Take a look at Drive: 2023 Kia Carnival SX Status | The Day by day Drive | Client Information® The Day by day Drive

2023 Kia Carnival SX Status in Astra Blue (a $495 shade possibility)

2023 Kia Carnival SX Status

Class: Minivan

Colour: Astra Blue

Miles pushed: 150

Noticed gas financial system: 18.6 mpg

Driving combine: 70% metropolis, 30% freeway

EPA-estimated gas financial system: 19/26/22 (mpg metropolis/freeway/mixed)

Gas sort: Common fuel

Snow efficiency: N/A

Base value: $45,700 (not together with $1295 vacation spot cost)

Choices on take a look at car: Rear Seat Leisure Package deal ($1000), SX Status Seat Package deal (no value), particular paint ($495)

Value as examined: $48,690

Fast Hits

The nice: Glorious passenger room and luxury; satisfying acceleration; very respectable freeway gas financial system for a car of this dimension and energy

The great: Distinctive styling; upscale trim inside and outside; broad array of consolation and comfort options

The not so good: Second-row reclining “lounge” seats are of doubtful worth and might’t be eliminated; hybrid and/or all-wheel-drive powertrains not accessible

Tom Appel:

Let’s be trustworthy about one thing proper up entrance: Each minivan in the marketplace immediately is fairly good. Actually good, really. For 2023 Client Information named the Chrysler Pacifica its minivan Finest Purchase—this primarily for the car’s deft mix of utility and luxurious—however we nonetheless suggest critically that buyers take a look at drive all 4 automobiles within the class.

2023 Kia Carnival SX Status

We admire the Honda Odyssey for its stout drivetrain and sporty dealing with, the Toyota Sienna for its wonderful gas financial system and accessible AWD, and the Kia Carnival as a result of it’s cool. Severely. The Carnival doesn’t fairly match the utility or drivetrain sophistication of the opposite minivans on the market within the U.S., but it surely does trump all comers in terms of presentation, and the Carnival presents effectively.

Take a look at Drive Gallery: 2022 Kia Carnival SX

2023 Kia Carnival SX Status

Kia needs clients to think about the Carnival as an alternative choice to the minivan, and never a minivan itself. Kia goes as far as to keep away from utilizing the phrase minivan by itself web site. Test it out. If you could find the phrase van anyplace on this website, please tell us. As an alternative, Kia refers back to the Carnival as an MPV (Multi-Objective Automobile). Nobody is being fooled.

Take a look at Drive Gallery: 2022 Toyota Sienna XSE

2023 Kia Carnival SX Status

That’s okay, we all know the reality. And, the reality is, name it a van or not, there’s an terrible lot to love in regards to the Carnival. As a public service, we have now recognized the best purchaser for the Carnival, and that’s a divorced man with younger children who’s nonetheless within the relationship recreation. As such, dad will get the total utility of a minivan when he has the children, and an aesthetic luxurious experience when he’s out in town. Name Carnival the bachelor dad celebration pad, and also you get the thought.

The Carnival debuted as a 2022 mannequin, changing the stodgy Sedona within the Korean maker’s lineup. The van was—and is–a revelation style-wise, proving that even a big, slab-sided van can sport an attractive look if designers imagine strongly sufficient within the undertaking. The Carnival is little modified for 2023. The massive information is that the entry-level LXS trim has been dropped from the lineup, and the two^nd-row captain’s chairs, beforehand customary on high trim ranges, at the moment are a no-cost possibility.

For ’23, the Carnival is out there in entry LX, midlevel EX, well-equipped SX, and luxury-level SX Status trim ranges. Base costs vary from round $35,000 to round $48,000. Our take a look at SX Status got here to $48,690, together with the now elective 2^nd-row captain’s chairs—dubbed VIP Lounge Seats–which restrict seating capability to seven occupants.

So, how luxurious is an almost $50,000 minivan, and the way impressed will bachelor dad’s perspective second wives be? The reply to each questions is “very.”

Our take a look at van arrived in elegant Astra Blue with Tuscan Umber leather-based seating, with steel-gray accents. As an alternative of wooden trim, the Carnival options brushed hammered-aluminum accents, in addition to black-lacquer console and sprint trim. The look is recent, a little bit aggressive, however in the end good-looking.

Take a look at Drive: 2022 Kia Carnival SX Status

When it comes to passenger house, Carnival trails the voluminous Sienna, however gives about the identical quantity of passenger and cargo room because the Odyssey and Pacifica. However except to plan to recurrently fill the van to its limits, you’ll discover the cabin open, ethereal, and lots roomy.

The front-row seats are lots comfy, as are the reclining 2^nd-row VIP chairs. As the two^nd-row seats slide each side-to-side in addition to for-and-aft, entry to the three^rd-row is fairly simple. The far-back seat is roomy sufficient for midsize adults, however the knees-up seating place will possible show fatiguing for bigger occupants on longer journeys. Notice, too, the VIP seats can’t be eliminated, one thing to contemplating when checking that possibility field.

Additionally price noting that for nearly $50,000, the Carnival shouldn’t be accessible with power-folding 3^rd-row seats, one thing all the competitors gives. Folding the seats manually, nevertheless, shouldn’t be a crushing chore.

The dashboard and management format will really feel acquainted to Kia—and Hyundai—loyalists, and is solely and elegantly organized. The configurable instrument panel consists of Kia’s wonderful Blind-Spot View Monitor (BVM). The turn-signal activated system supplies a blind-spot digital camera view on the instrument-panel of the lane you might be signaling into. The system works for each left and proper lane modifications, and is extremely helpful in heavy visitors.

And, for date night time, the 12-speaker Bose audio system customary on the SX  Status ought to impress. After a dinner of shrimp de jonghe paired with a bottle of Terlano Terlaner Classico, a high-fidelity Spyro Gyra jam needs to be simply the factor to assist underscore our bachelor’s erudite credentials.

Take a look at Drive: 2021 Honda Odyssey Elite

2023 Kia Carnival SX Status

On the street the Carnival acquits itself effectively. We had famous our appreciation for the graceful energy supply of the Honda Odyssey, however the Carnival is not any slouch when it comes to acceleration or refined drivetrain habits. Plus, the engine makes good noises when pushed, however is in any other case largely unheard.

2023 Kia Carnival SX PrestigeRide high quality can be good—long-haul street journey good—although cabin noise ranges on the street are considerably larger than within the different vans. Dealing with is one other shiny spot. Whereas nobody would critically name the Carnival, or another minivan, sporty, the Kia comes shut, with moderately fast strikes in visitors, and decently managed roll in quick corners.

The Carnival is EPA rated at a mixed 22 mpg. We acquired nearer to the town estimate of 19 mpg in driving biased considerably in direction of metropolis operation.

So, let’s say you’re not a bachelor dad on the prowl. As an alternative, you simply want a sensible household hauler and also you’d desire your car not seem like each different van on the street. We strongly counsel you are taking the Carnival for a take a look at drive. Whereas it’s rather less purposeful than the competitors, and might’t be had with AWD, it’s, frankly, the best minivan, and maybe the one van with actual character.

Forgotten Individuals-Movers: Greater than 30 Minivans You Don’t Keep in mind

2023 Kia Carnival SX Status

Take heed to the Client Information Automotive Stuff Podcast

Comply with Tom on Twitter

2023 Kia Carnival SX Status Gallery

(Click on beneath for enlarged pictures)

Take a look at Drive: 2022 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Pinnacle

Automotive Stuff Podcast