It’s tough. Despite all the data and science, there are still many of you out there that are, dare I say it, anti-vanners. People who are just so outright against van life even though you can see all the objective information (best 3rd row room, best cargo room behind the 3rd row, least # of parking lot door dings inflicted on others) that shows that vans really are the best. Kia has launched a massive campaign to stop all the misinformation out there and show you that van life can indeed be great again.
Now, they are resorting to some trickery to do this, as do most topics that are this highly charged and polarizing. They launched their newest van as the Carnival here in the States, shedding the old Sedona name that was on the old minivan, but mainly aligning with the name that has been used overseas. Kia has also dubbed the Carnival not as a van, but as an MPV, or a Multi-Purpose Vehicle. Yeah, good luck trying to get that to stick. Yes, the Carnival does look quite striking on the outside, but the telltale minivan-esque sliding doors are still there, and Kia didn’t even bother to try to hide the sliding door track under the glass line like most vans do today.
Our Kia Carnival tester came loaded up with the SX Prestige trim replete with its VIP Lounge 2nd row seating configuration. While definitely a crowd pleaser and bit of a wow-item in the interior, I would love to see Kia offer the SX Prestige with their more traditional 2nd row seating option. Don’t get me wrong, the VIP Lounge seats are great. They offer heating and cooling for those 2nd row thrones and can be slid far rearward for NBA+ size legroom and recline functions with a leg rest extension as well, almost like a page out of the Boeing Business Jet catalog. This would be almost wasted on young kids, especially if they’re still in car seats, like my daughter is. Another tough point with kids is the rear entertainment screens snapped on the back of the front seats on the SX and SX Prestige trims. This cuts down on entry passage way and are just begging to get ripped off when anyone is climbing in and out. Also the aforementioned daughter of mine found them directly in swing line with her kicking arc, terrific. But, there’s no way to unselect this particular feature either from the top spec Carnival. At 6 feet tall, I personally found headroom lacking in the 2nd row (and 3rd row), I think the mixture of the fairly high seating position of the VIP Seats and then elements in the ceiling for the ventilation system and the dual sunroofs all take away portions of clearance. Headroom of non SX Prestige trims is about 2 inches better in each of the rear rows. So be sure to test fit the seats if you’re transporting taller people often.
So then just get the lower spec Carnival, right? Go one notch down with the SX (although you’d still contend with those silly rear screens), and you’d still get the crucial Surround View Monitor parking camera and parking sensors front and rear with the active rear parking brake assist to help prevent you from hitting anything that you’re somehow actively ignoring in the backup and surround view cameras. You would forgo actual leather seating, although the synthetic stuff is getting pretty good these days and is also easier to maintain potentially. The SX also loses the Blind View Monitor which projects the blind spot camera into the instrument cluster. Non-Prestige SX’es also lack the heated steering wheel, auto dimming interior mirror with programmable garage door opener, dual sunroofs, and full digital cluster display. One safety item that you also lose is a change in headlights. The SX Prestige comes with a full LED projector-style headlamp, which is rated Good by the IIHS. The LX, EX and SX trims use a reflector-style LED headlamp that gets rated as Poor for inadequate illumination. Something to potentially keep in mind if you do a lot of evening/nighttime driving. Kia, just give me an SX Mid-Prestige (SX Cachet?) with a non-VIP seat and ditch the entertainment screens while you’re back there please.
Up front, the full boat SX Prestige looks like a fully modern luxury vehicle. You have the dual 12.3″ screens ahead of the driver, something that was Mercedes flagship territory just a few short years ago. There is a 3D embossed trim that runs the width of the cabin. It has a decidedly SUV-like center console with a nice, straightforward gear selector, wireless phone charging pad, cup holders and plenty of direct access controls for the media system, ventilation and vehicle drive modes. Some of those are touch sensitive, but the items that you likely will fiddle with the most are luckily still actual toggles, buttons and knobs. There is a good amount of glossy black finished surfaces, which we don’t like on account of all the finger prints and fine scratches that can quickly develop, but overall the design and materials are significantly better than the outgoing Sedona, and, in our opinion, nicer, at least in this top spec, vs. the new Sienna, and decidedly more modern than the Pacifica, even with its own 2021 refresh.
It’s not perfect in Carnival-land though. We mentioned the lack of headroom for tall folks in back. The Carnival also lacks a bit of storage up front. While the new Sienna also has a wide center console up front, it is mounted a bit higher, and leaves a cavernous pass through underneath, where things like Kleenex boxes or wipes could be stored. And while those dual screens look nice, the top Carnival lacks wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, which is standard on lower trim models with the smaller touchscreen. This is a current issue that plagues pretty much all of the Kia lineup, along with cousins Hyundai and Genesis. Hopefully they’re able to bring this for fully loaded customers soon.
Another nitpick is with the sunroof situation. The Carnival does offer up 2 sunroofs and they can both open. One is above the driver and passenger with the second unit back somewhat between the 2nd and 3rd rows. Two opening panels is unique now that the Sienna no longer offers a similar configuration as it did on its previous generation. The two units also don’t impart the same kind of open feeling as the massive panoramic unit we had on our Pacifica, which also included a dedicated (but non opening) panel above the 3rd row. The Pacifica also came with a powered shade for the main double unit, while the Carnival has two manual shades. The manual shade up front is easy enough to use, but we ran into problems when we couldn’t close the rear sunshade from the front row. Our daughter isn’t big enough to reach up and close it herself and there were times when I wanted to be able to close the shade, but it would require me to stop the car, get out and reach in back to slide it shut. Won’t be an issue for those with kids/passengers who are older and taller, but was something we noted.
Minivans, sorry MPVs, are still the ultimate at hauling lots of people and their gear and the Carnival delivers here, since it sticks to the script of using a deep well behind the 3rd row. This allows for tall and abundant gear to fit behind 3 rows of actual people. Behind the 3rd row is a whopping 40 cubic feet of space. Family wunderkind Kia Telluride manages about half that behind its 3rd row. Behind the 2nd row (which is where the SX Prestige maxes out) there’s about 87 cubic feet of space, which coincidentally is about where the Telluride maxes out with its second row folded down. In the lower Carnivals, additional space can be had, up to 145 cubic feet! The big box shape of the MPV/minivan will not be denied!
The driving experience in the Carnival is pretty standard fare for what used to be competitive in the minivan class. Strong V6 engine mated to a smooth automatic transmission puts more power down to the front wheels than they can typically handle. You can chirp the front tires easily when leaving a stop sign or red light. Go van go! Power is good for a van. Suspension and handling are also well-sorted. Nothing harsh and no undue motions through the cabin. No, you’re not going to take it auto-crossing on weekends, but it’s no slouch when you hit a curvy road or two on the way home either. Could easily see this hitting the road for the great American road trip, letting the miles float by, especially with the superb driver assistance technologies for highway treks.
If you do like road trips, fuel economy is just okay. Rated at 22 miles per gallon overall, the Carnival matches that of the Honda Odyssey and Chrysler Pacifica (non-hybrid) front wheel drive. Toyota’s Sienna is now exclusively available as a hybrid 4-cylinder, capable of delivering up to 36 miles per gallon combined. Sienna may be the slowpoke of the group, but the fuel economy will likely put a big smile on many owners faces and Sienna also offers up all-wheel drive, which the Carnival and Odyssey do not. The Pacifica offers up a unique Plug-In Hybrid variant, which can deliver ~32 miles of pure electric driving and then sips gas at a rate of 30 miles per gallon after that, but can’t mix its plug-in hybrid with its own available all-wheel drive system.
With Kia rolling out hybrids and plug-in hybrids across its SUV lineup, will the Carnival receive electrification of some sort? We sure hope so. All-wheel drive could also be a consumer friendly offering, especially for those in mountainous or heavy snow regions. But it might be hard to justify all the development/certification with low sales volume. Kia has always been in last place sales wise, well behind the cohort of the Pacifica/Grand Caravan, Odyssey and Sienna. Maybe it’s the name and design change, but even in what has a been a rough year for the automotive industry with supply and sales, the Carnival is on pace to sell well over 20,000 units in 2021, up from 13,000 in 2020. There’s no one perfect MPV out there, but if something stylish and modern, with a boatload of features, and traditional running gear is of interest to you, then you’d do well to slide into a Carnival, if you can find one that is! And if you’re been anti-van, now is a great time to give it a chance, although the choices are a bit more limited these days, they all offer something pretty interesting and special.
