Kia hit the ball right out of the park with their first product in India. The Seltos set the sales charts on fire, taking Kia into the country’s top car makers list in no time. Kia had said that they would launch a new product in the Indian market every six months, and true to the word, they are here with this, the Kia Carnival. You might think that the Carnival is a rival to the hugely popular Toyota Innova Crysta, but actually it isn’t. It will sit between the Crysta and the more high end Mercedes-Benz V-Class and Toyota Velfire. So will Kia’s second offering repeat what the Seltos did? We were in the city of Nizams, Hyderabad to drive and check it out in detail.
Kia Carnival Exterior
The first thing that hits you is the sheer size of the Carnival. It measures 5,115 mm in length, is 1,985 mm wide and 1,755 mm tall. And it has quite the wheelbase at 3060 mm. With these dimensions, it is more in the league of the Mercedes V-Class in terms of size. And what’s more it is a very handsome looking MPV. Up front, you get the prominent Kia tiger nose flanked by large projector headlamps with daytime running lights. The front bumper has a stylising design with ice cube shaped fog lamps and a skid plate. The side has a pronounced shoulder line that runs from the headlamps to the tail lamps. You get a choice of 18 inch Crystal cut or Sputtering Finish chrome alloys. There is an AUTO badge that sits in the front fender. The D Pillar is blacked out giving a floating roof effect. The rear has subtle styling with large LED tail lamps, roof spoiler, and a skid plate on the rear bumper. A chrome strip runs across the tail gate between the tail lamps. The Kia Carnival will be available in 7, 8 and 9 seater configurations and three trim levels: Premium, Prestige and Limousine. We drove the range topping 7 seater Limousine spec for this review. The Carnival will be available in three colours. Aurora Black Pearl, Glacier White Pearl and Steel Silver.
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