A Bigger Wagon. 2022 Kia Carnival SX Purchased.

[ryster]

So this expensive van does not have Homelink garage buttons. My mom's 2002 Dakota had those. Also missing is any form of on board 4G LTE. It's got these entertainment screens but no built in way to play a DVD/Blu Ray or have high speed data. You have to tether to a hotspot/tablet.

I cleared enough room in the garage for this longer vehicle and pulled it in last night. It knew i was pulling into a garage and turned on a front view camera as well as the 360 birds eye cam. Very cool and high res video of what is in front and on the sides. You would have to be extremely careless to crash this thing in a parking situation.

Auto-dimming rearview mirror with Homelink is a $350 option. One would think that this day and age it would be included by all automakers on mid-level trims and higher.

There are even some luxury brands that do not offer standard Homelink on some models.

In terms of on board wifi, I think many automakers just assume that people can use their smartphones as mobile hotspots if they need wifi in their car. My Chevy has on board 4G LTE and I have never activated it. The car will be 6 years old next week.

 

[HemiBenny]

That's a good looking ride! I really like the design of the new Kia's.

 

[tbm5690]

So this expensive van does not have Homelink garage buttons. My mom's 2002 Dakota had those. Also missing is any form of on board 4G LTE. It's got these entertainment screens but no built in way to play a DVD/Blu Ray or have high speed data. You have to tether to a hotspot/tablet.

I cleared enough room in the garage for this longer vehicle and pulled it in last night. It knew i was pulling into a garage and turned on a front view camera as well as the 360 birds eye cam. Very cool and high res video of what is in front and on the sides. You would have to be extremely careless to crash this thing in a parking situation.

I agree that the Homelink missing is odd. I would buy a new mirror and swap it out...that is if your current one has a power source. Could be difficult otherwise.

 

[98_SNAKE_EATER]

Love the rear seats







Just like the ones in my Sienna beater

 

[Huie83]

Pretty cool, like a mini-mini van, perfect for smaller families. Too bad they chose such an odd name.

 

[PimTac]

Pretty cool, like a mini-mini van, perfect for smaller families. Too bad they chose such an odd name.

It’s actually the name they have used for that model since its inception. For whatever reason they changed it to Sedona for the US market.

 

[dareo]

I'm fine with the name, in fact i prefer it to Sedona. It is good to distance the new one from the old one when it is so much improved.

The Presitige seats are a neat party trick but the price is too high. I don't mean $$$ but in losing the tremendous flexibility the 8 passenger versions offer. SX Prestige is like a mini van for grown ups, not for young kids. I will only have a family of 5 but kids have friends or a grandma that might come along too.

 

[csandste]

I'm fine with the name, in fact i prefer it to Sedona. It is good to distance the new one from the old one when it is so much improved.

The Presitige seats are a neat party trick but the price is too high. I don't mean $$$ but in losing the tremendous flexibility the 8 passenger versions offer. SX Prestige is like a mini van for grown ups, not for young kids. I will only have a family of 5 but kids have friends or a grandma that might come along too.

Sedona always sounded like it should be an SUV and Sorento sounded like a van. I do prefer Carnival for this car. At least Kia isn't giving alpha numeric model numbers other than the sedans. Optima was a far better name than K5.

 

[Supersonic]

The center console shift is the best feature for one who still shifts into neutral when coming to a stop, others have put that shift up closer to the steering wheel so it's likely going to be Kia for my mini-vans from now on. Funny thing is I was totally going to stay with Toyota, but they moved their shifter and went to the 10k OCI, mind you I buy used, so when ready to sell that one cheap...

And the other is the transmission, I have the 6 speed in a 2012, response and up-shifts are spot on. I made the mistake of looking into the 2016 model while buying parts at the dealer, saw the center console shift and now that "a naturally aspirated 3.5 V6 coming in at 290 hp without" I'm more interested, though I'd be more likely to gravitate toward the slightly used 3.3 GDI price-wise.

 

[BLND1]

I’d rock the carnival if/when I needed the passenger capacity. Definitely would take one over a full-size SUV.

 

[svtrit]

I’m a huge fan of the Chrysler vans (on my 4th one now), but will admit they have quality issues. The price is what has kept me in them compared to the competition.

Thanks for this review. I may look at a used one a a couple years, when my 2014 T&C needs replacement. KIA and Hyundia seem to be pumping out quality machines now.

 

[dareo]

Carnivals coming up on 4,000 miles. Might change the oil soon. It’s been great. It drives small and doesnt seem big. However, its quite big inside. No issues other than the onboard inverter is not working, but that is a widespread issue. Buy the brand new release and deal with teething. 2023 Carnival should be even better.

 

[MattPersman]

I don’t know that I have seen on still yet in the flesh strangely. Plenty of the new Siennas though. I don’t know if there availability was low like the telluride was during all this covid and post covid world

 

[dareo]

I don’t know that I have seen on still yet in the flesh strangely. Plenty of the new Siennas though. I don’t know if there availability was low like the telluride was during all this covid and post covid world

8165 carnivals have been sold february-June. Kia has got to be having a hard time getting these shipped into the country. They are made in Korea, 85% korean parts. Ocean freight costs are really high alongside trucking freight costs.

Sienna and Telluride are assembled in the USA so they don’t have that boat ride and importation delay to contend with.

Owning one, you tend to notice them more, i would say i have seen about 10 other Carnivals. I do live in Utah where large families create a saturation of mini vans and large SUV.

I might have bought the Sienna if they had the V6 hybrid powertrain as an option.

 

[JHZR2]

Nice van! Interesting to hear it has much improved on the Sedona. When we were shopping, we looked at all the vans, and narrowed it down to the Caravan/T&C, and the Odyssey. The rest had issues and things we didn’t like. As I recall from the Kia, it was economy, how the seats connected, and how poor the vehicle was wearing at the car show. They tried hard to make it fancy, but it seemed to miss the mark on quality. Good to hear this one is improved over the Sedona.

I do like the longer hood, Not for the reason that people want it to look more like an SUV (silly, IMO), but rather because the engine should be more accessible, and there’s more structure in case of a crash.

I like the OP comment about putting sliding doors on a suburban and call it a day. That was my ideal, and my wish before we got a minivan. Get a real truck/SUV, with real capability, not these car based truck looking things that people want because they want the space of a van, but women feel like their mothers when driving them, and men need to feel less effeminate. If you want an suv, bite the bullet and get the real thing… but sliding doors are just so practical and convenient compared to swing out doors, especially in tight spots… so put sliding doors on a suburban and have the ultimate capability and convenience vehicle.

 

[PeterGreen]

Saw one in person. KIA has hired some good stylists.

I recently saw a KIA k-900 (which has been discontinued.) From fifty feet away hard to tell it apart from a Mercedes S-Class

 

[dareo]

Kia adds 4G LTE via an over the air update today. I figured this thing should have it and i guess i can.

It’s been a good van. You wont see the MPG of a sienna or pac-hy but i am pleased to look upon it and open its throttle.

 

[nicholas]

So this expensive van does not have Homelink garage buttons. My mom's 2002 Dakota had those. Also missing is any form of on board 4G LTE. It's got these entertainment screens but no built in way to play a DVD/Blu Ray or have high speed data. You have to tether to a hotspot/tablet.

I cleared enough room in the garage for this longer vehicle and pulled it in last night. It knew i was pulling into a garage and turned on a front view camera as well as the 360 birds eye cam. Very cool and high res video of what is in front and on the sides. You would have to be extremely careless to crash this thing in a parking situation.

Strange
The Canadian
Models get homelink