The new Kia Carnival is a more premium alternative to the only other upmarket MPV currently on sale in India, the Toyota Innova Crysta
Kia Motors has finally launched its second product for the Indian market, the Carnival MPV, at the current ongoing 15th edition of the Auto Expo. Just like its first offering in India, the Seltos, the Carnival was highly-anticipated as well, and had received over 1,400 bookings in one day and the number now reaches to 3,500 units.
Kia is offering the Carnival in three variants and three seating layouts. The variants include Premium, Prestige and Limousine. While the base Premium trim can be had as either a 7 or an 8-seater, the mid-spec Prestige comes in 7 and 9-seat formats. On the other hand, the top of the line Limousine trim only comes as a 7-seater.
The Korean carmaker has packed the Carnival up to the brim with features like three-zone climate control, dual panel electric sunroof, an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with smartphone connectivity and Kia’s UVO connected car tech, two 10.1-inch touchscreen displays for middle-row, electric tailgate and power sliding rear doors etc.
In terms of safety features, the car gets front and rear parking sensors, hill-start assist control, Electronic Stability Control, ABS with EBD and 6 airbags as standard across the range.
Under the hood, the Carnival MPV comes with a sole BS6-compliant 2.2-litre four-cylinder CRDi turbo-diesel engine, which belts out 200 PS of maximum power, and 440 Nm peak torque. The engine comes mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox as standard.
In terms of size, the Kia Carnival measures 5,115 mm in length, 1,985 mm in width, has a 3,060 mm long wheelbase, and stands 1,755 mm tall. As compared to the Toyota Innova Crysta, its biggest competitor in the Indian market, the Kia Carnival is larger and more spacious, offers numerous seating layouts, and gets a more powerful engine.
However, everything that’s offered over the Toyota Innova Crysta comes at a price. While Toyota retails the Innova in the range of Rs 15.36 – 23.02 lakh (ex-showroom), the Kia Carnival comes with a base price of Rs 24.95 lakh for the seven-seater Premium variant and it goes up to Rs. 33.95 lakh for the top-end Limousine trim (both prices ex-showroom).
