We got a Rondo about a month ago, the top model with 7 seats, the V6, and power driver's seat. We're pretty pleased with it; I mean, it's not the Audi TT coupe we'd really lilke to be driving, but it is perfectly suited for the job it needs to do.
In this category of car, it seems to me that the key to success is just to make no fatal mistakes in the design, and Kia has accomplished that. Relative to the Chevy HHR, for example, which puts window controls on the centre console (what were they thinking???) and has poor rear visibility, and the Mazda 5 in which the 2nd row seats don't fold down to make a flat floor (how would you load paving stones into that?), and the Scion Xb which has such "distinctive" styling that my husband could barely be induced to look at it, there is nothing wrong with the Rondo at all.
It's a nice size so it parks easily, only about 6 inches longer than the Suzuki Esteem Wagon that we've been driving, but a little taller than I expected from seeing it in the showroom; we're really right up at SUV height. Feels stable enough in cornering, though (not that I've really pushed it, mind you).
Kia shows it with tinted windows, but glory be (I hate tinted windows), the Canadian government found some reason to disallow them on this model and so they had to put clear glass into them instead.
We went to the top of the line model for the power seat, as I'd been having trouble with the seating position in our old car, and I think there might be a sacrifice of a bit of legroom for the power seat. I'm not sure I would make that choice again, especially since it also stuck us with leather seats which are freakin' cold in winter; the heating in the seats is an imperfect compensation for this and the heating system is slow to get warmth to the back seats, where the kids are shivering.... What I do like about the seats though (mentioned in one posted review) is that there is no excessive side bolstering to clamber over every time you get into and out of the car. I mean, c'mon Mazda, Subaru, and others, we're not rallying out here, we're going for groceries.
The 7 seats are a very cool option, and are really easy to put up and down. One unexpected problem, though, as we only saw the 5-seater in the showroom; you don't get a trunk cover with the 7-seater as you do with the 5, so there is no hidden storage in the car (well, there are small compartments but no big ones).
The only other thing I distinctly don't like (though not a deal breaker) is that the trunk latch is electronic; that is, if your battery is dead, the hatch won't open. But then, I still prefer wind-up windows too.
