RD Drives the Kia Carnival 8-Seater: When You Need a Bus for a Party of Eight

The new Kia Carnival can do one better than most MPVs in the market. Where most MPVs can only shoehorn seven people, the Carnival easily accommodates eight adults. And it gets more impressive when you take into account that all eight adults are seated comfortably with the weekend luggage sitting snug behind the third-row seats.

With a wheelbase of over three metres long, the Carnival has plenty of room to play with the seating arrangement. In fact, the Carnival being offered with seven, eight and 11 seats should tell you just how malleable the configuration can be.

You can seat your passengers in a forward-facing position or turn the second row around so everyone faces each other. This all comes down to the removable second-row seats, which splits into three single seats. Yes, you can leave the middle seat at home and turn the eight-seater into a seven-seater. The second-row seats are locked on rails so sliding them forward and backward is easy.

The third row is fixed and can be easily folded flat into the Carnival’s floor. The third row isn’t the typical children-sized seats but can fully accommodate a child and two adults. Heads, shoulders and legs have plenty of room to move around.

And the cargo space? Fully occupied, the Carnival has space for two large suitcases standing side-by-side. Or, one could stack them up to carry more things. For maximum carrying capacity, leave the second-row seats at home to open up floor space that measures 1,200mm wide by 2,400mm long. Yes, turning this into a makeshift ‘motorhome’ for two is entirely possible.

Aside from the spaciousness and plush seats, a separate climate control panel is fixed to the ceiling that allows rear passengers to customise the fan speed and temperature to their liking. A highlight for convenience is the inclusion of four USB ports at the back – two behind the front-row seats and two on the third row’s armrests – which wins more points for the Carnival.

Kia has also blessed the front row with spaciousness. The seats are wide as they are luxurious, yet hold you in place. Both front-row seats are equipped with blowers that pipe in cool air straight to your own rear end. Motorised seats and tilt-telescopic steering wheel allow the driver to slip right into the cockpit as how one would into a comfy bedroom slipper from a five-star hotel.

In front of the driver, in place of the typical analogue instrument cluster is a very wide 12.3-inch Supervision Cluster screen. With a larger screen comes a larger font size that improves the legibility of the various menus the driver has to dive into to customise settings. The screen also changes themes in line with the change of drive modes.

A similarly sized 12.3-inch capacitive touch-screen is also found on the centre stack that houses all of the media functions, and car settings and even allows control of the rear climate control. Its predominantly black and white design is a touch of class and kudos to Kia for resisting having colours here. Music, or podcasts, are reproduced by 12 Bose speakers.

Below the screen are the slim air vents that look as if it is one whole piece, thanks to the chrome trim that runs across it. Features that require quick and intuitive access like volume, fan speed and temperature settings exist as physical buttons – a very good thing!

Running down to the transmission tunnel, Kia has replaced the gear selector from stick to dial. Operation is easy, if not take a little getting used to where D and R are placed. The rotary gear selector also seems to open up space in the cockpit.

Speaking of gears, the Carnival moves via its front wheels and gets power from a sweetly-tuned 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine that does not sound like one. You may hear the tappets tapping when standing near the engine but the usual diesel engine sounds are quite muted in the cabin.

Under acceleration from a standstill, the Carnival doesn’t require as much effort to get moving. You will feel the bulk of the weight being overcome by the sheer force of the engine but quickly settles down into a stately cruise. Catching yourself clocking speeds over the national limit is normal. At high speeds, the cabin retains the hushed environment that removes clues of how fast the MPV is moving.

The 72-litre fuel tank is good for a range of around 850km, good for driving from Johor Bahru to Kangar. The range fluctuates depending on how gentle you are on the accelerator. Having a lighter right foot and driving on the highways can see that range go up to over 900km.

Active safety systems will keep your journey safe. The Kia Carnival comes with all the bells and whistles that will alert you if you’re approaching too close to the object in front and behind, if you’re straying away from your lane and if there’s another vehicle in your blind spot. Plus, you have all the cameras in the world to make parking this behemoth easy. What I personally like is the Rear Occupant Alert that comes on every time the engine is turned off to remind you not to leave anyone behind.