Kia Carens - A complete package

Introduction

The Kia Carens is a very popular recreational vehicle and there are various reasons for it - it is very spacious and can actually seat 6/7-people comfortably, is feature-laden and, most importantly priced competitively even though it is a premium product. We at CarWale have driven almost all drivetrain combinations the Carens is offered with for over 10,000km in the past couple of months, and we can confidently say that it is the complete package if you are looking for a spacious, premium family car. Why do we say so? Let’s look at some of the highlights:

Premium Sky Light sunroof

The Kia Carens, at over 4.5-metres long and 1.8-metres wide, is a spacious car. But the interior upholstery theme (Triton Navy and Beige in the Luxury Plus variants we have been driving) along with the large glass areas all-around make the cabin feel airier. On top of that, Kia offers a ‘Sky Light’ sunroof over the front cabin - which not only adds even more lightness to the interior but is also useful on hot days by letting out hot air quicker. The feature also adds to the premium feel inside.

Indispensable ventilated front seats

Talking of things you need to beat the heat, we have been loving the ventilated seats the Kia Carens is fitted with - especially as we have been travelling throughout the recent heatwave that the country’s been grappling with. The front seats get a ventilation function and help cool oneself down quicker, thanks to the seats directly cooling the back and under thighs along with the A/C vents which cool down the front. The consistent cooling is not just good for your health but also reduces the load on the A/C system (as you don’t have to crank the system to its lowest setting), which in turn improves the mileage of the car.

Best in class cabin space

The Kia Carens, in two different avatars, has taken 6-people comfortably on inter-state trips. There have been no complaints about space, even when three 6-footers have sat one behind the other. With a one-touch electrically operating fold-and-tumble left-middle seat, along with a dedicated grab handle - getting in and out of the third-row of seats is a breeze. There are storage spaces galore around the Carens, with dedicated cup holders and charging ports for all occupants. And even with all the seats up, the Carens gobbled up a weekend’s worth of luggage of all six occupants behind the third-row of seats! Mix this much space with the luxurious seat upholstery and features on offer and the Carens indeed feels like a class above.

Refined engine(s)

We have experienced three of the five drivetrain options the Carens is offered with - the 1.4-litre, turbo-petrol motor paired to the 6-speed manual transmission, the same engine paired to a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission (which is part of our long terms fleet) and the 1.5-litre, turbo-diesel engine paired to a 6-speed torque-converter automatic transmission. While both the engines are peppy, torquey and efficient - what strikes you from the moment you press the start/stop button is how refined they are at all times. Unless you lug the engine or explore the upper limits of the rev-counter (which is shown through a nice graphic on the all-digital instrument cluster, by the way), both the turbocharged engines never make themselves heard in the cabin. There are no vibrations felt through the steering wheel, gear lever or any other parts of the car. With an almost whisper-quiet cabin, coupled with a comfortable ride, journeys in the Kia Carens feel relaxing.

While we have not experienced the Kia Carens with its 1.5-litre, naturally aspirated petrol engine, our past experiences with the same in other Kia products lead us to assume it will have the same linear power delivery and refined.

Connected car technology

Remember us fawning over the ventilated seats, sunroof and powerful A/C the Carens comes within the paragraphs above? All this can be controlled via the Kia Connect mobile app and through compatible smartwatches too. If you have had to park the Carens outside on a hot day, you can remotely switch it on, set the cabin temperature, cool the seats and even open the sunroof to let the hot air out - all before stepping foot in the car! 

One feature which we have used multiple times on our road trips is the concierge service. Press the Kia Connect button on the IRVM and you get connected to a representative who can guide you to various services like restaurants, hotels, garages, fuel stations etc. We used the service to find restaurants or coffee shops en route and received directions to some great ones which were added to our navigation system directly! The Kia Connect system offers this and 65 other features - making the experience feel a lot more premium.

Robust 10 Hi-safety package

It is impressive that Kia is offering a lot of safety tech as standard fitment on the new Carens. This includes:

1) Six airbags,

2) Electronic Stability Control (ESC),

3) Vehicle Stability Management (VSM),

4) Brake Assist (BAS),

5) Hills-start Assist Control (HAC),

6) Downhill Brake Control (DBC),

7) Anti-lock Braking System (ABS),

8) All-wheel disc brakes,

9) Tyre pressure monitoring system, and

10) Rear parking sensors

The commitment to safety for all occupants is laudable and most of these features are preventative in nature - an accident prevented is better after all. But with a strong structure, six airbags, ISOFIX child-seat anchor points and front seat belts with pre-tensioners and load limiters - the Kia Carens promises high levels of crash safety too.

You can read our 7000km review of the Kia Carens 1.4T-GDI DCT for a more detailed explanation - here. We have also reviewed other variants of the Carens, links to which can be found - here. If you are interested in learning more, including the on-road price of all the variants of the Carens, click the link to the model page below. You can book a Carens directly from Kia at the link - here.