Kia Carnival HEV test bench | Look at her less, look at her better

The van segment is devastated, but the carnival resists. Like the Pacifica, Odyssey or Sienna, the Kia tries to survive in a market where consumers have eyes only for SUVs. Too bad, the carnival has better to offer them, in several respects.

It is by multiplying the visual codes associated with utilities that the Kia carnival sought to seduce. And Kia endeavored to highlight them with barely contained exuberance: vertical grille, long hood, flat roof and headlights with complex contours. Even the large ornament which detaches, on both sides, the rear door of Custode ice wakes to look away from the groove in which the sliding doors slip. Yes, the carnival is a van. And you don't like the vans.

In terms of style, the carnival makes it a lot. A little too much, no doubt. She accumulates materials, chrome lines and style effects, reminding us that before the arrival of Montreal stylist Karim Habib, Kia tended to overwhelm several of her models.

The general appearance of the Kia Carnival has not fundamentally evolved. At most the profile of the new model was a little more massive. But it is not only on its external aspect that we must judge this model. The carnival is first of all a cabin and an atmosphere. Its designers understood this well: this time, they pushed even further the concept of the “mobile house”.

Of course, modularity remains one of its strengths, even if Kia did not make an additional effort when the model is overhauled in 2020 to create a variable geometry cabin. Let us attenuate this criticism, however, since the congenital defect of all vans (and SUVs too), to which the carnival does not escape, it is the modest capacity of the trunk when seven or eight people are transported. Even if the family has only three heirs, the overflow of luggage is quickly reached.

But Kia knows very well that no one expects to make each trip a real move. As everyone also knows that passengers who are allocated the places of the last rank generally seek to negotiate with the occupants of the previous row to modify the allocation of places. All the more so if the consumer opts for the SX+ declination ($ 56,445), which has two reclining relaxation armchairs lined with a leg rest. The best seats, for sure.

At the front, the seats offer a comfortable seat and a file to adequate support for long -term trips. An imposing console deprives us of the free movement offered to us by the vans before. The finish is neat, the materials flourish good quality. The steering column that is both tilting and telescopic allows you to simmer a pleasant driving position.

The soft lines of the dashboard are masked by the essential electruminescent slab which is responsible for both informing and entertaining us. To distract us a little, although the ordering of menus and submenus appears rather user-friendly and pragmatic.

Space the supplies

The carnival treats its occupants, but also thinks of who will be at its wheel. This same person will undoubtedly also have the financial responsibility to have it rolled. Just to lighten operating expenses and help the planet breathe a little, Kia is offering a hybrid engine this year. This consists of a 1.6-liter four-cylinder supercharged by turbocharger and an electric motor. Although the combined power of these two propellants does not outdo that of the 3.5 -liter V6 (still offered), this union still makes it possible to produce more torque and especially better performance at the pump.

Indeed, the V6 motor carnival consumes an average of 11.1 l/100 km, against 7.2 l/100 km for the hybrid version, according to data compiled by Natural Resources Canada. Environmental gain is just as important, since the hybrid carnival displays a more enviable environmental assessment. And financially? It will take almost five years (if the price of gasoline remains what it is today) to absorb the additional $ 6050 required by Kia to retain the services of a hybrid carnival.

Apart from the softness of operation and a zest of flexibility, the hybrid version has, strictly speaking, nothing to envy to the V6. Not even its towing capacity.

The hybrid carnival puts a few tenths of a second more to reach cruising speed on the fast tracks, but this is not an important criterion for buyers in this category. In terms of comfort, the carnival, like all kia, is rather firmly suspended above the road. Comfort is a little, but nothing dramatic. The management, on the other hand, sins by apathy and slowness. These characteristics contribute to making the driving not very inspiring, and sometimes even a little exhausting on winding roads where the underweight carnival and lack of agility. But this pachydermal behavior, you already knew it. This is one of the reasons most often mentioned by our readers so as not to get one.