The new Kia Carnival has been available globally for quite some time already. Locally though, while some have been spotted or seen, those were not official Kia entries. Most came from “other” sources that distribute vehicles for select customers who couldn’t wait to get their hands on one.
Fear not as Kia has officially launched the 2022 Kia Carnival. What makes the new Carnival interesting is that Kia says it’s more of an SUV rather than just your typical minivan. It starts with the styling where its evident that Kia tried to give it a more sleek appearance and avoided any bulbous shapes and body panel sizes, the new Carnival actually looks like the Sorento SUV.
The exterior is dominated by that big eye-catching tiger-nose grille, slim LED headlights, new front and rear bumpers, faux front end skid plate and a more sculpted hood. Rounding out the exterior are the new stylish rims.
Looking the part is one thing, but Kia stressed that despite its SUV appearance a lot of focus has also been put in to make it have more luxurious appointments and deliver a better ride quality.
The previous generation Carnival used to be able to seat around 9-11 people, for this new one they decided to optimize the space for 7, to give it a more executive people carrier feel. Continuing the “premium executive” feel, Kia has generously appointed the Carnival with, an 8-inch infotainment system with Apple Carplay and Android Auto, captain seats for the 2nd row, triple-zone climate control, power sliding doors, power tailgate, and finally remote starting function (Thankfully no subscription needed).
If you opt for the top-of-the-line SX variant, the 2nd row captain seats are a little more special. Kia calls them “relaxation seats”, that are power-adjustable, along with cooling functions as well. Even the driver and front passenger get ventilated seats.
Powering the 2022 Carnival is a 2.2-liter Smartstream turbo-diesel engine pumping out 202Ps and 440Nm of torque, healthy numbers for a mini-SUV-Van.
Of course safety is a top priority, the Carnival gets the usual Anti-lock braking system with electronic brake distribution, brake assist, electronic stability control, multi-collision braking system, hill-start assist, trailer stability assist, blind spot and collision avoidance assist.
If you thought that was all — nope, the top of the line SX variant also has, lane keep assist, forward collision avoidance assist, and rear cross traffic alert. Suffice it to say, the 2022 Carnival is as safe as they come.
Prices for the 2022 Kia Carnival start at PHP 2,540,000 for the EX AT and top out at PHP 2,998,000. For more information you can check out the Kia Philippines website or head over to your nearest Kia dealership.
