The Kia Rondo has endeared itself to many of our staff because of its pleasant personality.  Believe it or not, most of the time we're not blazing around a race track or tearing down the quarter mile.  Like most folks, we're usually either commuting (i.e. slogging) through "rush hour" traffic or running errands.  The Rondo is smooth, quiet, roomy and comfortable.  It's also easy for shorter people to get in and out of thanks to its low step-in.  Though it may look like a compact crossover SUV, the Rondo is actually a tall wagon (AWD is not available) so the step-in height (measuring at 13 inches to the door sill) is lower than your typical crossover's.  Just another way the Rondo reduces hassles.

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If the marketing folks at Southwest Airlines run out of ideas for their commercials, they should give me a call.

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I don't know why but every time I'm out driving around and I see a cop car, I get nervous as if, "The jig is up! They found me!" And then I'm ultra aware of every movement I make, trying to toe the line so that I won't get pulled over and arrested for...whatever. Yes, I just have an exaggerated respect for authority.

I was driving our 2007 Kia Rondo to work this morning when I had an encounter with a cop car. I didn't see him at first as I was behind a really slow-moving Mercedes sedan. For a split second I thought about switching lanes to get around the slow poke but then I saw the cop car.

I decided to stick behind the Mercedes and act like I liked it there, driving 5 mph below the speed limit. Had I been in our 2002 M3, I'm sure he would have seen through my charade. But in the Rondo, I looked like a happy commuter on her way to work, not in a hurry at all: "There's no need to hurry when I could sit in my tall car enjoying my tunes and fiddling with the climate control."

Little did he know that in this unassuming vehicle was a girl who has a penchant for extra-legal speeds. He just happened to catch her in a quiet moment, in the Rondo. And for this disguise I was thankful. The cop moved on.

Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor @ 8,651 miles

When I was a kid my dad always said "You've got to use the right tool for the right job." Turns out screwdrivers don't make very good weed diggers or gasket scrapers. I admit it, he was right.

The Kia Rondo is like one of those screwdrivers I regularly abused, it doesn't work for everything. However, find a nice big standard screw and that wood handled driver works perfectly. Is the Rondo sporty or luxurious or attractive? No, no and double no - witness its sparse interior.  But as a low priced family hauler the Rondo is great. For that specific job, it is the right tool. A spacious interior and decent driving dynamics are clear pluses.

Brian Moody, Road Test Editor

Our long-term 2007 Kia Rondo defies categorization. For lack of a better word, we call it a people mover. Undignified, to say the least. Because it's not really a station wagon, and it's not an SUV, and it's not really a sedan, and it's not a crossover.

It just is. I wrote some time back that it's a car for people who don't like cars. Which, in hindsight, I feel is a trifle harsh. Because I like the fact that it can't be categorized. It's not trying to appeal to as many segments as possible, but what it does, it does very well. You can carry four people, maybe two adults and 3 kids, in decent comfort, and a bunch of groceries as well (or in my case, gear for a rehearsal). Its controls are simple. You turn it on and go. You want FM, punch the FM button. CD, the CD button. Flip on the lights, put it in D and go. It's just so straightforward and honest.

And yes, unpretentious. Get in and drive it and it does everything it does well. With no attitude and no claims to be anything other than it is. For people who just want to get around and carry some friends and their stuff, it's actually a great choice.

Doug Lloyd, Senior Copy Editor, @ 8,130 miles

I took the keys to the Rondo this weekend with the intention of putting its handy third-row seat to the test, to really get the full effect of its mini-minivan utility. Unfortunately, I quickly realized it couldn’t be done with a child seat installed in the center position of the second row (my current reality), unless my third-row passengers didn’t mind crawling into their seats from the Rondo’s cargo area. You just can’t access that third-row the proper way without canting and sliding one of the second-row seats forward, which you can’t do with the car seat in the center position (well, you can cant it a bit, but not nearly enough, as you can see in the photo). Third-row access is quite convenient when one child seat is mounted at an outboard seat position.

Which leads me to ask what I would do if I regularly needed to carry two young children in child seats, plus more than one adult passenger? If I did and I was looking to buy a third-row seat-optioned Rondo to solve all my person-toting problems, I’d be outta luck. At least until one of those kids was old enough to travel without an extra seating accoutrement, which could be years away.

But who knows? Maybe the kind of people I’d be transporting back there wouldn’t mind clambering over their seatbacks to get to their seats. Then again, maybe not: “Sure I’ll drive, Granny Bea. If you don’t mind just hoisting yourself over those headrests. Here, I’ll spot you.”

Bryn MacKinnon, Senior Editor, Edmunds.com @ 8,136 miles

I was given a rather odd assignment earlier this month: test drive and "test live" an RV for three days from Riverside, Calif., to Phoenix for Super Bowl XLII. Vehicle Testing Assistant Mike Magrath went along with me, but certainly not to add experience to the ticket. The closest either of us had previously come to a recreational vehicle was blowing by one at high speeds on the freeway, and being in our mid 20s, we were hardly stereotypical RV folk. And as our drive story Two Guys, a Truck and a 31-foot Fleetwood shows, it was hardly smooth sailing. But unlike Top Gear, at least we didn't burn down our Caravan.

Before we could depart from Fleetwood RV headquarters in Riverside, though, we had to get there from our Santa Monica headquarters. Our long-term Kia Rondo was chosen for no particular reason, but it capably held our ample amount of stuff for the journey. I was greatly impressed by its 2.7-liter V6 engine, which aided in slicing through traffic in the Inland Empire to avoid being late. The transmission is quick to downshift and there's plenty of passing power, although it felt just wrong driving that aggressively in our humble Rondo. That was nothing compared to the 20,000 pounds of truck and trailer to come, though.

Feature Drive Story: Two Guys, a Truck and a 31-foot Fleetwood

James Riswick, Automotive Editor

That old, vaguely creepy adage states that children should be seen but not heard. Of course, this isn't meant to imply that kids should be struck mute. Instead, it makes reference to the fact that some folks think that obedient children should exist with invisible efficiency, getting the job done (whatever that may be) without ever furrowing the brows of us busy grown-ups with behavior that's in any way challenging or wayward.

The Kia Rondo is a model of this kind of obedience. This weekend, as I scooted around town from Whole Foods to the CD store, it did its job quietly and without fuss. When I decided to make an impromptu trip to a restaurant some 50 miles outside Los Angeles, it didn't ask any questions. As I mashed the throttle to enjoy the unusually clear 405, the Rondo dove in with a cheerful smile. It's not sexy or exciting or hot. But it is pleasant and accommodating, and sometimes that's good enough.

Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor @ 6,504 miles

This weekend, I had our long-term Kia Rondo and the pleasure of taking my husband, two of his cousins and our child out to dinner. Given that the Rondo is marketed as a family-pleasing shuttle, I seized it as an opportunity to assess the seating comfort of the Rondo when carrying more than just my little family.

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 Time to check in with our long-term Kia Rondo’s fuel log. If you’ve been following the adventures of our mostly city-driven Rondo-mobile, you’ll already know that our real-world numbers have been falling short of the official EPA estimates for the 2007 6-cylinder Rondo of 20 city/27 highway. You may also know that the EPA changed the way it tests vehicles for the 2008 model year to reflect modern driving conditions better. What you might not know is that the EPA has published adjusted fuel economy estimates for vehicles made from 1985-2007, too. So I decided to see how our numbers stacked up to these newly adjusted numbers. And it turns out that…

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