Kia Grand Carnival Problems

The current Grand Carnival gets The Tick but its all-new replacement has already been previewed at this year's New York motor show and we're expecting it early in 2015 with huge improvements. Wait.

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.

It does affect the warranty in as much as the carmaker’s warranty would no longer cover the engine and anything affected by the installation of the system. If you wanted a warranty on those components you would need to buy a warranty from the LPG system installer. As a general rule a vehicle uses around 20 per cent more LPG than it does petrol, but the extra fuel is offset by the lower price of LPG. EMR have a sequential vapour-injection system that is said to work well, and the tank goes in the storage cavity in the rear, so there is minimal impact on the boot space.

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.

The Grand Carnival will seat eight, with space left over for luggage, but it's a big vehicle and that counts against it in terms of fuel consumption and agility. Having one with stability control would help keep it under control in an emergency, so I would suggest you go with the later model to ensure you get that feature. Should you decide the 2009 model is too much of a stretch, I wouldn't be too concerned about buying an ex-rental car; they have relatively low kilometres and are not the typical cars that are rented by people who beat them up. Even so, I would check them carefully, just to be sure you're not getting that one lemon that has been abused.