Review: Kia Carnival LX SWB

The American mini-van done Korean-style, and done pretty well.

WORDS Niky Tamayo  | 4 May 2008

I'm kinda bitter about this car, because, if my schedule had permitted, this would've been my chariot to Baguio. But the life of a test-vehicle is hard, and they’re always in demand. This particular one was booked solid, and when we finally got our slot, the vehicle was in the shop. Kia explained that that they needed to double-check the suspension after FHM’s stint with it. Thus, the Carnival arrived just after I'd left for my trip up North. I finally get my hands on the Carnival on my weekend layover between Baguio and Laguna... and it's stuck doing ice cream runs for the barkada. But what a 'gimik' mobile this is! The Carnival is the latest evolution of Kia's American-style Minivan... the weapon of choice for the American Soccer Mom driving her kids to and from school. But as such, it's ironically categorized, because there's simply nothing 'mini' about it. This is one huge car. It's bigger and wider than most SUVs in this price range. In fact, if it didn't have sliding side doors, there's no way I could actually climb out of it once I'd squeezed it inside the garage. And with its truck-like girth and height, it's a fair bet that it'd be an intimidating drive for your typical Filipina Soccer Mom. She'd need to be American-sized just to see over the dashboard. For all its girth, the Carnival isn't exactly a minibus. Our Short Wheelbase tester only had seven seats, two captains' chairs in front three reclining and sliding buckets in the second row and two more in the third. It also has an additional lapbelt, third row center, for anyone willing to sit on the ridge between the buckets. But since most Pinoys are willing to forego seatbelts anyway... and the center row is wide enough to comfortably sit four people, a whole lot of kids can cram into the Carnival for a run down to the local cantina for some halo-halo. And despite being packed as full as a Cubao-Quiapo Jeepney in the noontime summer heat, the airconditioning performed wonderfully. But while there's space for nine inside, the luggage space to service them isn't. With the seats installed and legroom maximized, there's exactly enough space for a golf bag or two. So your weekend golfing group is going to have to share clubs. But if you need to carry... say... an ATM Machine... then the Carnival's flexible seating will prove a boon. All five rear buckets (three in the middle row, two in the back) tumble and dismount. Yup. That's right. The Carnival can transform from a seven seater with very little luggage space into a five seater with a lot of space or a two seater with the cargo capacity of a FedEx van. That's if you can get all the seats to unmount. After sweating and straining and spending nearly thirty minutes huffing and puffing to remove seats, Marvin and I realized that there's no way your typical Soccer Mom, even with the help of Soccer Dad, would actually ever try to do this. Ever. Those suckers are heavy. FHM probably removed them to film some... errh... athletic activity in the cavernous rear... well... there's got to be a reason the suspension was wonky after they returned it... right? But... aherm... we're bigbigcar.com... our favorite sport is driving, and surprisingly, here, the truck-sized Carnival doesn't disappoint. It may be truckishly heavy, but the Carnival has one firecracker of an engine... 2.9 liters of turbocharged, direct-injected diesel fury. 183 hp and 320 Nm of torque. That's enough to propel the Carnival to 100 km/h in just 11.6 seconds... it would be faster if you could get over the endemic wheel hop... this is, after all, a front-wheel drive vehicle with the majority of its two ton plus bulk sitting behind the drive wheels. This CRDi is tuned for good response and low-rpm running. It makes the most power between 1800 rpm and 3600 rpm, which encourages you to short shift it. But you can leave it in third gear, and it'll pull from just over 1000 rpm without complaint... the power coming on smoothly, like in a gasoline-powered V6. Which is just as well, since the shifter and clutch are on the balky side. With an engine this good, though, who needs a manual? The automatic would be the much better choice. And since it's a diesel, the fuel economy penalty shouldn't be so bad. We got around 7 km/l in the city and 9.8 km/l on the highway. THE GOOD Space Tons of Space Did I mention the space? Great engine Good suspension THE BAD Wide as the Titanic Lack of toys Cruddy shifter and clutch Fiddly removable seats THE LOWDOWN Perfect for family use, but for long trips, the long wheelbase version makes much more sense. Oh, and you'll want the automatic. The steering is slow, but road feel is decent, and the Carnival is remarkably easy to drive, with just those wide hips posing a problem on narrow streets. While you're always aware of the weight behind you, the Carnival doesn’t pitch or dive like other vehicles this heavy. In fact, the Carnival is remarkably stable and forgiving in emergency maneuvers. Much better, actually, than the smaller and lighter Carens. It's difficult to find fault with the Carnival's road manners, except for some low speed thump due to the huge 17” wheels. But at high speeds and over rough roads, this big van feels pretty well-composed. A pleasant surprise, as this suggests that the Carnival, unlike some other Hyundai-Kia products, actually has decent shock absorbers. What's also decent is the interior trim. There are the typically cheap Korean touches, like hard plastic on the doors and a dashboard center console that looks like a cheap Korean appliance (chintzy light chrome on black... big no-no)... but the dashboard cover is actually near-Toyota in quality and the fabrics are unobjectionable. The built in stereo is a bit flat, though. In fact, there's a lack of toys and luxuries on this base LX model: no DVD, no leather, no power-sliding doors like on the top-of-the-line EX. It's no big deal, considering the price, as this van beat out the fully-kitted top-of-the-line Innova, Crosswind and Fuzion variants in the Philippine Car of The Year contest... simply because all the toys in the world can't beat the biggest luxury you can find on Manila's crowded streets... space. Tons of it. Space to recline, spread out, and catch a few Zzz's in the perennial Manila traffic. But if you actually need to leave Manila every once in a while, the long wheelbase model, with a third row that folds flat into the floor, would be the better choice. At least then, you wouldn't have to spend half-day before the trip fiddling with those damnable removable seats.

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