A review of our former
'07 Entourage SE, a rebadged Kia Sedona.
Powertrain – The powertrain remained just as smooth as ever. The engine sounds amazing, which is good because it’s not exactly quiet. Power’s decent, plenty of torque to spin the traction controlled front tires. At the same time it feels like a bit too much power for the chassis, as you hear the occasional creak from in the cabin. The transmission shifts are smooth (mostly – more later), you can only tell it shifts by the engine note.
Sometimes from a stop, if you catch the accelerator at the wrong part the van wants to keep accelerating, but the transmission wants to shift to second. So you get the high revs and lurch as you upshift. Gentleness is key. Jump on the pedal and it kind of delays anyway…drive-by-wire quirk, or maybe just controlled to help mileage. It was dealer traded so maybe the transmission logic "learned" funny.
Gas mileage leaves a little to be desired. Then again, I suppose it’s just a little below the ’08 EPA rating. On the highway, without A/C at about 55 mph you can even get the trip computer to read 27, 28 mpg. It usually managed about 16-17 in driving that our new Rondo gets about 20-21.
Handling is typical big minivan. Drives big, is big, not really any steering feel but it is weighted pretty well.
Quality – The car is very well put together. The attractive gray interior has contrasting black dash pieces in some areas, and features a faux brushed aluminum trim (like that of some GM Lambdas). It looks great.
Some creaks showed up in the cabin. A small one from the third row seat, and a squeak from one/both 2nd row captains chairs when occupied.
Interior panels are cloth upholstered on the sides in all three rows - a nice touch, but decontented from the third and maybe second rows in '08.
Now, they're just vinyl.
Biggest problem, though, is the power sliding doors. They often have issues with closing: close too hard and bounce out a bit, motors continue closing the door after it is shut and then release with the warning beep. There may be a fix for this, but came out closer to the end of our term with it.
Ergonomics – the radio is awfully high up. It’s okay as it has steering wheel controls for that, right? Er…well it has volume, mute, and source. None of those are probably as useful as the seek/next feature for the next CD track or radio station/preset. Other models (Azera) had this issue, IIRC though rectified it by adding seek buttons. Our Rondo has seek buttons as well.
The auto HVAC controls are easy to reach and use. Below that are buttons for the heated seats, which have 5 settings and are controlled by a dial (so leave them on, they’ll always be on when you start the car). '07 was the only year they offered heated cloth front seats.
Inside, finding a good driving position isn’t too bad. The door mounted power seat switches are great. Seat support leaves something to be desired. The armrests feature the handy angle/height adjustment, where they lock into an acceptable angle that matches the door armrest. Toyota had this on the Sienna, even the second row captain’s chairs a while ago, but I don’t think has it at all now. Hyundai deleted it too.
Second row seats are disappointing. They angle downwards, and the recline pivots on the back of the seat rather than reclining over it (if that makes sense). Toe space beneath the front seats is blocked by the heat ducts.
Third row isn’t easy to access, the doors don’t open quite wide enough and the flipped second row seats still leave a narrow space. It’s narrow between the second row seats, too. Once in the third row, it’s a soft, low cushion. Space is decent, though. As is required nowadays, there are adjustable head restraints and three-point seatbelts for all seats. One nice touch is switches in the third row for the swing out back vent windows.
There’s lots of cargo space behind the third row, and the 60/40 split folds in the floor to open it up more.
Reliability was good. Only problem was the aforementioned power sliding doors, IIRC, and early on the lumbar support adjustment disconnected when in the seat (addressed by a TSB and fixed under warranty).
'08 Entourages dropped the SE model and reshuffled options and packages between GLS and Limited models. '09 models add auxiliary and USB inputs and standard XM.
A nice offering is the well-equipped base model short-wheelbase Sedona, though it's unfortunate that it's limited to base model features, and space is a little tight even for a short-wheelbase van, being a little less than the previous Chrysler short-wheelbasers and the discontinued Mazda MPV (no fold-in-floor third row either on the SWB Sedona).
Overall, not quite as good a van as an Odyssey/Sienna but cheaper, and a little less comfortable and nowhere near the features of a Chrysler van but a nicer interior. Between the Kia Sedona and the Entourage, there's probably a combination out there for anyone. They make a great used buy especially.