Kia Carnival

The Kia Carnival ensures to offer a grand experience to the occupants with an immense sense of space and creature comforts. This is possibly one of the most premium-looking cabins in the entire portfolio of Kia, with the interior finished in a dual-tone Black and Martian Brown leather upholstery, accompanied by piano black and metal inserts and a lot of comfort and convenience features and storage spaces.

The first element of the Kia Carnival which immediately catches one’s attention is the full-TFT rectangular cockpit comprising of two 12.3-inch screens – one for the instrument console and one for the touch-controlled infotainment system. The centre console now gets fewer buttons, which makes it look less cluttered while having a waterfall-like panel for the lower console.

There are tons of features offered in the new Kia Carnival, with some of the most prominent ones being powered front and second-row seats, memory, heating and ventilation function for front seats, relaxation mode for second-row seats, power sliding doors and tailgate, wireless charger, dual-pane sunroofs, three-zone automatic climate control with AC vents in all the rows, manual window curtains and air purifier.

Being a full-size MPV that focuses on offering a premium and luxurious appeal, the Kia Carnival has a tremendous road presence, which bests even some of the more premium and expensive midsize SUVs from luxury car makers. There is a sense of style and sophistication, which makes the Kia Carnival a standalone product among all the MPVs sold in the market right now. 

The front profile of the Kia Carnival retains the ‘tiger-nose’ theme for the grille, albeit in a much sleeker and rich-looking form, while having a heavy amount of chrome garnish for its surrounds and inserts. Flanking this premium-looking grille are all-LED headlamps, which have also become sleeker in this new-generation version while having complete LED illumination. Making these headlamps look even more attractive are the zig-zag-shaped daytime running LEDs, while the chrome garnish over the front LED fog lamps further adds a more premium look to the front of the Carnival.

The side profile of the Kia Carnival showcases the massive length and sheer size of the MPV, which is amplified even more by the large-sized window panels. Kia has resorted to the subtle use of chrome over the body cladding and the sloping C-pillar. This new version of the MPV also retains the sliding theme for the rear door panels, along with it getting 19-inch chrome alloy wheels.

Like the headlamps, the tail lamps in the rear profile of the Kia Carnival also have become sleeker in their appearance, while having all-LED lighting to make sure it gets noticed even from the rear. There is also an attention-grabbing LED connecting light bar running between the tail lamps, which makes the Carnival look trendy and stylish. 

With four drive modes – Norma, Sport, Smart and Eco, the Kia Carnival offers a versatile driving experience with distinctive modes as and when needed. The soft-tuned suspension combination – Macpherson struts with a stabilizer at the front and multi-link at the rear, gives the Kia Carnival a supple ride quality. The seats are well-cushioned and offer comfort levels of higher order too, thus matching the overall character of the MPV. 

There is only one engine option offered in the Philippines-spec Kia Carnival, which is a 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel engine. Paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission, this engine produces 202 PS of maximum power and 441 Nm of maximum torque, which makes it powerful enough for the overall size and weight of the vehicle. However, it can be thirsty at times, especially in stop-and-go traffic. 

The Kia Carnival is loaded with safety features of premium order, including front, side, curtain and driver knee airbags, ABS with EBD, forward collision assist, surround-view monitor, rear-cross traffic collision avoidance assist, tyre pressure monitoring system, blind spot collision warning, safe-exit assist, vehicle stability management, smart cruise control, hill start assist, front and rear parking sensors and lane following assist.

The Kia Carnival is one of those few MPVs that keep form and functionality with utmost equality, and that also in abundance. This MPV looks and feels luxurious inside-out, and at the same time, doesn’t compromise on practicality and comfort, which an MPV should offer in the first place.