2015 Kia Sedona: The Minivan that Made Me Want A Minivan

I always said I would never drive a minivan. Last month, our friends from DriveShop dropped off a 2015 Kia Sedona SXL for us to drive around for the week. Let me tell you, this is the minivan that changed my opinion of a minivan.

So there you have it: I now want a minivan. I know, right? When did I become a little old lady soccer mom? I always said I would much rather drive an SUV than a minivan, but this 2015 Kia Sedona really changed my mind on that.

We’re at that stage of life where we really just need space. Packing two young boys in their car seat and all of their belongs can fill up a car really quickly. We have a Baby Trend Jogging Stroller that although it folds up pretty compact, it’s still a large stroller. You can see it in the trunk here.

The 2015 Kia Sedona SXL offers us a crazy amount of space, without making it unbearable to drive. I felt right at home in this large minivan.

Charlie’s favorite part was the 3rd row! In the Sedona, Charlie was able to have an entire row to himself, though he did recruit Daddy to sit back there with him once. Lucky for Daddy, the 3rd row has plenty of room and it wasn’t a challenge for him to get back there! The 3rd row also offers it’s own climate control.

So, you see we had a ton of space to move about the cabin, but that’s certainly not the only reason I fell in love with this Kia Sedona. Check out the 2nd row seats though. You can move them really far up or really far back. They can be pushed together towards the center or spread apart to allow an aisle between them. They also recline with a footrest! How awesome is that? My first response when I saw that was “Can I drive from the back seat?”.

I loved that we could position the boys so that they could see each other with Charlie in the 3rd row and Owen in the 2nd, but they each have plenty of room.

It has been absolutely disgusting here in Maryland this week. The @kiamotorsusa Sedona has cooling seats! It’s amazing! #drivekia @driveshopusa

A photo posted by Christina Shirley (@mymessymiracles) on Jul 22, 2015 at 9:14am PDT

The cooling seats definitely help you get more comfortable! Sure, the air conditioner brings the temp down really quick, but nothing beats the feeling of sitting on an ice pack!

My favorite feature has to be the all around camera view. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing this is! When pulling into or backing out of a parking spot, you can hit the camera view to show you the surround view on the monitor. I’ve been driving my current vehicle for almost two years and I still constantly question where the edges are when entering or leaving a parking space. Now that I’ve had the surround view as a feature, I keep looking to use it in my current car, but that’s just not an option.

Another driver perk is being able to save my seat positioning. Although I was the only one to drive this, if we were keeping it, we could set it for my short little legs as well as my husband’s much longer ones. Being able to hop in the car and hit the button that would go exactly where I want my seat is amazing to me. There’s no fighting to get back to my “spot”.

Kid Safety

The 2015 Kia Sedona SXL has full-length side curtain airbags for all three rows, as well as front seat-mounted side airbags and dual front advanced airbags.

Charlie’s really loving having the 3rd row of the #KiaSedona to himself! After pizza for dinner, he crashed! #DriveKia @kiamotorsusa @driveshopusa A video posted by Christina Shirley (@mymessymiracles) on Jul 21, 2015 at 4:51pm PDT

You can see that we have Charlie forward facing in the third row and Owen rear facing in the second row. The second row offers lower anchors and top tethers (LATCH) for both seats. The third row offers two sets of lower anchors and two top tethers. I had no problem installing either seat and that makes me crazy happy! I didn’t have to dig for the lower anchors and that’s not always the case in other vehicles.

Did you notice there’s not one, but two sunroofs? Very cool!

During our week together, we had a pool day at camp which is all dirt roads (and not the smoothest) but the Sedona handled it excellently. We also hit the Cecil County Fair a couple of times, which means driving on grass and gravel for parking and again, didn’t begin to phase the Sedona.

Are you a minivan family? Have you driven a Kia lately?