This big, bold Carnival is worth the ride

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This big, bold Carnival is worth the ride

Hands down, the Kia Carnival is the most popular people mover in the country.

VFACTS sales data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries to the end of July has it sitting on an 83.7 per cent market share in its segment (under $70,000) in 2024 with 5605 sales compared with its nearest competitor, the Hyundai Staria, on 738 sales (11 per cent).

Now in its fourth generation, the Carnival comes in petrol, diesel and, now, hybrid variants, with a few flagship trims creeping up in price over $70,000, like my refreshed 2025 3.5-litre petrol GT-Line, which is $70,680 RRP excluding on-road costs and $75,190 drive-away nationally.

In total, there are five grades and 11 price points — and the bad news is there’s a four-to-five month wait for new orders, but Kia Australia suggests you might be able to find some readily available stock in the dealer network.

It turns out the most popular variant is the GT-Line diesel, which makes up about a third of Carnival sales this year.

Carnival RRP and drive-away pricing. Note, the hybrid is not listed with a drive-away price.

Carnival S 3.5-litre petrol: $50,150/$54,540

Carnival Sport 3.5-litre petrol: $56,050/$60,640

Carnival Sport+ 3.5-litre petrol: $62,380/$66,990

Carnival GT-Line Lite 3.5-litre petrol: $66,350/$70,840

Carnival GT-Line 3.5-litre petrol: $70,680 /$75,190

Carnival S 2.2-litre diesel: $52,380/$56,740

Carnival Sport 2.2-litre diesel: $58,280/$62,840

Carnival Sport+ 2.2-litre diesel: $64,610/$69,190

Carnival GT-Line Lite 2.2-litre diesel: $68,580/$73,090

Carnival GT-Line 2.2-litre diesel: $72,910/$77,390

Carnival GT-Line HEV 1.6-litre HEV: $76,210

The look

Funky, with chunky SUV styling, intricate cubed *********** and geometric machined alloy wheels.

Sure, the sliding doors in the middle give it away, but why would you squeeze everyone into a seven-seater when you can have eight seats and travel in comfort?

Kia calls it a GUV — grand utility vehicle — because, let’s face it, who wants to tell colleagues and friends they just bought a people mover. Worse still, a minivan.

It’s OK. You’re life’s not over. The Carnival isn’t nearly as long as a HiLux ute.

Depending on how you configure the second row, which has fan and climate controls, plus a “reversible” centre seat that can be flipped into an armrest so you have “lounge chairs” either side, there’s space for up to eight — and all variants get four bottle holders, nine cupholders, three phone holders, six USB chargers, plus oodles of storage and five top-tether and five ISOFIX points.

The basic spec can be a little sparse, but my GT-Line includes a dual sunroof with tilt-and-slide functions, hands-free powered sliding middle doors and tailgate, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, 12-speaker Bose sound system, head-up display, interior mood lighting with a choice of more than 40 colours and a digital centre (rearview) mirror.

Trust me, you’ll need this if you’re fully loaded up because it uses the camera on the back window to give you a clear view of the road, ****** heads inside bobbing up and down in the second and third rows – and you can flip between optical and digital modes, depending on preference.

The interior is luxe, with different textures and highlights on the dash and doors.

I love the single-panel display with 12.3-inch digital driver cluster and 12.3-inch infotainment touch screen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android auto. It works without a glitch.

There’s 637 litres of luggage space with all seats up and 2827L with the third row folded — but the Carnival’s big space trick is the drop floor in the cargo hold, which makes it easy to stack suitcases.

Brilliant.

It also comes with a temporary spare wheel.

The lowdown

MY25 petrol variants have a naturally aspirated 3.5-litre V6 engine with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Stated outputs are 216kW of power at 6400rpm and 355Nm torque at 5000rpm.

Fuel tank capacity is 72 litres and both ICE and hybrid variants take 91 RON petrol.

All variants are front-wheel drive and braked towing capacity — if you need to hitch up a trailer for extra space — is 2000kg. But, be warned, you might just lose your cool factor.

Safety and driver assistance

Petrol and diesel Carnival variants have a five-star ANCAP safety rating for build dates from November 2020, scoring 90 per cent for ******-occupant protection, 88 per cent for child-occupant protection, 68 per cent for road-user protection and 82 per cent for safety assist.

Note, the hybrid variant, which has just become available in Australia, is unrated.

All three rows have airbags — and vehicles built after February 2024 include a centre airbag that’s increasingly fitted to modern vehicles and provides added protection to front occupants in side impact crashes.

Safety and driver-assistance tech is comprehensive across the range, but varies, depending on grade, so look carefully at the specs if there’s something you particularly want. Only the GT-Line, for example, gets the digital centre mirror and S and Sport variants miss out on the ******-spot-view monitor and 360-degree camera, which a car of this size needs.

The blindspot-view monitor (not to be confused with ******-spot warning in the side mirrors) displays the rear ****** spot area of the vehicle in the instrument cluster when the turn signal is engaged to help safely change lanes.

There are also two different highway drive-assist systems — HDA 1 and HDA 2 — with HDA 2 providing a lane-change assist function that lets the car decide when it’s safe to merge, for example, once you indicate (more on this later). Again, S and Sport variants miss out on this.

All variants get steering wheel voice command, over-the-air updates and Kia Connect, which includes, among other things, remote climate control, remote door lock and emergency call to a 24/7 monitoring centre in the event of an accident where the airbag is deployed, along with **** function.

The drive

It feels like a ***** on wheels that handles like a sedan. The turning circle is 11.7m — barely more than, say, a Toyota Prado, which is 11.6m.

Once behind the wheel, I don’t notice its size. The Carnival slips through suburban streets with remarkable ease, glides over speed humps and is easy to steer and park — even without cameras.

The more I drive it, the more I love it. Parking is easy.

Seriously, why would you even squeeze everyone into a seven-seater?

Keep in mind, not all seven-seaters have airbags in the third row, so rear-most passengers effectively ride in the cargo hold with knees scrunched into their chest.

Getting in and out is easy in the Carnival; there’s no squeezing past seats, balancing in footwells or manoeuvring past other passengers.

The driver’s seat moves back as soon as you turn off the engine — and moves into position when you turn it on.

Every convenience is at your fingertips, with a digital touch panel and dials for temperature and air flow under the dash, plus a separate strip of matt silver switch gear on the centre console for things like seat heating and ventilation, steering wheel heating and cameras, so there’s no diving into menus on the touchscreen for basic functions.

Latest variants have a new suspension and motor-driven power steering set-up replacing the outgoing model’s hydraulic power steering system, along with a local tune specific to *********** roads and driving conditions, so it feels comfortable all-round, with minimal road noise and tyre roar.

HDA 2 works with the advanced smart cruise control system, but it’s not something I routinely engage. Really, if you can’t change lanes or merge safely, you shouldn’t be driving. If you do use it, be prepared to let the car take over steering, though you still need to keep hands on the wheel.

Updated tech means the Carnival is equipped with intelligent speed limit assist (ISA), which is essentially an electronic back-seat driver that becomes increasingly more frantic, flashing and beeping, as you nudge over the limit (just testing). It’s been mandatory in new vehicles sold in Europe from July 1, 2024.

You can turn it off in vehicle settings, which means diving into the menu, but it comes on by default every time you start the engine.

There’s also remote smart parking using the key fob, which is handy in tight spots when you need to get the car in or out, but to do this, you need to trust the tech is up to the task (it is) without you sitting in the driver’s seat — and it feels a little eerie.

Depending on road conditions, the drive is smooth enough. You can choose from several modes, including sport, but I’m happy sitting in normal for everyday commutes.

Looking at specs, the diesel offer a torquier (440Nm at 1750-2750rpm) ride and better fuel economy, so I can see why it’s the most popular model.

Stated fuel consumption for the V6 Carnival is 9.6 litres/100km. I averaged 11.4L/100km over a week of varied driving, a lot of it on freeways and highways at 100-110km/h.

Warranty and servicing

All Kias come with a seven-year unlimited-kilometre warranty, seven years of capped-price servicing and up to eight years of complementary roadside assist if serviced at a Kia dealership.

Service costs for the MY2025 3.5-litre petrol Carnival are every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first, costing $356 (one year), $640 (two years), $449 (three years), $827 (four years), $401 (five years), $798 (six years) and $426 (seven years).

SECOND VIEW

Stephen Scourfield, Motoring Editor

I’m already a Kia Carnival convert, having had a series of good experiences with this “small van that drives like a car”.

First, I hired one when visitors were coming to Perth, so that we’d all be in the same vehicle, rather than seeing the local sights in two cars. It worked a treat and I’d do it again.

Second, I hired a smart ****** one for my son’s wedding. It became the “runaround” vehicle in the days prior to the big event. With a big white ribbon tied in a V over the bonnet, it then transformed into a stylish vehicle for the groom’s party.

And I’ve just spent a week in the same vehicle as Olga, which confirms my belief in Carnival. The slide doors are a great feature in our tight car parks, and the Carnival certainly drives like a car.

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