Kia’s giving subsidy for Diesel?
Kia’s top selling car last and this year was the Carnival MPV. Starting from RM198,500, the spacious MPV with its MASSIVE cabin is hugely flexible offering both comfort and utility for big families. The best part about the car is its fuel efficiency. The 2 tonne car can clock a mid to low 7L / 100km fuel consumption especially during out of town trips. Which leads to a theoretical range of above 800km for a full tank of diesel.
This was amazing news when diesel at the pump were sold at the region of RM2.XX. At the time of writing however the subsidy for diesel has been removed and now Diesel retails at almost a ringgit more from RM2.95 for Biodiesel and RM3.15 for Euro 5 diesel. The biggest trump card of the Carnival has now become its biggest flaw. Kia Malaysia though, is now offering to subsidise RM1.05 / litre of diesel for each purchase of the Kia Carnival for the next 5 YEARS! The offer is valid till 31st December 2024.
What does the Kia Carnival offer?
We had argued earlier that the Carnival is still relevant despite the diesel price hike. The car does so much more so well. Its space, cabin flexibility, comfort, efficiency and equipment justifies the RM200k premium it commands, with our pick of the bunch being the 8 seat high spec.
Relevant functions include the 8 speed gearbox and 2.2 litre diesel engine with 440Nm. The powertrain makes overtaking on the highway so easy you barely realise the effort. The cars relatively low height reduces the cross section area of it, reducing the overall drag force (not to be confused with drag coefficient) generated. Both of this leads to a class leading fuel consumption figure. The 8 seat high spec car allows the middle row seats to be placed facing backwards, and the 3rd row folds flat to the floor. Something that the 10 seat Hyundai Staria cant do.
Every variant has got plenty of boot space with 3 rows of seat up. Even more so in the 8 seat variant which has 627 litres of boot space which is bigger than most mid sized SUV’s on sale in Malaysia (avg 550 – 530 litres). All variant comes with wireless Apple CarPlay / Android Auto which is projected on a massive 12.3 inch screen, and wireless charging. There are also plenty of charging ports throughout the car.
Is it still relevant after the diesel price disadvantage?
Kia claims that the Carnival can do 850km on a full tank of diesel, at 6.5l / 100km. That works out to be 55 litres of fuel or RM174 of Euro 5 diesel. We will be sticking to Euro 5 diesel price for our calculation here. On a 3 days 2 nights trip we used an approximate 70 litres of diesel to cover 880km. That means we used RM220 worth of diesel at 7.9 l/100km or 12.65km / litre fuel consumption. The car’s fuel tank capacity is 72 litres. You can check out our entire trips experience and what kind of driving we subjected the car in the video below.
@route_hunters_malaysia We took a 3 days 2 night trip from KL to Penang and back to KL with one tank plus 9 litres of diesel with the #Kia #Carnival #MPV #fyp #foryou #fypシ #foryoupage #fypシ゚viral #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #fypdongggggggg #fypage #cherytiggo8pro #jaecoo #proton ♬ Feel This (Two AM Music Global) - Adriane Palikat
This itself is pretty reasonable to begin with since you are effectively carrying two car’s worth of passengers and luggage in one car. But with Kia Malaysia’s Fuel-on-Us promo, Kia will subsidise RM1.05 / litre diesel for the next 5 years*, regardless of the diesel retail price. That means for every 800km with 7.9 l/100km consumption, you will spend approximately RM132 instead of RM200. For the next 5 years. This offer is valid from now until 31st of December 2024.
In Conclusion
The Kia Carnival as a package is so good that it still can hold its own despite the glaring disadvantage of the diesel price at the pumps. The Fuel-on-Us campaign by Kia restores the advantage it had prior to the price hike. That, makes this car an amazing deal. For more info on this deal contact your nearest Kia dealership.