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I’ll start this post first with the big news, and then with a little anecdote about my experience with the Kia Rondo.

The short story is a good one – Kia Canada is offering 0% over 72 months on the new 2012 Kia Rondo, and you can get it here at Kia 417 in Ottawa, ON.  They’re even deferring the payments to the end of the month – bonus!  Excellent stuff here, you can click here to contact us about this offer, or you can call us here at Kia 417 at (613) 746-1170.

The quality of the long story about the Rondo, well…  you can decide for yourself:

When I first started working at the 417 Automall in Ottawa, ON, one of my first orders of business was to get acclimated with the product lineup.  My first day here, I sat at my desk and I read, and read, and read.  Every brochure for every vehicle we sold, be they Kia, Nissan, Infiniti, or one of the various used vehicles we sell, I tried to learn it all as fast as I could.

When you’re shopping for a car, it’s easy to go the shotgun route as I did here – just get as much data as possible, as efficiently as you can, and in the end, when you pore over it all, the right car for you will just magically ‘stand out’ from the pack, and your choice will be easy from that point forward.

I read about this Kia Rondo, and I remember at the time, wondering what the purpose of this car/wagon/SUV really was.  I read about how the Kia Rondo seats five, or seven; how the Kia Rondo can shuffle itself around to provide a family with a whopping 3052 litres of cargo space; how it can come with heated seats, extra hidden storage, climate control, etc etc etc…  stats and features and options galore.  When I looked at it, the Kia Rondo struck me as a little plain to look at, a little unimpressive, a little curious why this vehicle existed in the lineup.

Kia already has the Sportage and the Sorento – they have the SUV market offerings you’d expect.  They have the hatchback Rio and Forte as well.  The Sorento can even seat seven!  What’s the purpose of this thing, this Kia Rondo?

Later, a couple of months ago, we took a pair of 2008 Rondos in on trade.  I’m the lucky guy that gets to photograph these cars.  It’s nice, because I get to see them firsthand, get to buckle up and drive them around a little bit; I get to see what the fuss is all about.

This is where I got educated on the Kia Rondo, and where all those stats and figures and theoretical selling points really hit home to me.

When I sat in a Kia Rondo, I realized that is has every bit of those three thousand litres of space – but more to the point, it was ROOMY.  You could fit bikes and small furniture in there, you had elbow room for all the passengers, it was really plush and spacious.  It wasn’t just a huge, high number anymore – it was big, comfy physical space.

But then you stand outside the Rondo, and it doesn’t FEEL big.  It feels reasonable, manoeuverable.  It feels almost agile.

Inside, I’m seeing some parallels that I don’t often see.  I had just finished photographing a 2006 Infiniti M35x and a G37S coupe from 2008 – and all THREE of these vehicles had heated seats and automatic climate control.  The Rondo and these two luxury sportscars all had power sunroofs.  The Kia Rondo and these two luxury sportscars all had leather seats.

And when I look all the way back, I see the 6th and 7th seats.

And I finally get it – this is a car, a wagon, a van and a SUV, all rolled up into one.  This isn’t the car for me, the guy who pores over data about turning radii and 0-60 speeds.  This isn’t the Rondo for the impractical, because the Kia Rondo doesn’t even show up on the radar for someone like me.  The Sportage grabs me with it’s stance and styling, and the Sorento appeals to me as a sensible, value-oriented SUV as well…  but the Kia Rondo, in all of it’s luxury-trimmed, minivan-cargo-hauling and people moving glory, is truly it’s own beast.

This Kia Rondo is for customers looking for the absolute most car they can get for their money – and they’re right to pick the Rondo.  It does everything it can with the size and space it has, and when I think about it, I see that this is maybe the best designed vehicle of the entire Kia lineup.  Kia designs vehicles for a global market, it’s part of their corporate strategy.  The thinking is that a good, well-thought-out vehicle should be viable and desirable in all markets if it’s well-designed.  The car should stand on it’s own wheels, if it’s built in a way that makes sense and solves problems.

And that’s what our Kia Rondo does.  It solves, very succinctly, the problem of getting people X to location Y, and cargo Z to drop-offs A, B and C.  It gives you the best value you can get in a car that can do the most a car like this can do.  Luxury options, comfort, passenger space.  Cargo space, customizable space, storage space.  Big enough to be safe and get the job done, small enough to handle like a car and get around smartly without feeling like you’re driving a boat.

I suspect if you give me a few years and a few kids, I’ll be eyeing that Kia Rondo myself.  Shame on me for not seeing it sooner, the hidden beauty of one of the most flexible vehicles on the market.

And shame on YOU if you don’t stop by for a test drive, and see what I mean about the new 2012 Kia Rondo.

0% over 72 months is one heck of a deal, my friends.  Drop by Kia 417 in Ottawa, ON today for YOUR guest drive of the 2012 Kia Rondo today, and take advantage of the great, low monthly payments made possible by this 0% over 72 offer.