Kia Carnival Limousine Plus First Drive Review

Kia is returning to the premium MPV game with this fourth-generation Carnival MPV. It's got a premium pricing over the outgoing model than the car it replaces but comes with a lot more kit both for the driver and the rear occupants.

The biggest change on the outside is that Kia has dropped some of the MPV lines in favour of a lengthy SUV stance as has become the rage these days. A chrome-laden signature tiger nose grille dominates the face while in the profile you can see the 5.0-metre length of the car. The wheels are 18-inch diamond-cut units that look premium but feel conservative when you look at the other vehicles at this price point. Finally, the rear has the largest version of the automaker's connected tail lamps that we have ever seen. There are only two shades on offer- black and white though we expect Kia to add more over the coming months.

If you are going to buy a car like the Kia Carnival then you are in the 99(.99) per cent that’s bought it to be driven around and for that, it needs to produce a good rear seat package. Right off the bat, space is not an issue at all. At 5.1 meters and with a wheelbase of 3.0-meters there is ample space not just in the second but in the third and first too.

The big automatic sliding doors make ingress and egress a task, and you also get a step to aid you in this process. Once in, the bucket seats are cushy and comfortable and give you a well-defined space where you get things like dual armrests, powered seat back, and seat movement not just forward and back but also from left to right. The latter makes it useful when you need to exit the car more gracefully.

The quality of materials, colour schemes, airiness offered by the dual sunroof and pretty strong NVH insulation make this a comfy space. The left rear seat can recline completely and there's even a boss mode for the front passenger seat.

That being said, we did have a few issues with how Kia has configured the rear seat package. Well for one, there are no tray tables or even a rear screen. At the time of writing this review, Kia had not released an official accessories pack for the Carnival, so it's unclear if those can be added on later. The tray tables are a surprising miss given that you get them in the top-spec Carens.

What's more, while it's lovely that the seats have such a high degree of adjustment, it can be a bit cumbersome to adjust them. The seat back controls are on one side of the seats while the directional adjustments are manual and are on the side of the seat. Finally, the AC controls for the second row are behind the driver on the roof which is an odd spot considering that it's neither accessible to the driver nor the left rear passenger. Our guess is that in LHD configuration, the right rear seat is the primary and thus you are closer to the AC controls in that layout. The front AC panel can control the temperature both via touch and voice operation.

If you do decide to get behind the wheel or sit up front, the Carnival does not disappoint. There is a massive centre console separating you from all other occupants giving you your own little zone. Headroom, shoulder room and knee room are all offered in spades and both seats are powered with heating and cooling function.

Finally, we come to the third row which is fully functional thanks to the size of the car. You get enough headroom and knee room for two occupants with easy access thanks to the captain seat layout. The boot even with the third row is deep thanks to the spare wheel being mounted underneath. The third row folds completely flat giving you up to 2900 litres of storage space thanks to the height of the cabin. On the features front, the Carnival is only available as one fully loaded model. Its feature list includes dual-digital screens, HUD, level-2 ADAS with a rear alert, 360-degree camera, ventilated and powered first and second row, three-zone climate control, power tailgate, power second-row doors and a full LED light package.

Let’s lay out the numbers before jumping into the drive experience. The only engine on offer is a 2.2-litre diesel producing 190bhp and 441Nm of torque. The only gearbox on offer is an eight-speed AT powering the front wheels. Officially Kia claims a mileage of 14.85kmpl which when combined with a 72-litre tank offers a tank-to-tank range of 1069km.

As a car to drive (if you do decide to get behind the wheel) it’s surprisingly easy. The steering is very light, overly assisted and does a very good job of masking the Carnival’s massive size. It makes light work of things like U-turns and high-speed cruising. However, there actually is no way of getting around the Carnival’s massive size and this is most evident when you have shift lanes for overtaking with a large blind spot by the C-pillar. Having the ADAS and a 360-degree camera is not just a boon but rather a necessity in a car of this size.

As a part of the deal, you get three driving modes- eco, normal and sport with each one altering the response of the throttle. The differences between the modes aren’t significant and they are part show and part for the driver to be able to stretch the car’s proverbial legs out on the highway. Perhaps, the most important bit for a car like this is ride quality especially when you consider its chauffeur-driven nature. The ride is pliant and does a good job of keeping the occupants stable over most of the stuff we would find in urban areas. This combined with good NVH insulation means you can spend long hours in the back without feeling the fatigue of the journey. However, the ground clearance is not very high (Kia has not revealed an official number) and with the spare tyre mounted underneath, it's better to approach the big stuff with caution.

Let's look at it this way. The Carnival has a lot favouring it for someone who wants to be driven around in good comfort. It's spacious, decently appointed and has that fit and finish that the Koreans have become so good at achieving. The diesel engine is never short of grunt and if you need to do long distances, the car is going to deliver without losing a step.

On the flip side, the rear seat package is not very user-friendly and lacks some feel-good features. Then there is also the fact that it's only available as a diesel which is not so much a complaint but more of a “This is what is on offer.” At the time of writing this review, the Kia Carnival was priced at Rs. 63.90 lakh (ex-showroom).

Photography: Kapil Angane