an automotive no man’s land. It’s not a people mover and it’s not an SUV, but if you need to transport some vertically challenged singing troubadours (See what I did there?) around town, the three-row Rondo might just be the most space-efficient way to get the job done.
Like the Beach Boys’ last chart topper, it’s been a while between drinks for us at CarAdvice in regard to the Rondo. Just over 12 months in fact, since we last stepped into one (in Platinum guise that time too) and gave it a solid 7.5 overall.
The Kia Rondo might not have made Matt Campbell’s recent list of cars Australians should be buying more of but don’t, but it remains a sensible, compact people-moving option for family buyers on a budget. You might get trampled in the rush toward the Sportage or Sorento in your Kia dealership, but that doesn’t mean the smart money isn’t being spent just outside the wildly popular SUV segments.
While the Rondo doesn’t have many competitors and while it isn’t quite sure exactly what it is, there’s little doubt it’s a good-looking compact people mover. Have you looked at a BMW 2-Series Active Tourer recently? You can’t unsee what you’ve already seen. The Rondo, on the other hand, is nicely proportioned, well executed and devoid of any styling ugliness.

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