2022 Kia Carnival review | Car Reviews

Auto123 opinions the 2022 Kia Carnival.

I’d noticed the images of the new Kia Carnival – in fact the following era of the Korean automaker’s Sedona minivan, rebadged to sync with the nameplate utilised elsewhere in the planet – but I was continue to shocked by the seem of the matter when I confirmed up to decide up my tester. There is not substantially of the conventional minivan to the 2022 Carnival MPV, or Multi-Reason Vehicle, as Kia hopes we’ll all refer to it.

We’ll stick with minivan as a designation, thank you extremely substantially, but there is no denying Kia made serious energy to distance by itself from the format as it is been historically recognised. Which is to say, fairly rounded in form, conservative, kind of bus-like, and just basic uncool esthetically. Right here, the Kia literature throws all around phrases like daring, confident and masculine to explain the Carnival, which tells you a good deal about exactly where their style and design aim was.

The seem
To my eye, the Carnival appears to be like additional than a minimal like a stretched, lower-driving Ford Explorer, with its daring, bossy entrance conclusion and rectangular all round form. My spouse reported it is a wagon. Kia states its style and design is crossover-impressed. Frankly all of individuals views are legitimate to a issue, so let us just say this is a present day reimagining of the minivan. Because at the time you stage within, this is continue to extremely substantially a minivan. And I mean that in a complimentary way.

Apart from, some of the exterior components – plastic overall body cladding, the skid plates, that chrome C-pillar aspect – that would seek out to trick the eye out of seeing a minivan are fewer convincing than other people. But continue to, seem at the profile of this matter you’re a extensive way from the previous Sedona, or the existing Pacifica for that matter. At a person issue I could even think about, by eliminating from my mind’s eye the higher rear part of what Kia calls the “Island-Type” floating roof, as delineated by the chrome C-pillar ingredient, that I was seeking at a Honda Ridgeline-kind profile!

The back again conclusion appears to be like additional like a conventional minivan than the relaxation, what with its width and vertical stance.

The inside
Now, jazzing up the outside the house is possible to attract some consumers hesitant to be noticed in a minivan. But what is within continue to represents the correct examination of irrespective of whether the Carnival will meet the requires of individuals who want the sizing and practicality of the format. And on that entrance, Kia’s new merchandise unquestionably delivers a extremely roomy, extremely at ease and extremely useful inside surroundings.

Retain in thoughts that our tester, the images of which appear in this article, was the variety-topping SX trim, and so throws in everything possible to render this an upscale inside.

The seats are fairly at ease and conveniently positioned for the finest driving posture. Otherwise, there are components of the new K5 in this article, but the components really feel upscale and incorporate appealing woodgrain, painted or chrome components. The dash attributes two 12.three-in screens (in the SX), a person for the driver and their knowledge and the other for infotainment the two are connected to develop a pleasing solitary horizontal display screen rectangle. Thankfully there are bodily buttons for selected typical instructions.

The infotainment process contains a camera for spying on the children in back again, and an intercom for yelling at them as a result of the audio process. All round, you’ll really feel like you’re sitting down in a high quality SUV.

Powering that initially row is exactly where the entertaining is, while. Obtain to the meat of the minivan from outside the house is uncomplicated many thanks to the lower ground, and buttons on your crucial fob enable you to solitary-click open up and close each and every sliding side door. Open up individuals and you reveal a truly welcoming second row (legroom clocks in at 1,029 mm) that includes, in the circumstance our tester, “VIP Lounge” seats – or captain’s chairs if you desire – that recline back again fairly far and attribute a liftable footrest.

The Carnival’s typical second-row seats are buckets, which, if the need to have occurs, you can take away for a really cavernous cargo place. Observe that you can not take away the captain’s chairs.

Of the three second-row seats in that configuration, the center a person slides back again and forth independently from the other people and can be folded down to make a table. In each iterations, there is a third row that’s not notably roomy but can be utilised to suit passengers if necessary individuals seats can be made to disappear absolutely in deep slots in the cargo place ground.

The variations
The product variety starts off with the LX (starting up cost $34,495). Conventional attributes incorporate heated windshield and entrance seats (moreover that windshield is solar and acoustic addressed), as properly as lane hold guide, rear seat reminder inform, driver attention warning, significant beam guide and rear parking sensors. Android Automobile and Apple CarPlay integration is integrated. Local climate regulate vents are found in all three rows, and USB ports are sprinkled about like pixie dust (there are nine in all).

The display in this edition is 8-inch, together with a 4.2-inch Lcd knowledge display. Observe that this edition can only be experienced with the 8-seat configuration. Conventional wheels are 17-inch in diameter, and you get skid plates entrance and rear.

The LX+ ($37,995) adds extensive bars on the extensive roof, and within, wireless smartphone charging moreover a rear luggage USB port and a clever crucial and thrust button. The driver’s seat is electric power-adjustable, the sliding doors can be opened remotely and the tailgate is also electric power-operated. The climate regulate process turns into multi-zone, and the steering wheel and entrance seats are heated.

The EX ($41,995) adds added security and tech attributes (for case in point with the inclusion of UFO Intelligence Telematics), the wheels grow to 19 inches, the grille turns matte chrome coated, the seats get leatherette covering, and the passenger seat is now also electric power-adjustable.

Subsequent is the EX+ ($forty five,295), which delivers in LED fog lights and Twin LED headlights, as properly as greater screens (12.three-inch instrument cluster and 12.three-inch multimedia display).

Last but not least, the king of the castle is the SX ($forty eight,295), which gets niftier black wheels, a twin sunroof, Bose high quality audio, a passenger-see camera, blind see checking, ventilated entrance seats, heated and ventilated second-row seats and even additional security things. As properly, in this article you can decide on the 7-person configuration which lets you to incorporate individuals Power Relax Captain’s Chairs that recline way, way back again.

The powertrain
The Carnival’s sole motor is a three.6L V6 delivering 290 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque with an 8-pace automated transmission. Push modes are accessible, but hey this is a minivan not a performance SUV, daring and masculine entrance conclusion be darned, so no getting all fired up. You may well give the Sport mode a shot at the starting to tighten up the parameters a wee bit, but my guess is you’ll soon just go away it in Typical mode and be accomplished with it.

The Carnival delivers gasoline consumption (officially 12.0L/a hundred km metropolis, 8.9L/a hundred km highway) that is acceptable but won’t be a certain providing issue for the product. Its quantities position it slightly powering and the Chrysler Pacifica and the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna.

The travel
The powertrain delivers quantities slightly higher than individuals of the Chrysler Pacifica, but usually the travel you get is similar. Kia states the chassis is stiffer than any Sedona’s at any time was (the product is developed on the N3 platform also utilised by the Sorento and the K5), and it does appear you get a tighter really feel simply because of it on the street. This is continue to a significant, large automobile, so stopping distance should really be measured appropriately, and slaloming together your favourite region street will reveal the limitations of this minivan.

But of training course, that’s not what you’re ordinarily likely to be executing with the Carnival. The suspension is created to be certain maximal ease and comfort, but the flip side is the automobile gets a minimal flustered when encountering purposeful potholes.

All round, what you want is a reassuring, at ease ride, but a person that does not really feel approximate both in the steering or the suspension and on that entrance, it is mission achieved for Kia. I looked for indicators of overall body roll and found minimal indication of it. The ride throughout the time I experienced with the Carnival was fairly extremely peaceful – fantastic information for individuals passengers who will be seeing or listening to things plugged into any of the piles of USB ports scattered about. If they’re not snoozing on the fully reclined Power Relax Captain’s Chairs, that is.

We like

Wonderful practicality
Bold exterior appears to be like, notably the entrance conclusion
Cozy, reassuring ride
A great deal of electric power less than the hood
Those people VIP Lounge captain’s chairs
Interior ergonomics
Intercom so you can yell at the children!

We like fewer

Not the most gasoline-cost-effective
A minimal vulnerable to street imperfections
Will take a bit of time to study the art of folding/eliminating seats
A couple reasonably “essential” attributes not integrated in the foundation edition

The competitiveness

Chrysler Pacifica
Honda Odyssey
Toyota Sienna

2022 Kia Carnival pictures