Kia Grand Carnival Reviews

The little Carnival will remain on sale next to its larger sibling, giving Kia a two-pronged attack on the segment that it looks set to own.The Grand Carnival borrows plenty of inspiration from some its higher-priced competition and the road-test vehicle had more than a few niceties on its features list.What will become options once the Kia brand shifts from the Ateco Automotive to a factory-owned subsidiary remains to the seen, but the fundamentals of the eight-seater will remain unchanged when it rolls on to Kia sales lots later this month. The new Grand Carnival is powered by a 3.8-litre V6 that shames previous Korean offerings for smoothness, quietness and outputs.The variable-valve double-overhead cam engine generates 184kW of power at 6000rpm, with peak torque of 343Nm arriving about 2500rpm earlier. The big eight-seater weighs in at 1990kg, but feels far more nimble than the power-to-weight ratio might suggest.Kia claims a 0-100km/h time of 10.5 seconds, which may not sound like much.But when you're talking about the closest thing to a private school bus short of buying your own Coaster, it's more than adequate. Cruising up Willunga Hill with five adults, a washing machine and a car fridge packed with Christmas cheer on board, the Grand Carnival maintained the speed limit on cruise control.It finally resorted to third gear but never required masses of revs to complete the task.The Grand Carnival gets a five-speed auto with a "manual shift", but the strong engine package meant the manual shift was rarely used. The only bugbear was the power-mode button for the automatic being mounted on a ceiling control panel.The Grand Carnival sits on a new rear multi-link suspension and has a McPherson strut front suspension mounted on a subframe for reduced noise and vibration.The noise intrusion is well controlled and the suspension is better damped than much of the automotive product that has come from Korea in the past, offering a decent ride and a well-controlled body.While Kia has not come up with its own version of Chrysler's clever second-row seat system, the Grand Carnival does offer flexible seating – three individual seats in the second row that can be folded or removed, with the third row folding flat into the floor.With the third row in use, there is still ample luggage space thanks to the cavity from which the third row springs.Kia claims the cabin will hold eight adults and still have 1cu m of cargo space on offer – but fold the third row away and it increases to 2.3cu m.With the middle row folded up flat against the front row of seats, a load space of 3.1cu m is offered, rising to more than 4cu m for the trip to the dump with post Christmas packaging and empties with both rows folded away.However, building to a price is evident in the seating, which misses a centre lap-sash belt for the second and third row centre occupant. But airconditioning vents for all three rows and controls in the back may make up for that in some buyer's minds.The seating is comfortable and offers decent leg room for adults in the back row, although the pop-out rear side windows allowed the smell of exhaust fumes in.Automatic electric doors (operable from the key fob) were fitted to this example, handy when loading and unloading the masses. As it sat in the driveway, the Grand Carnival on test had a price tag in the mid $40,000, thanks to the addition of a $200 leather/wood steering wheel, $2500 worth of leather trim.The top-spec car also has a six-CD in-dash stacker audio system for $900, the $1200 electric side doors, 16in alloys for $1500, side and window airbags priced at $1500 and $150 for the rain sensing wipers.The Grand Carnival's starting price will be $36,990 and includes cruise control, ABS brakes with EBD, dual front airbags, remote central locking and cruise control.Buyers have the option of adding side and curtain airbags, a leather-trimmed steering wheel and rain-sensing wipers for $1500.While the Grand Carnival won't provide massive increases in volume for Kia, it is a showcase for how quickly the Korean brand is catching up with the mainstream Japanese and European manufacturers.