2022 Kia Carnival | Review & Road Test

For the latest Kia Carnival pricing and information:

Minivan merely starting a review with that word makes you want to click away doesn’t it i know the urge is strong but stick with me this is the kia carnival yes it’s a minivan or multi-purpose vehicle in kia marketing speak but it’s also kind of cool in a minivan sort of way giving credit where credit is due kia has managed to partially obscure the carnival’s

Vanly nature in profile this rocker element sculpted doors conspicuous wheel arches and this reverse wing thingy hide the fact that this is basically just a box on wheels if you come to the back at the bottom here there’s what’s either a rear diffuser or lower skid plate and then this wide lighting element both of those help to hide any unsightly chunkiness it’s

All visual trickery but i say embrace the illusion weird you just burned down precious seconds talking about style in a minivan review now onward to more practical concerns i don’t know why i’m hiding in here the carnival’s cabin includes eight seats in most trims though seven seats are standard in the base lx trim and you can only get seven seats on the swankiest

Leather clad sx prestige trim like we’re driving you’ll note that the prestige trim includes a pair of non-removable second row vip lounge seats with long slide abilities ottoman style leg supports and power adjustment is there anything more luxurious than hiring somebody to drive your minivan so you can luxuriate in the second row without a doubt yes there is try

Aircraft golly these rear seats sure are swanky but there’s an issue third row access there’s no good way to get back there with the vip lounge seats you slide it forward and then you have to push the uh power mechanism to angle it that way this whole process makes the third row nearly inaccessible and doesn’t that defy the premise of a minivan yes it does so

Say i the voice over but this accessibility issue only plagues the sx prestige trim lower trims are more user-friendly once aboard the third row offers workable space but this is not the roomiest third row i’ve ever occupied and seen by comparison the honda odyssey offers two and a half more inches of third row legroom than the kia carnival getting back on the

Praise train there is a relatively massive 40.2 cubic feet behind the third row for luggage and such by comparison the toyota sienna’s cargo hold is a notably smaller 33.5 cubic feet if you need more space lowering the third row is extremely easy you can also lower the second row unless you have the sx prestige package with those lounge vip seats you’re beginning

To vex me seats assuming you skipped the sx prestige trim the carnival provides a max 145.1 cubic feet of space with the second row seats removed that’s a stellar number that essentially ties the honda odyssey for best volume aft of the first row in a minivan speaking of removable seats i still prefer the chrysler pacifica’s clever stow and go second row which

Drops into the floor when not in use mostly because i’m getting old and i don’t want to risk a back injury pulling second row seats out of a minivan i have a tenuous grasp on my masculinity i can’t be taken down with a minivan injury down the carnival’s many family-friendly features are standard power sliding side doors seven standard usb ports spread across all

Three rows and a center second row seat that folds down revealing a small table or slides forward for easier access to a child from the front seats one strange element is this whole console here if they’d used a push button shifter they could have perhaps opened this area and then created a lower storage zone like every other minivan it kind of looks like an suv

Though so i guess if you like that that’s cool but where am i gonna put my purse okay we’ve delayed it long enough what is the carnival like to drive from a power perspective it’s good delivering decent acceleration occasionally dramatic if you’re also turning and inconspicuous shifts unless you’re flooring it like i am right now normally it’s quite sedate yeah

That’s a nice smooth shift the lone engine is a 3.5 liter naturally aspirated v6 matched to an 8-speed automatic transmission here are the power figures and here’s the fuel economy compared to the honda odyssey the carnival is slightly more powerful and slightly less efficient on an efficiency note the carnival does not currently offer a hybrid powertrain option

Meanwhile the toyota sienna is only offered as a hybrid while the chrysler pacifica hybrid is actually a plug-in hybrid offering 30 mpg combined fuel economy and a 32-mile electric range steering the key at carnival isn’t a deeply joyful affair but it does feel predictable with appropriately light efforts at slow speeds and for a minivan that is high praise as

For ride quality the kia carnival is smooth and quiet like barry white at the library i’m sorry i couldn’t come up with a better metaphor oh stay elemental and a basic carnival lx trim costs a hair above 32 000 not including destination charges that amount buys you a minivan with led headlights smart key access blind spot warning lane keeping assist automatic

Emergency braking and safe exit assist which warns occupants if a vehicle is approaching from behind the standard infotainment screen is an 8 inch unit but everything above the base trim gets this 12.3 inch unit which i really like the interface is very easy to find your way through you’ve got a little volume knob right down here the only challenge is that it’s a

Little bit of a reach from the driver’s seat i have to lean forward slightly and i’m a journalist you know i don’t like to do anything it’s the slightest bit of effort now the screen first up oh no it’s okay it’s okay it’s cool it’s cool with higher trims buyers can enjoy free zone climate control a hands-free power tailgate hands-free side doors a 360 degree

Camera system a cabin intercom that projects front occupant voices to rear seat passengers a camera to observe those rear seat passengers and a quiet mode so the audio system doesn’t disturb those same rear seat passengers you can also add dual rear seat entertainment screens for when you absolutely positively need to distract whoever’s sitting in back just hush

Up and watch your star wars kids daddy needs to contemplate the choices he made one last element to consider is the all-weather traction of all-wheel drive you can get it with the chrysler pacifica or toyota sienna but not on the kia carnival as mentioned throughout the video there are three other well-regarded minivans to choose from but the kia carnival has

Something they don’t pizzazz but if all you want is a box on wheels the kia carnival does that well too and for a competitive price add all-wheel drive and a hybrid model and this thing could be unstoppable but skip the vip lounge sheets if you want to use that third row so little

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2022 Kia Carnival | Review & Road Test By Kelley Blue Book