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We have tested every variant of the Kia Carnival from before 2024. No doubt its by far the most capable MPV’s in the market compared to any of its rivals. The highlight being its interiors flexibility, space, equipment and tech, especially in the 8 and 7 seat variants. It is Kia’s hottest seller and pretty much carrying the brand now on its own. Until the 10th of June 2024.
Peninsular Malaysia’s Diesel price hike
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On the 9th of June 2024 the government announces that from midnight, 10th June onwards the subsidy for diesel will be removed for Peninsular Malaysia. Overnight this changed the game for Diesel vehicle owners in the country. Especially for luxury diesel vehicles.
Whats so great about the Kia Carnival?
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This car across all its variants have multiple plus points. Chiefly is the ability to have a whole lot of storage space despite having all the seats up (excluding the 11 seater). Over 600 litres of it. That’s bigger than the space you get in any variant of the Alphard or Vellfire.
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In the 8 seat variants you can reconfigure the second row seats to face each other, and it comes with 4 ISOFIX mounts. For those who have more than 2 kids this was the ideal vehicle for the whole family. Its so versatile we even converted it to a makeshift cinema during the review.
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The 7 seater was a little posh for our liking, but if that’s what you fancy then the option was also there for it. Add to this impressive list a good build quality, generously sized infotainment, phone connectivity, and driving aids like adaptive cruise control and really good balance between ride and handling for a car this size it almost justifies the over RM200,000 these cars command.
How it’s affected now?
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The true icing on the cake for these cars however, was its fuel consumption. All variants gave us a minimum 900km range for a full tank of fuel, which clocks in at about 65 litres in the real world. This is thanks to its fabulous diesel engine mated to the 8 speed gearbox. You can travel from Kelana Jaya and when you stop at the Tapah R&R, the fuel gauge wouldve barely moved from F. When you reach Penang island itself, your fuel gauge needle wouldve dropped just one bar. This is with a full load of passengers.
Now though, a litre of diesel comes in at RM3.35 per litre. That 900km full tank now will cost you RM217.75, instead of RM152.75. That’s about RM65 per full tank, that does not sound like alot. Does it mean its lost its charm? No, because the next equivalent car is the Toyota Alphard 2.4T, which costs a RM190,000 more. No doubt the interior features and experience could be miles apart (we have yet to test this current iteration), but the consumption of the turbocharged 2.4 litre engine is claimed at 9l/100km.
So if both cars were to experience mixed traffic, with 65 litres of fuel, the Carnival still lets you travel 900km of real world tested range. While the Alphard with its theoretical consumption wont go beyond 722km. Its still cheaper to fuel the petrol powered Alphard though, whichever way you calculate it. However the tables will be completely turned if the prices of RON95 were to be raised, which could be happening sooner than later.
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As an overall package.
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The biggest highlight of the Carnival is its load carrying capacity. By this we dont restrict it to just the passenger carrying capacity, but also their luggage and equipment. The Hyundai Staria may be cheaper but it too runs on the almost similar diesel engine. Thanks to the bigger cross section of the Staria compared to the Carnival, its hard to clock the same efficiency with the Staria than you could with the Carnival. But the biggest drawback with the 10 seat Staria is that the final row of seats cannot be folded flat, severely limiting the interior’s flexibility.
In Conclusion
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The fact that the diesel price is RM3.35 per litre at the time of writing versus RON95’s 2.05 per robs the Carnival of its biggest advantage. However there’s so many things the car offers for its RM200k – RM260k price tag that there’s not many people carriers in the country at this price range that can offer the space, practicality, tech and versatility like the Carnival does.
On that merit alone, we still find the Carnival to be very much relevant as a prime choice for those shopping for a luxury people carrier at this price. Plus for the country’s greater good, RM65 extra for every full tank can be stomached by someone shopping for an RM250k price tagged car.