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Kicking Tires: Kia discontinues Rondo small minivan

By David Thomas, Cars.com, Source: Cars.com

No one at Cars.com loved the Kia Rondo. Except me.

For some reason, the little jelly bean-shaped minivan won me over. I was allured by the low price (starting under $15,000), optional third row and the sheer amount of space. It certainly wasn't the ride or the interior quality. But for $15,000, you got a lot of car.

Now I discover via Autoblog that Kia's U.S. website is saying "all good things must come to an end," that the Rondo is no more. There was never a 2010 model year of the Rondo, and it seems there will be no 2011, 2012, etc.

A few new 2009 Rondos are on dealer lots. Cars.com's national inventory shows just 69 vehicles, ranging from $12,895 to $24,955. Kia is offering up to $2,000 cash back and another $1,000 either in loyalty cash or competitor cash back. It looks like the sub-$13,000 listing includes some combination of incentives in that price.

However, it's very likely that Kia dealers would be happy to move the last of these little guys to make way for the Sportage, which it seems Kia is trying to move people toward.

© 2010, Cars.com