The spacious and comfortable car for chewing the miles leaves our fleet.
The photo you see above was taken somewhere outside Lonavala – a hill station some 120 km odd from Mumbai – during a family trip. The idea was for my loved ones to stand next to the car, with the rain-soaked landscape as a backdrop. It would have made a nice photo. Except, despite the many requests, my family members were too comfortable inside to bother getting out for a photo. Says a lot about the effect this Kia has on its passengers, doesn’t it? Truth be told, the Carnival’s cavernous interior, couch-rivaling second-row seats, and overall comfort are reason enough to splash some serious dough on this car. There’s simply nothing on the market that will offer what this Kia can, if long-distance commuting is your thing.
It is common to see passengers falling asleep, such is the comfort.
My folks, first of all, have never traveled in a car this size, and the number of times they seemed amazed at the amount of headroom and legroom available is something I lost track of. My sister, in particular, liked the second-row seats for the amount of recline they offer, as well as the armrests and footrest. In fact, she was the first to fall asleep shortly after our journey began. Soon, the rest of the passengers hit the “snooze” button, which again highlights the comfort offered by the seats. The single infotainment screen, mounted on the back of the front passenger seat, was useful enough to entertain my young grandson with YouTube videos.
The passenger media tablet can be used to stream online content.
This is a great car to drive. So much so that, given how much I love driving, I wouldn’t have resisted giving up the driver’s seat if given the chance. That being said, I had a great time walking the carnival.
I admit, I initially had some reservations about driving this XL-sized car in the choc-a-bloc Mumbai traffic, but, to my surprise, it barely took me a few minutes to get used to its size. The smooth steering and responsiveness of the automatic gearbox made life easier too. So if you’re worried about how you’re going to cope with running carnivals in a big, busy city, it just takes some getting used to. However, while you’re at it, you should make sure you’re good at finding parking lots that are big enough to accommodate the Carnival.
The 8.0-inch infotainment screen looks small against the large dashboard space.
On the highway, Carnival comes into its own. The engine sits at a relaxed RPM, the cabin filters out road noise to an extent, and then there’s the way this car drives. The Carnival’s stability and the suspension’s ability to iron out most of the bumps and undulations I encountered is what impressed me. The big wheels also swallow the odd pothole in a way that few other MPVs manage to do. More importantly, the Carnival’s composure at highway speeds, even with a full complement of passengers and luggage, is quite commendable.
Performance-wise, the 200bhp diesel never felt out of breath while hauling the fully loaded Carnival up steep ghat sections in and around Lonavala. Even the 8-speed gearbox is quite responsive during bumps, in cases where one needs to make a quick overtake.
All told, there’s no getting away from the fact that this big, heavy MPV is going to guzzle a lot of fuel.
AdBlue consumption is on the higher side, with refills required around 3000km intervals.
During our time with the car, with multiple drivers driving it in a variety of terrain and traffic conditions, we’ve seen fuel efficiency hover around the 8-8.5 kpl mark. The best figure I could see, with a light foot and patient driving was 10.2 kpl. Needless to say, my wallet thanked me for it.
Barring mostly single-digit fuel efficiency numbers, there’s not much we didn’t like about the Carnival. Agreed, the interiors look long in the tooth, the plastics in some areas could have been nice and there are some features that should have been present in a Rs 33 lakh car (ex-show) like ventilated seats and power adjustment for the same which are only available on the top Limousine+ variant, for a price of Rs 2 lakh. However, there is much more to like than not to like. The more I rode the carnival, the more I loved it, while the riders, on the other hand, hated it when the ride was over.
In an age where all-digital numbers are the norm, simple analog numbers look great.
Alas, while I was in the middle of planning an interstate road trip, that dreaded call from Kia came. Our time with Carnival was over and it was time to hand over the keys. It may have been a short time in Autocar’s long-term fleet, but everyone who was on it – from the editing team to the camera crew – loves and misses it. Say, Kia India. How about sending us another ornament maybe, eh?
See also:
Kia Carnival long-term review, first report
Kia Carnival long-term review, second report
