Real Life Road Test

I mentioned in the previous post my two weekends on the road to Northern California and back. I've taken to renting cars for these trips because I don't like putting that much mileage on my own cars, and thanks to a soft travel economy, car rentals are pretty cheap right now.

These two trips were taken in crossover vehicles, one American and one Korean. The American entry was a Dodge Journey, the Korean a Kia Rondo. Which one do you think fared better?

The cars are fairly similar in appearance. I grabbed these photos from internet sales sites. First, the Dodge:

And now the Kia: The pictures are a little misleading because the cars are fairly similar in size. There were, however, big differences in the models I drove.

The Dodge Journey, which I got from Thrifty Rental, had only 5,000 miles on it and was apparently a stripped-down rental car version. It didn't have keyless entry, and more importantly, no cruise control. I drove that car 1,000 miles in one day and by the time we finally got home my right ankle was all cramped up. Cruise control is a must on a day like that.

The other big problem with the Journey was the weakling of an engine in the thing. It was terribly underpowered. When you stepped on the gas you almost hear the engine shrug and go "uuhhh...okay", and then drop into a gear that made it sound like the engine would come up through the hood. It was a struggle getting up the big hills on the Grapevine and Altamont Pass. Based on that drive I wouldn't buy that car.

The Kia Rondo, which I got from Enterprise, had 40,000 miles on it and was fully equipped. One thing my wife immediately liked about the Kia was the big windows. The visibility in that car is tremendous, though on a hot day you can get a pretty good sunburn.

The biggest difference between the two cars was the Kia's powerplant. That sucker had an engine in it. The power-to-weight ratio was far better than the Dodge, and when you stepped on it, it smirked and said "is that all you've got?" and shot out from under you. It climbed the big hills without ever slowing down, even with three people and some luggage aboard. Based on that drive I'd buy the Kia without hesitation.

You can't judge entire auto industries by two cars, but after driving similar American and Korean models, I can see why Chrysler is bordering on bankruptcy and Kia is thriving.