2025 Kia Carnival EX HEV
Price: $49,695 CAD
Colour: Ceramic Silver
I occasionally spend time pondering what I would drive if my career as a world class motoring journalist ended and I didn’t drive press cars all the time. I vacillate between things like sports coupes, sedans or a big obnoxious pickup. All of these are good choices I fully support but ultimately, I wouldn’t choose any of them. Instead, I find myself returning to a place I’ve been several times before – the minivan. I’ve owned a 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan and a 2011 Toyota Sienna. These were the trusty steeds that carried my family through that decade dedicated to family travel and carrying everything you own in the back “just in case”. I was never fashionable while driving these vehicles and I could feel the judgy stares of motorists who had gone the way of the SUV, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care because my vans were cool. Really cool. Not in an obvious top of the pops kind of way but cool like a great standard from Old Blue Eyes or a classic from the Boss. A good minivan doesn’t blow your mind on first glance but it captures your heart and never gives up its spot. It’s been a while since I’ve driven a minivan and after driving the 2025 Kia Carnival I’m delighted to say, nothing has changed.
Power & Performance
The Kia Carnival has two powertrain options. You can get a good old-fashioned mouth breathing 3.5L 6-cylinder mated to an 8-speed automatic. It will deliver 287hp and 260 lb/ft to the front wheels. You can also get a hybrid system like the one on this test vehicle. This is a 1.6L turbocharged 4-cylinder with attached hybrid system that combines for 247hp and 270 lb/ft of torque. I’ve driven both and the V6 delivers a driving experience similar to something like the Telluride while the hybrid is something else. Having owned several minivans over the years (Grand Caravan and Sienna) I can say neither vehicle blew me away with the fuel economy. In fact, they were pretty thirsty overall, but I was happy to trade that for the utility and comfort they offered in exchange. The hybrid Carnival offers all the same utility but asks for much less in return. I returned between 6.8 – 7.8L/100kms in a mixed driving scenario during my time with the van. This was astonishing. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but it just didn’t. The Carnival kept surprising me in that way you’re surprised when you find money you’d forgotten all about.
Exterior
The exterior styling of the 2025 Kia Carnival is a curious cheat. It’s still a minivan for sure but if you only throw it a casual glance, you’d be forgiven for presuming it was an SUV. My wife (admittedly not the greatest student of contemporary motoring) even said it was good looking until I told her it was a minivan and her lady boner immediately dissolved like a slurpee on a cold day. Kia clearly found the line that separates vans from SUV’s and rode it hard and wet to give us the Carnival. It offers a little something for everyone and I’m okay with that because at its core, it’s still a van. If it needs to put on a fancy dress to stay relevant, I’m all in.
Interior
If a minivan is defined by any one factor it has to be the interior. If you possessed the strength of three men and could muscle the second and third row seats out of my old Caravan you could, quite easily, squeeze an oversized 3-seater sofa in the back and close the tailgate. It was an incredible thing to behold. I moved an entire household of possessions in that van, and it didn’t take 400 trips either. It would hold a lot of stuff with ease. This immense sense of interior space is something unique to minivans. Most modern SUV’s can’t come close to achieving what a van does with its low floors and tall stature. I love being in a van. I don’t even mind being a passenger and that’s saying something for a control freak like myself. I took my family on a last minute trip to Sacramento many years ago to see an ailing family member. We got the news in the morning and were on the road by that afternoon. There were six of us in total in our newly purchased used Sienna. 15 or so hours followed of relentless highway miles as we cruised down the I5 towards our destination. Having only purchased the vehicle the week before this was an interesting way to get to know her. I fell in love on that trip. Not only did it get us to where we needed to go but allowed us to transport a sick old lady to the places she wanted to see before she ran out of time. She couldn’t climb into the massive SUV’s or low-slung sedans available to her, but the van was perfect. She could simply step in and out without effort and enjoy her trip. It was a real lesson in a vehicle built to purpose.
I tell you this story because as we rush to abandon traditional forms of automotive transport (sedans, wagons and vans) in favour of SUV’s, it helps to be reminded of how good a segment the minivan is. My time with the Kia Carnival has stirred all those feelings up again and I’m glad it did. This is a van that, while modern and contemporary, doesn’t sacrifice the utility and space that defines this type of car. I had my wife drive when we were heading to the mall, and I sat in the third row for the 20km trip. It was remarkably comfortable. You squeeze my pudgy frame into the third row of a Suburban and I’m gonna go squirrelly. Not so in the Carnival. I was comfortable and serene back there. There were cupholders and power ports everywhere. The seats are easy to move and manipulate and I never once felt the urge to break the window for a bit of fresh air. Very few 7-8 passenger cars can make that claim.
Quality
The Kia Carnival is very much a modern Kia. Full of useful tech and bang up to date and modern in every way. It will be interesting to see how the hybrid system and interior holds up over years of soccer mom abuse but initial impressions are strong.
CQI – 8. Excellent carpet that can be cleaned repeatedly after the kids, dog and occasionally inebriated adults spew sick all over it.
Value
At a starting price of around $43k CAD and topping out at just over $53k CAD the 2025 Kia Carnival is great value. I know that’s a lot of money but in the current market everything is a lot of money. What you get from the Carnival is a lot of useful utility and functionality that you won’t get from other types of cars which cost a lot more.
I must also comment on the value of the Carnival vs. its primary competitors in the van space. The top spec Carnival tops out around $53k CAD. The Sienna and the Odyssey start at $51K CAD and stop at $63k for the Odyssey and $68k for the Sienna. Both are great vans but so is the Carnival and I’m not sure I can square the price difference. If you’re looking for a van make sure you test the Carnival.
Final Thoughts
I sometimes find it a challenge to pick a theme for my reviews. It can be difficult to find interesting and compelling things to say about the latest and greatest when so much of it feels so similar and homogenous. The 2025 Kia Carnival is a welcome break and a wonderful relief from the everyday. I’ve been testing cars for 3 years and this is the first minivan I’ve driven. The Carnival has been a huge pallet cleanser to wash away all the contemporary drivel clogging things up. I don’t care about the ridiculous stigma people attach to these types of cars because it’s a great vehicle and I’ll fight anyone in the street who says otherwise.
