When it comes to hauling people and/or stuff, there is hardly a more practical vehicle than the modern minivan. Sure, they are not the coolest vehicles on the road, but Kia aims to change that with their Carnival MPV.
Hey gearheads and welcome to garage talk i’m corey and i am standing next to the underdog of the three row people hauler segment this is the 2022 kia carnival and it is beyond me why these aren’t selling more with a 3.5 liter v6 mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission 290 horsepower 262 pound-feet of torque over 145 cubic feet of storage space inside with
Full flat seating for eight and a window sticker that is thirty six thousand i i just can’t fathom why you would be shopping a gas guzzling three row suv and not the carnival all right starting under the hood i referenced it in the intro you do have a rather thirsty for the minivan segment 3.5 liter smart stream v6 powering the front wheels through an 8-speed
Automatic it does make 290 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque so it is plenty to get this family hauler up and moving closing the hood which is held up by a prop rod for some that is a deal killer but you see kia’s updated styling this replaces the old sedona minivan and leans heavy on all of the striking lines that kia has been doing with their lighting
And just bold design choices all the way through and of course you get the new kia corporate badge up here in the front but very aggressive for the minivan segment up here in the front no minivan review would be complete if you didn’t open the rear hatch and talk about the third row seats this lx with seat package does not have a power liftgate and i’m actually
Okay with that because the lift height is not too tall i’m 510 so it’s very easy to grab this handle and pull it shut and then getting back here to the rear seats they are very simple to fold down into the floor with a pull of one handle and have a little flap here to hide the gap in between the seat and the floor i would say behind the chrysler pacifica these are
Probably the best and easiest to stow third row seats even be beating out the toyota sienna we tested earlier this year makes for a lot of room and opens up an even more interesting feature that this lx with the seat package has up its sleeve to show you opening up the power sliding second row doors on this and you really get the trick features of this lx with
The seat package so not only do you get three across seating here they are three individual seats that all scoot forward and back and recline so you can find your ultimate perfect seating position back here in the back three across seating also provides three across child support child seat support because there are lower anchors even here on the middle seat
Moving into the middle seat it is not necessarily a penalty box either because reaching behind my right hip it actually reclines as well and it too slides forward and well all the way back so far back that if you don’t have the third row down then you probably won’t be able to take full advantage of the seat interestingly enough kia calls this the minding seat
So does that mean that if you are not minding i’m gonna put you here and send you back to the back i don’t know a little bit strange to me but then one last trick of the minding seat is if i can get it into place pull this recline lever here you have a nice table top with two cup holders and two phone holders so what’s it like driving the 2022 kia carnival or
Exceptionally unexceptional really because there’s really nothing that just stands out about it it’s a good vehicle the steering for the children’s pickup line superb it is lightweight and nimble and it can get you around at low speeds very easily and is very maneuverable whether you are in the pickup line or in the shopping mall parking lot because well again
Very light and easy the ride on this is actually very superb because you get lots of sidewall on the tires so it is actually very comfortable when you get it out on the highway as well this is a very simple but very well thought out interior as well everything is analog and exactly where you would expect it with exception of the touch screen infotainment which
Isn’t the larger 10 and a quarter inch but a smaller unit but does a great job for what you need at the 36 thousand dollar price point air conditioning controls are super easy to understand and are dials no dual or tri zone in this lx model but for 36k does a great job in that regard you do get a rear climate control so it is dual in that aspect but it is not dual
Side to side which i’ve had cranked up and does a really good job when you get into triple digits here in in east texas summer again talking about how this pilots down the road you’ve got plenty of power the 8-speed transmission is always in the right gear for what you’re doing you do have different drive modes that do include a sport mode but i i just find it
Hard even if kia isn’t calling this a minivan putting a minivan in sport mode gauges are easy to read you have a just over four inch color helper screen in between the analog speedometer attack it tells you all you really need to know including giving you a digital readout of your current speed it’s good it’s just all very good and it works the design in here
You get more of that textured metal look from the c pillar on the outside so very cohesive design here and then again everything is exactly where you would expect it kia’s corporate steering wheel does a good job this isn’t the flat bottom that we’ve sampled in some other products but if you’ve driven a modern kia you’ll know what you’re getting here with the
Steering wheel and with the safety tech whether it be lane keep or lane centering this is a really good system from the kia brand and then seating all around is actually quite comfortable in this model and would make for a very comfortable cross-country or in my case cross state cruise you can see just how good the suspension and those tires are because i just
Went over train tracks no big commotion at all and that’s really the strong point of this minivan one thing designers have to be careful of when designing a minivan is you’re essentially designing a huge tuning fork and if you don’t design it just right there are certain road frequencies that will just make the noise and everything reverb in here so bad and make
It so annoying this is actually a rather comfortable compliant ride and quiet at that that about does it for my quick take with this lx with seat package 2022 kia carnival if you want to know more of what we’re driving before it is here on youtube uh go and find us on facebook instagram and tick tock all at gt garage talk if you want to see more from us be sure
And hit that subscribe button and ring the bell so you’re notified whenever a new video posts lastly huge thank you to helsheikia here in tyler texas for allowing me to test this model today and let us know if you want to see some more sedona content we are working with kia and looking forward to the potential of getting a higher trim model in very soon but at
36k this one makes a very compelling case on being in my driveway i’m cory and i am sitting so close so very close this is the winner future corey the three row people people hauler segment frick you
Transcribed from video
Better than Sienna? 2023 Kia Carnival LX with Seat Package By GT Garage Talk