Kia breathes life into MPV design with Carnival
There is more than meets the eye with Kia’s new Carnival, which looks like an SUV but has the space and flexibility of an MPV
The all-new 2022 Kia Carnival has been unveiled. It replaces the outgoing Sedona, which was certainly looking dated, and instead draws on a more modern design direction with clear inspiration from the Telluride, Sorento and Seltos.
The first noticeable aspect of the Carnival is its silhouette, hinting to the fact that this MPV has very unusual underpinnings. It shares the same platform as the Sorento SUV and K5 sedan. The flat bonnet (with the new Kia logo) and chunky wheel arches are far more SUV than MPV. Also, cut off the back quarter of glass and roof and, hey presto, you have yourself a tough-looking pick-up.
At the front, Kia’s “tiger-nose” grille is connected to the headlamps by chrome strips, the top of which runs the entire width in one continuous line. This results in a more cohesive appearance when compared to the lamps and grille on the Sedona, which were clearly separated. The lamps are far smaller and more angular – a trend that seems to be sweeping across car design.
The front lamps are connected to the rear ones by a clear belt line that runs the length of the car, grazing the top of the door handles in its path. There is some jazzy textured silver metal separating the back windows from the others and a narrow strip of glossy black material extending from the rear lamps before finishing above the rear wheels, but otherwise the sides are kept clean.
The back is characterised by the light bar – another prominent trend. The body work here is kept simple, with a single groove and line underneath it dissecting the boot lid and back haunches into three layers. The bumper pushes upwards and houses the reflectors, hinting again at the Carnival’s SUV influence.
Inside, the Carnival takes a whopping big jump forward in terms of modernisation and technology over the Sedona. There are far fewer buttons and switches, with a greater focus on three materials: leather, glossy black plastic, and chrome.
A high centre console separates driver from passenger and includes a small cluster of switches used for activating heated seating, the heated steering wheel and parking aids. Glossy black plastic surrounds the gear stick and cupholders, extending up to house the climate control functions before meeting the dash.
The dash is split into three main sections, the upper finished in leather with detailed stitching, a middle silver layer textured with small indentations and air vents tucked away, and a lower made of hard plastic. There is also a small ledge at the base of the windshield that joins the doors and each end, cocooning the front passengers. A large unit mounted to the upper dash area houses both the 8-inch touchscreen and the driver instrument cluster.
The three main materials all feature on the doors, as well as some hard plastic. There is a nice touch to the bottom third, where the speaker mesh is integrated into the hard plastic, and slowly dissipates as it pushes towards the middle of the door.
It’s all pretty slick, but MPV interiors are created with one factor in mind: space. The Carnival has three rows of seats, and Kia says that it can comfortably carry eight passengers. This is due to best-in-class 168.2 cubic feet of passenger room, and best-in-class 145.1 cubic feet of cargo room (behind first row) in LX, EX, SX trims. There is also high configurability as the second-row centre seat can slide forwards and backwards or convert into a table. Depending on the trim, the second-row seats can be removed entirely and the third-row seats can fold into the floor, allowing for best-in-class cargo room.
It is surprising that Kia has managed to bag these best-in-class claims when considering the exterior shape of the Carnival. It’s SUV-esque appearance implies that it would be far smaller inside than the likes of the Dodge Grand Caravan or the Chrysler Pacifica, but this is evidence that clever design work can be done without compromise.