since 1976
since 1976
By Lee Pang Seng
THERE was more to the Kia Carnival than being a 11-seat people mover when it first landed on Malaysian shores in January 2022. It has the dimensional volumes and modern looks to match rivals, an attractive price to turn heads and the company to back it up on after-sale services.
It was only natural that distributor Dinamikjaya Motors would look at elevating its status to a more premium one with fewer seats, which the Carnival would easily live up to. Thus enter the seven- and eight-seat models. And to make them competitively priced against the grey market imports, namely the Toyota Vellfire and Alphard, these premium Carnival variants are locally assembled.
There are basically three models in the CKD range; eight-seater Mid, eight-seater High and seven-seater High. Prices start from RM231,428.80 (on the road without insurance) for the Mid model, going to RM247,228.80 for the eight-seater High and RM261,228.80 for the seven-seater High-spec flagship. These prices include Sales and Service Tax (SST).
From the outset, the Carnival has an advantage over the grey market imports with its five-year manufacturer’s warranty and free maintenance schedule. Dinamikjaya Motors believes the Carnival is the only premium MPV (multipurpose vehicle) in its class, price-wise, to come fully supported in this aspect.
Other areas that give the Carnival CKD models good value for money is the higher level of specification and fittings. As the Carnival CKD is also targeted for sale in some Asean markets, 40-per cent of its vehicle content value is Malaysian sourced, a requirement put in place for such a regional business strategy.
Interestingly, this includes the leather or leatherette seats that come standard in the respective Carnival models. As the vehicle seat manufacturing industry in Malaysia has many years of experience behind it, good quality products are one of its hallmarks. The seats in the Carnival CKD variants come with a three-step adjustable ventilated and heated feature for a more comfortable ride.
Complementing the more spacious looking interior with fewer seats is the dual sunroof feature that is standard to the High-spec models. Located front and mid-ship, it would be ideal for cool drives in the highland resorts.
The flagship Carnival seven-seater comes with Premium Relaxion seats for a first-class ride experience. The seatrest reclines a lot more than usual, the front of the seat squab tilts upwards and leg support lifts and extends. Perfect for that snooze on long drives.
For the eight-seat variants, Kia has what is called the ‘Multi-function free mode seat’. The second-row seats could be easily removed and refitted safely to face the third-row seats for greater social interaction on long journeys. A hassle-free alternative is to simply fold the centre seatrest for it to function as a shared ‘table’.
With fewer seats on board, there is good storage space of more than 1000 litres to accommodate light holiday luggage. And if you want to go shopping at Ikea for some sizeable items, you could remove the second-row seats (and leave them at home) and fold the third-row seatrests flat to the floor to obtain more than 4100 litres of space.
For the driver, the 12.3-inch digital Supervision Cluster instrument panel offers more key driving information, including one for tyre pressure, that you could assess via the steering wheel controls. The tyre pressure on our vehicle – which was fitted with 235/60 R18 Goodyear EfficientGrip tyres being a locally assembled MPV – was a little uneven; 40psi for the tyres on the left and 41psi for the right front and 39psi for the right rear.
The sizeable instrument panel offers a complementary balance to the 12.3-inch Capacitive Touch-Screen monitor on the central dashboard. You certainly get a good view of the vehicle’s surroundings when the 360-degree Surround View Monitor is activated to aid in parking the Carnival in tight spots or manoeuvring in cramped spaces.
The premium Carnival variants also come with a full range of Advanced Safety Technology. In addition to the Blind Spot Collision Warning system in the 11-seat Carnival, that in the premium range has Collision Avoidance Assist. If it detects a vehicle alongside but out of your vision, the system pulls the vehicle back to its lane if there is an intention to change lanes.
Adding on to the Rear Cross Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist that’s standard to the 11-seat Carnival, the premium range has High Beam Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Driver Attention Warning, Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (with Junction Turning), Lane Following Assist and Smart Cruise Control.
All the Carnival models are powered by a common 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine that runs on Euro 5 diesel and an eight-speed automatic transmission (E-Shift). The Common Rail Direct Injection (CRDi) engine with double overhead camshafts is undersquarely configured with 81.0mm bore and 99.4mm stroke to displace 2151cc. Output is good with 146kW (199hp) at 3800rpm and lots of torque at 440Nm that peaks early at 1750rpm and plateaus till 2750rpm.
A More Comfortable Experience
With about seven months since our last drive in the latest generation Carnival, it was not quite a déjà vu than a pleasant re-acquaintance. As a driver, we now had a leather seat with memory function in addition to the heated and ventilation functions as well as a four-way lumbar adjustment (High range) convenience.
We enjoyed the same simplicity in transmission access via the E-Shift knob on the central console. Just select any of the three – Reverse, Neutral and Drive – merely by turning this knob. There is a Drive mode button nearby that we could use to select Normal, Eco or Sport. With Sport mode, we could use the paddle shifts on the steering wheel for a more involved driving experience. However, we kept to the Normal mode for the mostly highway drive experience.
Our stint on the B-grade roads to Tanjung Tualang for lunch was also done in the Normal mode as the route was not particularly winding. It was more for gauging the ride comfort over the varied road surfaces and bumpier terrain. As a second-row seat passenger, we found the ride a little harder than expected, feeling more of the road impacts than we could recall.
With a MacPherson strut front and multi-link area, the only difference between then and now was in the tyres and perhaps, the level of tyre inflation. For the highway though, we had little complaints on the ride as we now had more leg and elbow room to lounge in reasonably good comfort. Again, with the retractable sunshade on the sliding doors, we could keep out the harsh sunlight to catch some shut-eye along the way.
Highway cruising at legal speeds had the engine turning around 2000rpm. During the few times that we eased on the accelerator to overtake, the turbo came into play to pick up speed strongly for quick overtaking. This was despite the vehicle’s kerb weight of almost 2130kg, which is about right for an MPV with a 3090mm wheelbase.
Although we drove at good speeds on the highway, the fuel consumption was within expectation. The fuel level for the 72-litre tank was about half when we got to our destination in Penang. Likewise, for the return drive the following day at more or less the same speed we achieved similar fuel mileages.
For a vehicle measuring 5155mm in overall length and 1995mm in overall width, we didn’t feel the Carnival’s expansive dimensions while driving in urban traffic or the winding stretch in Teluk Bahang, Penang. The experience was similar to that in our January drive outing as the Carnival took well to winding roads at good speed without much body movements.
Highway drives were reasonably quiet with wind noise nicely subdued for us to enjoy the music from the 12-speaker Bose system. As we had three on board, we could also carry our conversation without raising our voice, even at quick speeds. The road noise came through in a mild drone but it was easily overlooked.
Given its practical attributes, competitive pricing and strong service support, we were not surprised that Dinamikjaya Motors received good response for the Carnival. Even the well-off customers in this segment would appreciate the five-year free maintenance schedule (which includes labour, parts and lubricants) and manufacturer’s warranty for peace-of-mind ownership.
