2024 Chicago Auto Show: Kia Puts on A Carnival
The 2024 Chicago Auto Show is a slow one, debut-wise, this year. This makes Kia the star of this year's show by default.
Meet the 2025 Kia Carnival.
The refreshed Carnival gets new infotainment for passengers in both the front and rear, the ability for over-the-air software updates, and more advanced driver-assist tech, including newly available Highway Assist 2.
Oh, and a hybrid is now available, pairing a 1.6-liter turbo four-cylinder with a 54 kW electric motor for 242 system horsepower and 271 lb-ft of system torque. It gets a six-speed automatic transmission.
The gasser continues on with 287 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque from a 3.5-liter V6 that mates to an eight-speed auto.
The hybrid allows the driver to control deceleration via steering-wheel paddles.
Kia also blesses the hybrid with systems meant to improve cornering and ride and an evasive-maneuver assist system.
Other additions to the driver-assist system include junction-assist and lane-oncoming collision avoidance systems.
The rear infotainment system will keep passengers occupied via large screens that can be used to view streaming content. Screens are prevalent upfront, with the display curving across the dash. There is now a voice-recognition assistant.
Other neat available features include a rearview camera mirror, light-up seat belts, a head-up display, large cupholders, seven USB-C ports, two power outlets, and two power inverters.
Wheel sizes vary from 17 to 19 inches and there will be five available trims for the gas engine and four for the hybrid.
The 2025 Kia Carnival goes on sale this summer.
[Image: Kia]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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The Telluride of minivans.
I'd go with the V6 every time. My former 09 Sedona 3.8 5A had power right now, without waiting for a tiny turbo/hybrid system to make up its mind. That means something when you're hauling the family around in a heavy vehicle.
A few mpg improvement on paper doesn't seem worth it.
Good news about the hybrid making The Carnival MFG competitive with the Sienna. The bad news is the Carnival's styling takes a step back with its knockoff Caddy Sorrento-like front end.
I hope we're reaching peak hideous with grilles and fronts because if there's one vehicle that can wrestle that crown from whatever BMW has done with the Bucky Beaver front, it's this abomination. Hopefully, and fingers crossed, some kind of smoother and cohesive designs start taking over instead of huge snout and light streaks everywhere.