Volkswagen Multivan vs Kia Carnival

What's the difference?

Seventy-four grand is a lot of money for a seven-seater van but it's not the same as a similarly seated SUV. You can do a whole lot more in a Multivan and you can get yourself a VW badge into the bargain. There's something about that badge and the history of VW vans, though, that makes it popular. But it's got the chops to back up its history - it feels great to drive and easy to live with. It's also easy to use and phenomenally easy to get in and out of.

My wife and I genuinely found ourselves looking at each other and saying, "Yeah, we could have one of these." Obviously we came to our senses pretty quickly (we are not van people) but, if we had to have a van, the Multivan would go straight to the top of the list.

Ok, here's the rub. Everything you just read could well be pointless. You like the Carnival. In fact, it sometimes makes up close to 90 per cent of the sales in its segment, and outsells all of its competitors combined.

So whether I like it or not, I suspect you'll be buying one anyway.

But I can say this - the new Carnival improves the formula right across the board. Well, everything except for price.

Volkswagen's approach to this design is all about function but has yielded quite a strong result. That seems a bit silly if you just give the car a cursory glance, but if you spend a bit of time, it's a really nice job. The clay model clearly started as a big rectangular block and it was largely spared the chisel from the windscreen back.

In white it's close to anonymous but the Cruise's two-tone paint job adds a certain strength and some real character. I spent a lot of time looking at it and admiring the sparseness, but also what a clean design it is. That makes me sound slightly bonkers, but few cars get away with so few design features and look this good. Mitsubishi tried a basic design approach 10 years ago and the cars looked awful.

Perhaps the bigger surprise was the interior. Few commercial vans scrub up this well, so much so that you'd be hard-pressed to identify the Multivan in that way. The materials on the dash are typical VW - which is to say very good - and it doesn't feel or look like a knockabout interior, with some carpet and nicely covered seats in it.

Surely the greatest trick the Carnival pulls off, and it does so convincingly, is that it manages to make something so quintessentially uncool, the people-mover, and make it look good. Somehow sporty, even.

I like the Carnival's big, bold and blacked-out front end of the GT-Line, and with its two-tone 19-inch alloys, wide stance and low ride height, it looks almost like some mad attempt at a JDM tune car, rather than a sensible people mover.

Elsewhere, the boxy profile, the sharp body creases and the third-row compartment that kind of juts over the rear tyres like a house that's been extended all somehow work, and give the Carnival far more street cred than you might expect.

Inside, we spent time only in the flagship GT-Line and its GT-Line Lite sibling, and both present as calming, comfortable spaces, and Kia's minimalist approach to combining the climate and audio controls into a single strip (it's functionality can be changed by pushing a button) helps keep the cabin fuss free.

The tech in the top-spec models feels modern and on-point, too, and the materials are all nice under the touch. Be warned though, the cabin plastics get progressively worse the further back you sit, and the third row is cocooned by hard and scratchy plastics.

This needs a very solid breakdown because there is a lot to know about this particular car. Starting with sliding doors on both sides, which are electrically operated, and there are buttons on the remote to open and close them.

There is a phenomenal amount of storage inside. The driver's door alone has two storeys of pockets to carry plenty of different-sized and shaped items. There's so many places to put things you can almost get decision paralysis.

Down on the floor between the seats is a handbrake that seems to have been borrowed from a helicopter, but it's that long because it's attached right down on the carpet. That means you can walk from the third row all the way through the van, flip up the armrests on either of the captain's-chair style seats and plonk yourself down. Or vice versa. 

The second row features two separate captain's chairs (again) that are set on rails. You can slide them back and forth and - most impressively - swivel them through 180-degrees to face the third row so you've got yourself a meeting room on wheels, complete with the USB-C ports on one side of the back row, just above a double-cupholder set up. The seat belts for the second row are integrated into the seats themselves, which is why you can use them in motion.

Incidentally, the back row can also slide back and forth and can fold down as well. There are cupholders either side of the row, too (the previously mentioned double along with a generous-sized one that came with its own thermal cup...I think that's what it was) and with the aforementioned USB ports.

On top of all that, there are window blinds, little porthole windows in the sliding door windows themselves, a place to put, say, a clipboard on the dash in front of you and a cupholder with two USB-C ports next to the shifter.

Being a van, the total cargo volume is gigantic. If you hoof the seats out, the cargo area is 2.532 metres by 1.627 (1.220m at the wheelarches). The height is 1.32m, meaning if you're under five feet tall, you can walk without bending over. Suffice it to say, you can fit an enormous amount of stuff in.

If there's still not enough room, you can tow 2500kg with a braked trailer and 750kg unbraked. A two-bar roof rack will hold a further 100kg and a three-bar 150kg. Gross vehicle mass is 3080kg from a 2266kg unladen weight, meaning a maximum payload of 814kg.

That's enough stats on practicality to keep you going.

The Carnival measures 5115mm in length, 1995mm in width and 1775mm in height, and it rides on a sizeable 3092mm wheelbase. 

And those mini-van dimensions have a predictably positive impact on luggage space, with room growing from 627 litres with all seating rows in place, to a massive 2827 litres with the third row stowed.

The key practicality perk here, though, is space, and lots of it. At 175cm, there was ample room for me in the middle row, and you can configure the cabin to your liking, too. You can slide the row on rails, for example, to prioritise leg room where you need it, and the middle seat folds down to reveal cupholders in a kind of hard plastic travel tray.

But even in the third row I could easily get comfortable, though head room begins to get a little tighter. There are cupholders and USB connection points, too, and I can honestly say you could send full-size humans back there and not feel overly guilty about it.

The Carnival will tow 2000kgs braked, too.

Bad news first. The price is higher this time around, right across the five-trim line-up, with the prices up between around $2600 and $5300, depending on which trim level you’re shopping for.

Prices start at $50,150 for the entry-level S petrol, and climb to $72,910 for the top-spec GT-Line diesel. There’s also a GT-Line Hybrid, which tops the group at $76,210, but it’s not here yet, so we’ll cross that electrified bridge when we get to it and stick with the ICE range for now.

The range opens with the S ($50,150 petrol, $52,380 diesel), which scores 17-inch alloys, LED headlights and DRLs, heated mirrors, cloth seats, an electronic parking brake, and a smart key with push-button start, which is new for this update.

On the tech front, there is a new integrated 4.0-inch driver display, and a new 12.3-inch central screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, linking with an eight-speaker sound system, now with a surround-sound function.

Stepping up to the Sport ($56,050 petrol, $58,280 diesel) adds 18-inch alloys, rear LED combination lamps, a leather steering wheel and shifter, and dual-zone climate up front with single-zone temperature control in the second row. New for this update is a wireless charging pad and artificial leather seats. 

Next is the Sport+ ($62,380 petrol, $64,610 diesel), which gets a whole host of new safety equipment, which we will come back to in a moment, along with a powered tailgate, automatic sliding doors and auto windows, and heated seats in the first and second rows. It also ups the tech, with twin 12.3-inch screens taking care of multimedia and driving info duties.

Then comes the GT-Line Lite ($66,350 petrol, $68,580 diesel), which is fitted with bigger 19-inch alloy wheels, scores LED interior lighting, gets a dual-pane auto sunroof and some chrome embellishments on the exterior. The trade-off, though is that the powered windows are now for the driver only, as is the powered front seat.

Finally, there’s the flagship GT-Line ($70,680 petrol, $72,910 diesel), which nabs dual-projection headlights, a heated steering wheel, a 12-speaker BOSE sound system, ventilated seats up front, a big head-up display and a digital rear-view mirror, along with a slightly better interior treatment and the return of the auto window and powered seat to the passenger side of the car.

The 340 in the long name refers to the torque figure of the 2.0-litre turbodiesel four-cylinder. With 110Kw between 3250 and 3750rpm and 340Nm between 1500 and 3000rpm, it's a solid performer. In this guise, the seven-speed twin-clutch transmission delivers the power to the front wheels.

There are two ICE options on the table here. The first is what I reckon is the lesser of the two, a 3.5-litre petrol V6, producing a rev-happy 216kW and 355Nm.

The better option, I think, is the 2.2-litre, four-cylinder diesel, which makes 148kW and 440Nm, and just suits the nature of the car a little better.

Both pair with an eight-speed automatic, and send their power to the front tyres.

Volkswagen affixes a sticker to the windscreen with a 6.6L/100km combined-cycle figure. My week with the van was pretty busy and included a thorough fact-finding day on motorways and climbing Sydney's Blue Mountains, delivering an indicated 8.0L/100km over the week, which is well within the bounds of expectation with those official figures. That's pretty good going for a two-tonne-plus van with the requisite lack of slippery aerodynamics.

The petrol engine will sip a claimed 9.6 litres per hundred kilometres on the combined cycle, and produce 220g per kilometre of C02. The diesel lowers both those numbers, to 6.5 litres and 170 grams.

Both models are fitted with a 72-litre fuel tank, which means you’ll be sailing well north of $100 to fill one up.

I may have given you the impression that the Multivan is fun to drive, but it's not in the usual sense. It does feel a bit van-ish with the initially awkward steering wheel angle. The driver's seat is hugely comfortable and you quickly discover that, despite being nearly as long as a Hyundai Santa Fe or Mazda CX-9, it's surprisingly wieldy, with the front wheels achieving impressive angles when you're on full lock.

No, you're not going to pull a u-turn in a normal suburban street, but you can get some tight angles while parking and, given its shape is that of a chiselled brick, you know where the corners are, with the sensors and cameras picking up the slack.

It never feels anything like its size until you head down the driveway into a shopping centre car park and the dangling 2.1 metres clearance sign looks ominously close. It doesn't just look close, though. The view out front is awesome and you are literally eye-balling bus drivers. Dogs love it because they can talk to bus drivers out the window, as our furry idiot did.

Obviously it's long for car-park spaces, like an SUV or any other people mover for that matter, so you have to take the usual care.

So why is it so much fun to drive. Obviously it's not a GTI (although the Transporter Sportline looks like it might be...) but the diesel engine is exceptionally strong and dealt with everything I threw at it.

Sadly I wasn't able to rope in a group of folks to go with me, given our current restrictions, but the 340Nm figure feels conservative. Especially when slaloming around slow-moving clowns on the motorway in the right-hand lane.

So the fun? Everybody absolutely loved this thing. In fact, to take the parlance of one of the Mystery Machine occupants, they dug it, man. So many blokes in utes looking wistfully at a van that obviously sparked a yearning for... having five kids maybe? I dunno, but people just loved it and when I posted a pic of it on Instagram, the crowd went wild.

And I loved driving it around and was sad to hand it back. M'colleague Matt Campbell is scheming to get into one, and even other folks from competing publications expressed a yearning.

Forgive the horrific paraphrasing, but it seems rumours of the death of diesel have been greatly exaggerated, at least when it comes to the Kia Carnival.

Get this – diesel sales make up some 90 per cent of the Carnival's total haul, with petrol providing a pittance towards the sales total, presumably being picked up by fleet buyers.

And to be honest, that means nine out of 10 people are making the right choice here. Yes, the petrol makes more power, but it's the torque on offer from the diesel that makes pushing the Carnival around feel far more effortless.

The petrol engine can definitely get you moving, but it feels a bit too rev-happy and thrashy when you really put your foot down, and its significantly thirstier to boot.

The diesel isn't perfect – the thrum of the engine is a constant companion whenever you put your foot down, and there's actually too much torque on offer at times, like if you're accelerating up hill from a standstill on a damp road, and so the front tyres can scrabble and scramble for grip.

But it otherwise so perfectly suits the nature of the Carnival that it is definitely the best and most satisfying choice.

Another big change for this update is the fact that Kia's complete ride and handling program has been rolled out here. Kia says local work done on the outgoing car, the one this replaces, was curtailed by Covid and bushfires, and so ended up being done by correspondence.

This one, though, has had the whole enchilada thrown at it, and it shows. They've succeeded in making a bigger car feel smaller around you. It's not a sports car by any measure, but nor does it ever feel too big and unwieldily.

Part of that is down to the steering, which is direct and confidence inspiring, but mostly I suspect it's because of the ride, which is firmer than you might expect in a family hauler, but also offers a connection to that road below that makes you feel in control.

Whether a firm-ish ride is a perk or negative is up to you, but it definitely works for me.

Part of the change package for this updated Carnival is in its safety kit, some of which simply wasn’t available when Kia launched its predecessor.

Which is why every model now gets a centre side airbag, 'Forward Collision Assist AEB', 'Rear Occupant Alert', 'Trailer Stability Assist' and front parking sensors, joining the rear ones that were already there.

Sport+ Models and up now add a 'Blind Spot View Monitor' and rain-sensing wipers, as well as rear AEB through the 'Parking Collision Avoidance' function.

I have to say, though, when your entry-level car is $50k-plus, there’s no real excuse for limiting the best safety kit to the upper-spec models.

Also standard are lane keep assist, with 'Lane Follow Assist', multi-collision braking, a speed-limit warning (which you will turn off) and a reversing camera.

The Carnival range carries a five-star ANCAP safety rating, which it earned in 2021.

As with other VWs, the Multivan Cruise has a five year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is now largely the norm, albeit not among German manufacturers. You also score a year of roadside assist into the bargain, which is extended with each service.

As for servicing, you can purchase up front, with five years for $1980, representing a $781 saving on pay-as-you-go assured-pricing service. A three-year commitment is $1300 and is a saving of between $159 and $357 on pay as you go.

Like all Kias, the Carnival arrives with a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, with capped-price servicing throughout.

Kia’s servicing costs are higher than some of its competitors, though, so you might want to compare them, as well as compare what’s included, and the diesel model will usually cost slightly more to maintain than the petrol version.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 15,000kms, and while the brand is still finalising the petrol servicing costs, the diesel prices are $386, $682, $480, $869, $434, $845 and $461, covering the first seven years of ownership.