2023 Kia Carnival S V6 Review

While large SUVs take the limelight as the family car of choice these days, with the added benefit of seven (or eight) seats for extra passengers, the third row of these vehicles are generally only suited for children, or teens/adults for shorter trips. Enter the people mover, while not as fashionable, solves these issues, offering more than five functional seats along with large SUV-sized boot area even with all three rows in place. Since the current generation’s release in 2020, the Kia Carnival has topped the people mover sales charts in Australia. Is the 2023 Kia Carnival S still relevant? Let’s find out.

Marketed by Kia as a ‘Grand Utility Vehicle’ or GUV, the Carnival has graduated into its fourth generation, outliving stalwarts such as the Toyota Tarago and Honda Odyssey and remaining enduringly popular with rental car companies and large families, providing that people movers can still do well. The most direct rivals for the Kia Carnival are the Hyundai Staria and the LDV Mifa and we spent a week behind the wheel of a 2023 Kia Carnival S V6 to find out why the Carnival consistently outsells both.

Price & Equipment: 7/10

Our test car, a 2023 Kia Carnival S V6 is the base model of the Carnival range. It’s priced at $51,690 drive away, depending on location, while choosing the optional 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine adds $2,000 to the price. At the time of writing, the Carnival V6 is on hiatus due to worldwide demand – the much more popular locally diesel is still available in Australia.

Equipment standard on the entry level Carnival S includes:

• 17-inch alloy wheels
• Automatic dusk-sensing LED headlights
• LED daytime running lights
• Roof rails
• Urethane steering wheel
• Electronic parking brake
• Intermittent wipers
• Cloth upholstery
• Manual air-conditioning
• Second zone of air conditioning for the second and third rows
• Six-speaker sound system
• 8.0-inch touchscreen
• 4.2-inch driver’s display
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• First and second row USB charging ports
• Eight seats

Receiving a five-star ANCAP safety rating (awarded in 2021), safety equipment for the Carnival S includes:

• Seven airbags
• Adaptive cruise control
• Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection
• Road sign recognition
• Auto high beam
• Traffic sign recognition
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Lane departure warning
• Lane keep assist
• Driver attention monitoring
• Safe exit assist
• Five ISOFIX points
• Rear parking sensors
• Reversing camera
• Burglar alarm

In terms of the Carnival’s value proposition, we think moving one rung higher in the lineup, to the $57,400 drive away Carnival Si (a $5,700 premium over the S) makes a lot of sense. It gains larger 18-inch alloy wheels, front parking sensors, auto-folding mirrors, LED tailights, a leather steering wheel and leather shift knob, digital radio, eight speakers instead of six, a 12.3-inch touchscreen, satellite navigation with live traffic updates, tri-zone automatic climate control and auto window defog – in our opinion, an extremely worthwhile spend.

We do think that the at the current price point, the 2023 Kia Carnival S is a little bit too basic even for the entry level. Adding auto folding mirrors, a leather steering wheel and satellite navigation would make it easier to live with.

We think the closest rivals to the Carnival S V6 are the around $53,600 drive away (depending on location) Hyundai Staria V6 and the around $54,000 drive away (depending on location) LDV MIFA Mode. Over the Carnival, the Hyundai features a 360-degree surround view camera, front parking sensors, a full-sized alloy wheel, larger 18-inch wheels, LED front fog lights, auto-folding mirrors, a partial digital driver’s display, tyre pressure monitoring and a leather steering wheel. The LDV features larger 18-inch alloy wheels, a 7.0-inch driver’s display, a 12.3-inch touchscreen, tyre pressure monitoring and faux leather seats over the Carnival.

Performance & Economy: 8/10

The standard engine in the 2023 Kia Carnival range is a 3.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol V6 that sends power to the front wheels. It produces 216kW of power at 6,400rpm and 355Nm of torque at 5,000rpm. The sole transmission on offer is an eight-speed torque converter automatic and power is sent to the front wheels.

People movers have in the past been marred with a reputation for being on the slower side, but the Carnival is definitely not. The engine is surprisingly powerful and sounds good – it’d feel at home in a performance sedan or a sports coupe. It propels the Carnival along the very well, and the driver is never left looking for more power. It is also quiet at lower revs and consumes less fuel than we’d expect a V6 engine of this size to use. However, even though the V6 is lovely, we’d go with the optional 148kW/440Nm 2.2-litre turbo diesel four-cylinder engine as it’s more efficient and delivers its peak performance much lower in the rev band than the V6.

We applaud Kia for the transmission as it’s well suited to the powerful V6. It is smooth and shifts exactly when you expect it to. In eco mode, it shifts early to keep the revs low and in sport mode it holds gears to keep the Carnival in its power band for more acceleration. There is a manual mode too, but we think the Carnival’s transmission is intuitive enough that most drivers won’t need it.

The claimed average fuel consumption for the 2023 Kia Carnival S V6 is 9.6L/100km with claimed CO2 emissions of 220g/km. Our week behind the wheel of the Carnival saw an average fuel consumption figure of 11.2L/100km, which is not too far from the claim. The Carnival can run on 91RON fuel and has a large 72-litre fuel tank.

Ride & Handling: 9/10

Minivans aren’t traditionally known for their handling ability, often being some of the most unstable and worst handling vehicles around, but we think the Carnival has what it takes to change this perception. We wouldn’t say that the Carnival handles exceptionally well compared to other categories of cars, but within the people mover segment, it’s pretty good. There is a fair amount of body roll but not enough to make you feel unsafe and the Carnival can take corners quite well at speed.

The ride of the 2023 Kia Carnival S, is excellent (especially with its small 17-inch wheels). The suspension is set up for comfort and that is exactly what it delivers – going over speed bumps and the inevitable pot holes of any Australian city is not an uncomfortable experience. This is despite the COVID pandemic, preventing Kia from locally tuning the Carnival’s suspension like it does with most of its models.

Interior & Practicality: 9/10

The cabin of the 2023 Kia Carnival S belies its entry level status, looking less bare than one would expect. There are quite a lot of hard plastics in the interior of the Carnival, though they do feel hard wearing and there are some soft portions on the upper dash and door panels. Storage is plentiful as there are deep door bins, a place for your phone in front of the gear selector, a spot for your wallet and/or keys behind the gear selector, a large centre console, two cupholders and a phone holder in between the cup holders. The cloth seats are comfortable and have a good amount of adjustment, making a comfortable driving position easy to find.

In the centre of the Carnival’s dashboard is a 8.0-inch touchscreen that features wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The system itself is used in many other entry level Hyundai and Kia products and it’s very easy to use, the screen quality is reasonable and overall, it’s an easy system to get used to. Interestingly enough, if you choose the Carnival Si with the larger screen you lose wireless smartphone mirroring. The sound from the six speaker audio system isn’t bad either.

The sliding rear doors are a doddle to operate and they reveal seats trimmed in the same cloth as up front and plentiful legroom. The middle seat folds down to make an arm rest if required and each row features USB-A ports and air conditioning vents – the rear section has its own zone of air conditioning. The second row folds up and away to make easy access to the third row. Once in the back row, there is ample room for even two adults. Both rows have plenty of leg, head and shoulder-room, making the Carnival a true people hauler.

Open the boot to reveal up to a sizeable 627-litre boot with all seats in place, folding the third row into the floor (which is very easy to do with the labelled levers) makes the Carnival a five-seater and increases the cargo space to a massive 2,785L. The second row of seating does not fold into the floor or anything clever, but they do tilt forward and slide up against the front seats to open up even more space.

Service & Warranty: 8/10

Being a Kia, the Carnival people mover comes with a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. LDV offers the Mifa with with the same term as the Kia, but only up to 200,000km. The Hyundai Staria comes with a lesser five-year term, two years less than the Carnival and LDV. Roadside assistance is offered for a single year upfront, but at every scheduled service through a Kia dealership, a further 12 months is added for up to eight years in total.

Servicing the 2023 Kia Carnival S V6 occurs every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first and rhe cost to service the Carnival V6 over the span of five-years or 75,000km is $2,491 (an average yearly service cost of $498.20). In comparison the Hyundai Staria V6 has the same service intervals but will cost $2,100 over five-years or 75,000km (each service for the first five-years is $420).

2023 Kia Carnival S V6 DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.2/10

The 2023 Kia Carnival S V6 surprised us, we went into our week thinking that being a heavy petrol V6 minivan, it would chew through the fuel and have boat like handling. We were proven wrong as the engine got close to its claimed average fuel consumption figure and the Carnival handles better than most people movers. We do think, however, that adding features like a leather steering wheel and shift knob, satellite navigation and auto wipers would make the Carnival a better well rounded product.

The interior is exactly what you expect for a Carnival: very spacious and very practical. Pile the kids in for the school drop off or pack the bags into the back and go for a road trip and the Carnival is ready to help make those family memories. We do wish that the second row of seating could be folded away or tilt up to provide more cargo space when not in use but overall we love the Carnival and believe that it proves that people movers still have a place in modern Australia.