Right, so if it has form, that means it’s sacrificed function, right? Together with the black wheels, angular light signatures and toothy grille, the Carnival cuts an imposing and outdoors-ready figure, a distinct difference from the “tallboy” looks of Japanese rivals like the recently-facelifted Honda Odyssey and Toyota Alphard/Vellfire. At 5,155mm long and 1,995mm wide (without mirrors), it’s far and away the largest MPV here (indeed, the largest car you can buy under S$500k), and scant effort has been made to disguise that bulk, with straight, chiselled lines and slab surfaces being the theme all around the car. In fact it’s rather capitulated to the SUV-loving crowd, having been endowed with some SUV styling touches, like the massive wheels (235/55 R19!), accentuated wheelarches, roof rack, and faux bash-guards along the lower reaches of the bumpers.Įlsewhere, the Carnival almost seems to take pride in its mammoth size. The Kia Carnival follows along these lines, looking not at all van-like. In any case, vanity is a major human trait, which is why car manufacturers have made efforts to design some pretty sleek-looking MPVs in the past: the 3rd and 4th-gen Honda Odyssey for example, or the Mitsubishi Grandis, or the upcoming Hyundai Staria. To which I say: you’d have to be pretty vain to knowingly sacrifice practicality and comfort of your passengers just for ‘cool factor’. But is it good enough to make MPVs desirable again? But MPVs just look ugly and uncool! And this, the gargantuan new Kia Carnival, is perhaps the ultimate example of the breed. But why? After all, when it comes to the need of moving people around, an MPV is the ultimate choice, seeing as that’s the purpose it was expressly designed for (hence the term “people carrier”).
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