First Drive: 2022 Kia Carnival Delivers on Comfort and Practicality
This all-new minivan has the features and capability to be a formidable competitor
The new 2022 Kia Carnival is being positioned as an SUV-minivan mashup. Kia seems to endorse the misconception that it’s a blow to people’s egos to be seen in a minivan. So the automaker is calling the Carnival a multipurpose vehicle and taking styling cues from its family of SUVs as much as possible in the hopes it will trick people into buying a . . . minivan.
Not since 2005 to 2008, when General Motors tried to improve sales of its class-trailing minivans (the Buick Terraza, Chevrolet Uplander, Pontiac Montana SV6, and Saturn Relay) by hailing their SUV-ness, has an automaker gone through such pains to cast its minivan as an SUV-like vehicle.
That’s silly. In our first drives of the 2022 Kia Carnival, we found it to be a comfortable, powerful, versatile, and competitive vehicle that should sell on its own merits, regardless of what it’s called. It’s a big improvement over its predecessor, the Kia Sedona—which came in behind almost all its competitors in our evaluations of ride, handling, and comfort.
What we bought: 2022 Kia Carnival EX
Powertrain: 290-hp, 3.5-liter V6 engine; 8-speed automatic transmission; front-wheel drive
MSRP: $37,600
Options: Astra Blue paint, $495; carpeted floor mats, $200
Destination fee: $1,175
Total cost: $39,470
What we rented: 2022 Kia Carnival SX
Powertrain: 290-hp, 3.5-liter V6 engine; 8-speed automatic transmission; front-wheel drive
MSRP: $41,100
Options: Ceramic Silver paint, $495
Destination fee: $1,175
Total cost: $42,770