Kia Grand Carnival 2010 Problems

The Avenso Versis is a good all-rounder in the people-mover class. Other people-movers you could consider are the Honda Odyssey, Kia Grand Carnival, or VW Caddy Life, you could consider SUVs like the Ford Territory or Nissan Dualis.

You haven't said whether you want to buy new or second-hand, but with your requirements and just $22,000 to spend I would guess that you're looking for used model. My recommendation would be a 2010/2011 Kia Grand Carnival diesel. It would have the room you need, the economy you want, and it would be reliable.

Kia never recalled the Carnival, instead preferring to rebuild engines as needed. The problem was with the head gaskets of the early cars and Kia’s approach was to replace the head gaskets when the engine was rebuilt, but some owners report having the rebuilt engine fail as well. That suggests the fix wasn’t altogether successful.

Fitting LPG will void the manufacturer's warranty with respect to anything that had been modified in fitting the system. To cover the system and the installation you would need to get a warranty from the installer. EMR have a vapour-injection system they have successfully installed on the Kia Grand Carnival with the 3.8-litre V6 engine. The LPG tank is fitted in the rear storage compartment, so it has minimal impact on the rear of the cabin.

If you're using mostly it around town, as I suspect you are, the consumption is about what I would expect.

Kia's own claims for fuel consumption for urban (city) use is 15.1L/100km, and the driving range is a little over 500km, smack on what you say you are getting.

The average of combined urban (city) and extra-urban (country) is claimed by Kia to be 10.9L/100km.

The bottom line is that it's a big blob of a vehicle with a relatively large engine doing the work, that's not a recipe for fuel low consumption.