2019 Kia Optima S on 2040-cars

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2015 Kia Sedona Review

We wish Ambrose Bierce had lived long enough to include the word "minivan" in his Devil's Dictionary, a reference work for the comprehensively disenchanted that defines "year" as "a period of 365 disappointments" and self-esteem as "an erroneous appraisal." We want to know how the Socrates of cynics would classify the method of conveyance that enthusiasts won't stop hating, but we just can't get rid of. Today, the minivan is adored for practical reasons – every single one on the market excels at its intended purpose. Dealers say minivans have great margins and they can't keep them in stock even when these vehicles sticker north of $40,000. A market consolidated to five automakers means strong sales for the segment leaders. Combined sales of the Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country lead through June of this year with 75,840 units. The Toyota Sienna is in second at 71,381 sales, the Honda Odyssey has sold 62,636, and the Nissan Quest is barely a blip at 5,400. But the three big minivan brands aren't the only game in town. The rival Kia Sedona is an incredibly compelling package, as 20,608 owners have discovered so far in 2015. It's not an old-fashioned way to haul kids, it's a way to haul kids and make a statement. The Sedona's aesthetic is a box that's outside-the-box. Taken from the three-quarter view the profile is close to an urban cargo van with windows; it's a handsome package. It's the same width as its predecessor but 2.4 inches lower, wearing Kia's strongly horizontal frontal identity. We like the tabbed grille, and the intensity of the sheetmetal in front counters the chrome accents. But our SXL tester sure has a lot of brightwork – more than other minivans. From the side, the Sedona keeps up the muscular tones with a stout body that's light on distracting details. But it's hard to miss some similarities to the Odyssey – the way the glasshouse narrows toward the rear, the kink at the C-pillar, the driver's side sliding door rail running nearly to the rear lights. Yet you'd never mistake the two because the Kia, fuller and more upright everywhere, is bolder than the slinking Odyssey. It's not an old-fashioned way to haul kids, it's a way to haul kids and make a statement. Inside the cabin, that statement ends with an exclamation point. Ward's Auto put the Sedona on its 2015 10 Best Interiors list, an accolade warranted because everything inside oozes quality.

Recharge Wrap-up: unofficial Tesla ad, VW will produce Budd-e

An unofficial Tesla commercial pays homage to the automaker's namesake. The video, which shows the Model S driving through a dusty, petroleum-addicted landscape reminiscent of a Mad Max film, features words from a speech by electricity-obsessed inventor Nikola Tesla. While Tesla (the man) talks about advancing technology into the future through electricity, the cars surroundings switch from the barren oil village to a green countryside dotted with wind turbines. See the video above, and read more at Treehugger. Famous rapper Akon is a Tesla fan who wants to power Africa with solar energy. Akon, who once boasted a collection of 28 exotic cars, traded them in for four Teslas, including a Model X. Also, his organization Akon Lighting Africa provides free solar electricity and lighting to communities that need it. Clean Technica talked to Akon about solar power, Tesla and EVs in a video. See the video and read more at Clean Technica, and get more perspective from Teslarati. The Volkswagen BUDD-e EV may be moving to production. The electric vehicle, built on the MEB modular platform with looks borrowed from the Microbus, made its debut as a concept vehicle at CES this year. Volkwagen's Dr. Volkmar Tanneberger tells Car magazine, "You will see a car that looks a lot like this, on the MEB platform, reach production. I can't say exactly when, but 2020 or thereabouts." He also says that the California camper van and Transporter van will continue production with internal combustion engines. Read more from Car. The 2017 Kia Soul EV will have more range. While it is scheduled for some minor updates, upping the electric Soul's driving range from its current EPA rating of 93 miles will hopefully attract more customers than a simple facelift. Autocar spied the next Soul EV testing in some heavy camouflage, but it offered no other details about the range beyond its reported expansion. Read more from Plugin Cars.

Cars most likely to be involved in accidents

Data from Insurify shows which models have the most accident-prone drivers behind the wheel. It also shows the proportion of the drivers of said vehicles with an at-fault accident on record in the past seven years, based on Insurify’s analysis of over 4 million car insurance applications. For reference, the national average is 10.78%, and each of these vehiclesÂ’ drivers represent a statistically significant increase over that. Now, it would be easy to infer that these cars are dangerous, but such is not necessarily the case. Remember, drivers cause accidents, not cars. These just happen to be the cars that accident-prone drivers drive. YouÂ’ll notice that many are mainstream, affordable cars, often with decent crash ratings. Also keep in mind that vehicle accidents are up since the beginning of the pandemic, so no matter what you drive, please drive safely. 10. Hyundai Ioniq This affordable, electrified vehicle platform sneaks into this list with 14.45% of drivers with a recent at-fault accident on record. 9. Lexus CT Another hybrid, this Prius-powered Lexus beats the national average at 14.57%. 8. Toyota Prius V Yet another hybrid, the larger but discontinued member of the Prius family sees 14.72% of its drivers with recent accidents. 7. Mazda CX-3 The Mazda CX-3, which is discontinued for the 2022 model year, sees the accident-prone making up 14.9% of its drivers. 6. Infiniti Q60 The second and final luxury car on this list has more accident-prone drivers than average, at 14.93%. 5. Subaru Impreza The first of two Subarus on this list has 15.1% of drivers with recent accidents on record. 4. Hyundai Genesis Coupe The Genesis Coupe was only on the market for a brief span before it was discontinued and Genesis spun off into its own luxury brand. That said, it too beats the national average for accidents, at 15.29%. 3. Subaru WRX Despite its standard all-wheel drive, the boy-racer WRX has 15.44% of drivers with a prior accident in the last seven years. 2. Kia Stinger We love the Kia Stinger, and had great luck with our long-termer that graced the Autoblog garage for a year. That said, 15.75% of its drivers represent have a recent accident on record. 1. Scion FR-S This fun two-seater attracts the most accident prone drivers, with 15.87% with recent at-fault crashes. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.