- The
Kia Carnival is the replacement for the old Sedonaminivan . It starts at $32,100. - We drove the most expensive version of the Carnival, the SX Prestige, for a week. It costs $47,770.
In life, at least two things are true: style is cyclical and empires fall. The same goes for cars.
Minivans, station wagons, sedans: All once had their heydays in the US and then fell from popularity, deemed out of style by the masses as other vehicles replaced them.
But the 2022
The 2022 Carnival: A modern chariot
There are only four new minivans still sold in America: the Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, Chrysler Pacifica, and the Carnival.
The Carnival arrived for the 2022 model year as Kia's replacement for the Sedona, complete with new looks and offerings. Kia gave it a boxy, SUV-style appearance and decided to call it a "multipurpose vehicle" instead of a minivan, but included the staple sliding minivan doors and optional captain's chairs in the middle row.
The Carnival starts at $32,100, and every model features a 290-horsepower V6 engine, front-wheel drive, an eight-speed automatic transmission, and seating for either seven or eight passengers. Its five trims run as such:
- Kia Carnival LX ($32,100): comes with manual-folding side mirrors, LED headlights, power-sliding rear doors, daytime-running lights, 17-inch alloy wheels, an eight-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, voice recognition, a six-speaker audio system, a six-way adjustable driver's seat, a four-way adjustable passenger seat, and driver-assistance technology
- Kia Carnival LX Seat Package ($34,100): adds a 10-way power-adjustable driver's seat, heated front seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and a leather wrapped shift knob
- Kia Carnival EX ($37,600): adds 19-inch alloy wheels, a 12.3-inch touchscreen, navigation, an eight-speaker audio system, and more driver-assistance features
- Kia Carnival SX ($41,100): adds power-folding side mirrors, roof rails, a rear-seat entertainment system, additional USB outlets in the second row, ventilated front seats, and a surround-view camera to show all 360 degrees around the vehicle
- Kia Carnival SX Prestige ($46,100): adds full LED headlights, a 12-speaker Bose audio system, genuine leather seat trim, a heated steering wheel, a blind-view monitor, and second-row "VIP" captain's chairs
There was only one option added to my SX Prestige Carnival: Astra Blue paint for $495. With that and standard purchasing fees, the final price came to $47,770.
The Carnival received the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick rating — one spot below the highest title, Top Safety Pick Plus — with top crash ratings in every category. But only the $46,100 SX Prestige trim got the organization's best headlight-safety rating; every other trim got its worst headlight rating due to inadequate visibility.
What stands out: affordable luxury
My husband and I spent an evening in the Carnival's VIP second-row seats, where we leaned them all the way flat as he watched YouTube videos on the van's video screens and I attempted to see how good its child-safety precautions were by closing my limbs in the windows and doors. (They were good. I only hurt myself a little.)
When we got out, we looked at each other.
—Alanis King (@alanisnking) August 20, 2021
"Is this the greatest
"This might be the greatest car ever made," he said.
The Kia Carnival makes you want to spend all day in it. It makes you want to sleep in it. It makes you wonder how a family could ever dream of having a road-trip fight in it.
It might be a family van, but it makes you wonder why luxury chauffeur cars even exist. They're flashy and expensive, sure, but the value proposition? As you sit in the Carnival's second-row seats — laid out, phone charging in the USB port next to you, gazing out of its two sunroofs with an air vent on your face, and adjusting your personal climate controls — you realize that you don't need more than this $50,000 family van. You'd be silly to think you did.
This, you think, This is where I want to be.
There are cup holders everywhere, including four in the center console for the driver and front passenger. The black-and-caramel interior scheme on our loaner — including two-tone leather, two-tone interior door panels, and a shiny black-and-silver dashboard — looks upscale. The exterior looks just as sleek. The speaker sound is good for everyone, from the front row to the third.
The van is so big that, if only for a moment, you think you could live out of it. It might even be fun.
Kia also made sure the Carnival's top-trim interior is cohesive, even if it switches from supple accent leathers and door materials in the front seats to harder, more durable ones to handle kids riding in the back. You don't notice the change unless you're looking for it, and the van's owners still get to reap all of the benefits.
Outside of a $360,000 McLaren 720S, the Carnival is perhaps the most popular review loaner I've ever had. Friends and family saw the photos of the VIP seats online and would rush out to see the car when I was driving it, each hopping in the second row, reclining the chairs for themselves, and letting the air vents blow the summer heat off of their faces.
They checked out the 360-degree parking camera and the one that monitors rear passenger activity. They marveled at how, if the Carnival didn't have sliding doors, you'd think it was an SUV. They sat and soaked it up, just as we had before them.
If that's any indication of how others feel, the Carnival is exactly the slam dunk Kia intended it to be.
What falls short: susceptible to stains and grime
The Carnival has few flaws.
The van's light-gray headliner — a feature that often appears on cheaper cars in place of color-matched material, which felt especially odd in a vehicle as nice as the Carnival — distracts from the beauty of its caramel and black interior. If the headliner were black instead, it would accomplish two goals: making the interior even prettier and avoiding stains.
Stains? you think. Gravity exists. No one's going to stain the roof of their car.
I've seen roof stains, dear reader. You're not immune, and roof stains aren't cute.
The van also suffers from something many other new cars do: piano-black accents and a shiny, grime-magnet of a touchscreen. Piano black is a loathsome material that modern automakers love to use, despite the fact that it looks good for 12 seconds before it needs to be fully wiped down (or ripped out and replaced).
There's a ton of piano black surrounding the Carnival's front seats, and it will attract all of your dust particles and finger grease. I'm sorry in advance.
—Alanis King (@alanisnking) August 27, 2021
The Carnival's steering is dull, it's slow to accelerate, and its front-wheel-drive system struggles to put the van's power down if you need to floor it. Your front wheels will wiggle back and forth just slightly, but other than making you feel a little silly, it's not an issue.
There's dull road noise on rough surfaces and slight wind noise on highways, but that can be washed out by a low radio volume (or the existential peace that comes from being reclined all the way back in those second-row seats).
But the most glaring issue isn't about comfort or road noise. It's that the Carnival doesn't have a hybrid option like other minivans on the market, meaning buyers are doomed to get 22 mpg combined unless one comes around. Whether that's worth it is up to you.
Our impressions: perfection in minivan form
Kia might want you to think of the Carnival as a "multipurpose vehicle" instead of a minivan, since minivans ceased to be "cool" a couple of decades ago. But the Carnival is a minivan, and it's a damn good one.
It's also a three-row chariot that sells for less than $50,000 in its highest trim, which is incredible in a car market where the average new vehicle costs $45,000.
The Carnival doesn't just challenge your long-held stereotypes about the things people drive — it asks you why you'd care to spend thousands more on a lesser car for the sake of what others think. If someone who didn't bother to figure that out sees you driving one and makes a worn-out joke about soccer practice, go ahead and laugh.
Just know you're laughing at them, not with them.