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Caravan, Voyager, Town & Country, Windstar, Venture, Montana, Silhouette, Odyssey, Sienna.

All well-recognized names in the minivan market. Now comes Sedona for ’02.

From Kia.

The what from who?

The Sedona is from South Korean automaker Kia, which also produces the Sportage sport-utility vehicle as well as the Rio, Spectra and Optima cars.

Not exactly household names from a company that isn’t lodged in the memory bank of most consumers, though sales have risen from 24,000 vehicles in 1995 to about 200,000 for 2001.

But Kia says give it a chance. Sedona offers everything a Caravan, Voyager, T&C, yadda, yadda, yadda does, except for power doors, at hundreds if not thousands of dollars less.

True. Though it has to be said that the newcomer Sedona, along with Kia, doesn’t offer the same reputation for reliability, dependability, durability and quality, not to mention resale value, as those name brands.

Sedona is an unknown that needs to prove itself to more than just those from Missouri.

But no matter how much you weigh the pros and cons of being a newcomer in a 1.8 million unit a year minivan market, and no matter how much you tell yourself it would be a gamble passing up a yadda for a Sedona, you keep coming back to the one feature that makes Sedona worth checking out by families who’ve outgrown coupe or sedan and are prohibited by state law from tossing the kids in the cargo bed of a truck–price.

There are two Sedona versions, the LX starting at $18,995 and the EX at $20,995. We tested the EX and found that other than anti-lock brakes at $595 and perhaps a power sunroof at $575, not to mention tax, title, license and the inevitable DOC fee, you have a complete package with seats for seven just like a name-brand yadda.

As Mike Wilde, Kia manager of product strategy, puts it: “As people become more careful how they spend their money, more people look at what Kia has to offer.”

Have to admit that $20,995 is an attraction.

Target buyer?

“Al and Peg Bundy,” Wilde replies, meaning “Married with children–and household incomes of $60,000 or less. Most will be younger, first-time buyers who couldn’t afford a minivan before, those who don’t want to be on a waiting list to pay over list for a Honda Odyssey.”

In addition to low price, Sedona offers a long warranty–five-year/60,000-mile basic coverage plus 10 years/100,000 miles on the powertrain (engine and transmission) and five years/unlimited mileage for roadside assistance.

Of course, that raises the question, is Sedona so good Kia happily covers it for 10 years, or is Sedona so susceptible to repairs, Kia has to cover it for 10 years to persuade folks to buy one. If we could answer that, we wouldn’t have bought Microsoft at $65.

But we digress.

To keep the price down, you have to pull the side doors open by hand rather than press a button and let them work on their own. But at least there’s a door on each side to help, though not speed, the entry/exit process.

Sedona has the same basic profile as most vans in the market (except Odyssey, which has a station wagon profile). But for some reason, it looks just a shade smaller than its competition. Odd, because it’s built on a 1-inch longer wheelbase (114.6 inches) and is 5 inches longer (194.1 inches) than a Dodge Caravan.

Also odd that the base Sedona comes with body-colored door handles and the top-of-the-line EX comes with chrome door handles, because it costs more to paint handles than it does to stick on chrome.

Wilde boasts that “Sedona is the most powerful minivan in the under-$20,000 market, though the only other minivan in the under-$20,000 market is a 4-cylinder Dodge Caravan.”

Sedona is powered by a 3.5-liter, 195-horsepower V-6 teamed with a 5-speed automatic. Kia’s V-6 is designed for quick zero- to 30-m.p.h. spurts for the perception it’s ore spun than it is. However, when V-6 equipped, the yaddas are a lot more quiet leaving the light or pulling into the passing lane. At cruising speed the noise subsides, but a few more handfuls of insulation between engine compartment and cabin would help.

Ride and handling is typical minivan. The suspension cushions major blows from the pavement, but with a long 114-inch wheelbase, the farther back you sit in the cabin, the more you will feel the pavement.

As for handling, you’ll lean in the corner and feel obligated to back off the accelerator on those wide-swing expressway ramps.

Though it doesn’t have power sliding doors, Sedona has a long list of neat features, such as a lockable stowage bin with first-aid kit under the front passenger seat; a covered stowage compartment in the dash to hold such items as the world’s best navigation system, a paper map; a pop-up tray with dual front and rear cupholders between the two front seats to hold sandwiches or a personal computer and, though plastic, is rock solid and doesn’t shimmy or shake; power plugs front, middle and rear so you can pass the personal computer around; a pair of glove boxes for added storage; more cup/juicebox holders (10; eight in the LX) than seats (seven); and power rear quarter windows with controls in the overhead console.

A small compartment in the lower left console holds coins, and a small compartment in the lower right console holds a cellphone.

Other nice touches include second-row captain’s chairs that slide fairly far forward (and recline) to allow access to the third-row seats; levers on the backs of those captain’s chairs so third-row occupants can give ’em a gentle kick forward for easier exit; third-row seat straps to lower the seat back for more storage and then flip the seat forward (it’s removable, too) if you need even more room; and plastic grocery-bag hooks on the backs of the third-row seats.

Standard equipment also includes front/rear air conditioning; power windows, locks, mirrors; AM/FM with cassette/CD player and six speakers; eight-way power driver and four-way power passenger seats; cruise control; floor mats; keyless entry; fog lamps; privacy glass; and body-colored side moldings.

Why a Kia minivan? Wilde said that without one Kia lost potential customers to the low-end sport-utility vehicles, not that many of them Kia Sportages.

He noted, however, that for 2003, Kia will offer a four-wheel-drive sport-ute larger than the Sportage and a Ford Escape, though smaller than a Ford Explorer, that also will be powered by the 3.5-liter V-6.

But don’t wait for an all-wheel-drive companion to the front-wheel-drive Sedona.

“We aren’t planning one. We’re interested, but to add AWD you have to subtract fuel tank [21 gallons] capacity to make room,” he said.

With a 15 m.p.g. city/20 m.p.g. highway rating, you need all the tank you can get.