2005 Kia Sedona Ex Mini Passenger Van 5-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Kia Soul to get AWD?

The funky Kia Soul is one of the three affordable, efficient and style-first boxes on sale today (along with the Scion xB and Nissan Cube). Like its competition, it sits atop a front-drive platform with a longitudinally mounted four-cylinder engine.
It's a dandy car in this setup, but it sounds like Kia may be looking to differentiate the Soul from the herd by offering an optional all-wheel-drive system in the future. According to the report filed by Kia World, the popularity of the small, stylish crossover segment is expected to expand considerably over the coming years, especially overseas.
Citing the optional all-wheel drive on the Renault Captur, Ford Ecosport and Opel Mokka (Buick Encore in the US), along with the eventual arrival of a sub-Tiguan Volkswagen, called the Taigun, an all-wheel-drive Soul seems to make a lot of sense for these foreign markets. In the American market, meanwhile, AWD would open the Soul up to a new segment of buyers that like its looks but want all-wheel ability. Kia World is claiming the Soul AWD could hit markets in 2016 wearing a ruggedized version of the sheetmetal shown on the 2014 Soul that debuted in earlier this year in New York. Expect a bit of extra ground clearance to accompany the new drivetrain. Finally, all-wheel drive would likely only be available on the mid-range Soul + and top-spec Soul !.

2018 Kia Stinger GT Long-Term Review Update | Do we like the seats?

We've had our long-term 2018 Kia Stinger GT for over six months, which means we've all had a lot of seat time in the sports sedan. And those seats we've become so familiar with have stirred up some mixed opinions among the staff, which I discovered after voicing my personal dissatisfaction with the shape of the seats. In my experience, I've found the seats to offer too little lumbar support, and with short, flat bottom cushions that aren't angled to support my thighs. Managing Editor Greg Rasa and Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski agreed the seat bottom would be better if it was angled up more, but otherwise didn't have complaints about the shape. Korzeniewski also mentioned he doesn't care for aggressive lumbar support, so the Stinger seat felt fine in that regard. Editors both lighter and shorter than the aforementioned folks didn't have any complaints. Road Test Editor Reese Counts felt they were supportive enough with good adjustability. "I've got a bad back, but I was feeling fine when I got home," Counts said, referring to a road trip to St. Louis in the car. "They're not the best seats I've ever tested, but the fact that I don't think about them very much speaks for itself." Senior Producer Chris McGraw said: "I'm 5'7" and weigh 150 pounds on a good day, so I wasn't really pushing these seats to their limits. They were comfortable for long highway stretches and offered enough support when I decided to push the twin-turbo V6 while driving around some of West Michigan's curvy roads." There is something about the seats that drew near universal derision, though: the combination of interior and exterior colors. Our Stinger GT is red with a red interior, and Counts, Korzeniewski and Rasa were annoyed that the reds don't quite match. McGraw felt it was "a bit too much The Shining to me," a reference to the vivid red bathroom in the movie. I like lots of color, and wasn't put off by the mismatch, so was perfectly fine with the color scheme. No one actually disliked the red leather itself, though, and Rasa offered a solution we all could agree on, "Just don't get that combo." We all agreed the red interior would look excellent with contrasting exterior colors such as white, black and blue. And it seems that even Kia agrees, since it appears that the red-on-red combo is no longer offered on the Stinger. Related Video:

Minivan Mania | Autoblog Podcast #675

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and West Coast Editor James Riswick, and this week, it's (almost) all about vans! James recently wrote a head-to-head comparison of the 2021 Toyota Sienna and 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, and he talks us through the results. John recently reviewed the 2022 Kia Carnival, which is replacing the Kia Sedona. After discussing the minivan field as a whole, our editors identify some reasonable minivan alternatives in the SUV and crossover realms. Moving along, they talk about driving the long-term Hyundai Palisade and the new Mitsubishi Outlander before discussing their favorite highlights from the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show. Autoblog Podcast #675 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Minivans! 2021 Toyota Sienna vs 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid 2022 Kia Carnival The rest of the field Ute alternatives Cars we're driving 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander 2021 Hyundai Palisade road trip Shanghai Auto Show Lincoln Zephyr Toyota bZ4X Honda SUV e:prototype Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.