Kia Carnival 2007 review

The latest Kia Carnival, the VQ series, comes with the choice between standard and long wheelbases. The latter has been out for about 18 months now, but the standard is a relative newcomer so is the subject of this week’s road test.

Carnival has European-inspired styling inside. Though it doesn’t really break any new ground, the shape works nicely and potential buyers should no longer feel there's some sort of stigma in owning a people mover. Indeed, this is the sort of vehicle that should be replacing huge 4WDs in Australia, as the latter are chiefly being bought as people movers, not 4WDs at all. A Carnival, or one of its competitors, provides better interior space, uses significantly less fuel, and is cheaper to buy and run.

The occupant of that rearmost centre seat only gets a lap-sash safety belt, as does the person in the middle-centre seat. 

There are separate air conditioning outlets for each of the rows of seats and the centre-row passengers have some control over temperature and air flow.

Drink holders are there in almost overwhelming numbers. We counted 12 in all, so junior travellers will have trouble finding something to argue about when it comes to storing their sustaining fluids. Then again, they can always find something to disagree with one another, can’t they…

There's far less luggage room in the standard-wheelbase Carnival than in the long-wheelbase Grand Carnival. A large suitcase may not fit if you need good legroom in the seats so slide them well rearwards, but a couple of medium sized units can probably be housed.

The three individual seats in the centre row double-fold forwards to further increase load space. Because the rearmost row of seats has a central split, folding down one side means you lose the use of two seats, not just one. All the seats behind the driving compartment can slide back and forward and can be removed completely without too much of a hassle. The rearmost seat doesn’t fold flat into the floor the way it does in the Grand Carnival. 

In its favour, the standard Carnival is easier to park that its Grand brother. The latter needs plenty of space and it may be worth getting out your measuring tape to make sure it fits in the garage if you feel the need for extra luggage room.

You wouldn’t call this people mover a driver’s machine, but it handles in a satisfactory manner with reasonable feel through the steering and decent stability in corners. The speedometer is large and easy to read and the driving position is comfortable. This standard Kia Carnival is simple enough to drive and park with good visibility in all directions.

Ride comfort is good and the work done on suppressing NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) is impressive. There are plenty of late model passenger sedans that aren't as quiet as this moderately-priced people mover when cruising at 100 to 110 km/h on good road surfaces. There's added noise intrusion on rougher surfaces and some bumps are sometimes transmitted fairly harshly into the interior. You wouldn’t say this is only a good-road cruiser, but long trips in the Aussie bush aren't it’s forte.

Our test car was an automatic and the position of the gear selector in the lower part of the dash area works surprisingly well. This layout, combined with a drop down tray between the front seats, gives you the chance to squeeze from the front area into the centre row of seats to settle down a toddler, discuss matters with unruly kids, or the like.

You wouldn’t call it a rocket, but the 2.7-litre V6 engine has decent torque and provides enough get-up-and-go to suit the typical buyer. We didn’t get a chance to load it to the max with kids and luggage, but feel that it will struggle at times on long hills.

Pricing starts at a low $32,990 for the Kia Carnival with a 2.7-litre V6 engine and five-speed manual gearbox. Most owners will opt for the Carnival with four-speed automatic transmission at $34,990. Paying another $1500 buys you the added safety of side and curtain airbags, as well as automatic windscreen wipers.

The Kia Grand Carnival uses a big 3.8-litre V6 engine as well as a five-speed automatic and comes in at $37,990 plus on-road costs. You do get a lot  more for your money in the Grand, not only increased luggage space, but also plenty of performance from that larger V6. But see our comments on possible parking problems.

Kia quality is improving in leaps and bounds and the finish of this latest Carnival is most impressive. In particular, the body and paint finish are almost as good as that of Japanese vehicles in this class, and arguably better than many Europeans. Yet the price of cars from South Korea remains low despite this upward movement in quality