2002 Kia Sedona LX review from North America
"Lemon-City-Junk Yard ready at new"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Head-gasket blew at 9,000-miles-Major overheating fried engine-Hear we go again, the reason we traded off the Ford Windstar..
Rear A/C never worked right, dealer finally "fixed it at 9,000-miles when they put a new engine in it. Broken plate in divider line.
9,026 miles the Engine overheated and blew again, Dealer"Contract" shop forgot to plug up cooling fans. Just warped heads, but they put a whole new engine in, "Cheaper faster they said"
Drivers door power door lock went out when we got it back 9,000-miles-then it started to work again on own.
9,036-miles the transmission started to slip-drove right back to dealer and van could not pull up off ramp. had to walk and get tow. =Cracked Transmission housing cracked leak from stripped bolt to engine. "NOT covered under warranty" Kia/contract Shop has to pay, but won't we had to fight then. they finally did.
9,040-A/C lost all the Freon.. Line split at connection to condenser. Fixed under warranty.
10,000-miles check engine light comes on-checked out to be faulty O2 sensors.
11,000-miles the drivers door will not shut and latch.. had to have towed to shop--"they said it was bent from someone who slammed door with seat belt caught in it" I had to pay.$170.00.
13,000-miles the "New" Transmission goes out-Jerks real hard 30-40mph-they said it was only the torque converter that had bad fluid in it.. New converter and trans flush and it worked..
15,000-miles the dash lights go out-they found a bad relay.. no charge.
17,000-miles the Dealer is acting like they hate us when we take it back for the van cutting out and hard to start.
Turns out to be a weak fuel pump.. they said caused by a clogged fuel filter-come on only 17,000-miles.Our fault!!-they told us.
20,000-miles the left head lamp fills up with fog.. dealer said it was normal and will go away on own.
22,000-miles the transmission is slipping when it is cold and will not go into overdrive."we are very angry and the young shop kid told us that the vans are just too heavy and the transmissions can't hold up. he said lots of people are having transmission problems."
We had a new transmission put in it by the shop and we are not driving it.. we are filing our taxes early to get our refund and trading it off before something else goes wrong.. We don't know what to buy... we need a van, but we had the same problems with our 97-windstar..We are looking at a car this time.. Like a Toyota..
General comments?
A pile of junk, 100,000-mile warranty joke.
Too heavy and transmissions burn out.
Engine head-gaskets blow out.
Lemon-city.
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![]() ![]() | Cheaply made, and not supported after the sale |
![]() ![]() | A waste of $400 a month! |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | No |
| First year of ownership | 2002 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2003 |
| Engine and transmission | 3.5 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 1/10 |
| Reliability marks | 0/10 |
| Comfort marks | 3/10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 0/10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 0/10 |
| Distance when acquired | 19 miles |
| Most recent distance | 22000 miles |
| Previous car | Ford Windstar |
| Date of Entry | 14th October, 2003 |

