I have driven the Kia Carnival on numerous occasions and suffice to say, I’m a huge fan! So, I was very pleased then to have the opportunity to drive a Carnival over the Christmas holiday period so I could take my family and friends on some fun road trips.
I drove an identical Kia MY25 Carnival GT-Line Hybrid spec around 12 months ago so rather than doing a full review this time around I just wanted to share with you my favourite bits of the Carnival and why I think it’s the best people mover in Australia. This is not just my opinion either, with 10,948 Carnivals sold in Australia in 2025, that equates to almost three quarters of the entire people mover market here.
My Top Five favourite Kia Carnival GT-Line Hybrid features.
1. The flexible seating and cabin space
The eight seat Kia Carnival actually has enough space for eight occupants with cup holders and USB-C ports for all. The second-row seats are all on separate tracks so they can be moved independently or potentially all removed. But you are more likely to only want to remove the centre seat to make accessing the third row a little easier and this can be done quite easily. The centre seat also folds down to create a snack or games table.
There are a total of five ISOFix/five rear tether child seat restraint points, three across the second row and on the outer third row seats. The second-row outer seats are designed so that they can have a booster seat in them and still be able to be moved to access the third row. Each of the four rear windows has a blind to keep the sun out and the main rear windows open, as does the rear sunroof, so you can get fresh air easily into the rear of the cabin. The front seats are also comfortable with powered adjustment, heating and seat ventilation. It’s also worth noting that this Carnival had more than 15,000km on the odometer and the seats were showing no signs of wear.
The third-row seats easily fold up and down, locking into place so they can’t move. With the seats up the boot is still incredibly large, going deep into the boot floor and giving you the option to stack items vertically, should you be going on a summer holiday, with a cargo net to secure items. With the third-row seats folded down you can easily get changed in the back after a day at the beach, it’s that big!
2. The technology
To simply sum up why I like the technology in the Kia Carnival, it’s because it works well, with no irritating little foibles. The 12.3-inch infotainment screen easily connects to your mobile phone via wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, you have a wireless phone charger or two USB-C ports and a 12V socket in a logical place in the cabin. I also really like the switchable control panel that goes between the infotainment menus and the climate controls. From here it is also very straightforward to control the rear climate controls as well and overall, the air conditioning did not struggle even on some very hot days to cool down the entire cabin.
The rear doors are powered and you can open/close them from the door handles, key fob, and buttons in the cabin that also have the option to turn off the doors to prevent them from being opened by rear seat passengers accidently. The boot has a powered operation as well and can be opened and closed in the same ways.
The driver assistance all works well and you have extra Kia features like the blind spot monitor view that displays in the driver’s dash when you indicate and the display on the dash when you change the setting on the lights or wipers, so you can see what setting you are in. The rear-view camera has multiple views for easy parking, combined with front and rear parking sensors, and you also get a digital rear-view camera.
3. The comfortable ride
The fourth generation Carnival is based on Kia’s mid-size platform, which is shared with the impressive Kia Sorento. This means it has been designed from the wheels up as a passenger vehicle and so offers a comfortable ride for all eight passengers.
A five-star ANCAP safety rating has long been held by the Kia Carnival in diesel and petrol guise following ANCAP testing in 2021. With the more recent addition of hybrid variants to the market, additional testing on the battery-assisted sibling is now complete. Test results of the hybrid confirm comparable safety performance to 2021 test criteria. As such, a five-star ANCAP safety rating now applies to all diesel, petrol, and 1.6 litre petrol hybrid variants of the Kia Carnival.
4. The hybrid engine
The front-wheel drive Carnival Hybrid has a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine with 132kW and 265Nm, which is paired to a six-speed automatic gearbox with a Shift-By-Wire (Dial Type) gear selector. The transmission integrates a 54kW/304Nm a Permanent Magnet Synchronous electric motor, so the combined power and torque is 180kW of power and 366Nm of torque. The 1.5kWh lithium-ion battery pack is positioned under the second-row seat on the driver’s side, where the spare tyre would usually be, which means the Hybrid Carnival only comes with a tyre repair kit.
There are three drive modes – Eco, Sport, Smart and I spent my time in Eco and I did find the Carnival lacking in any way from doing this. The Carnival drives nicely and there’s ample power available as needed. The powertrain switches between petrol and electric seamlessly and EV mode is available even at highway speeds under certain driving conditions.
The official combined fuel consumption of this Hybrid is 5.8L/100km and this time I used 7.1L/100km. Previously in the Carnival Hybrid I used 6.4L/100km and both of these figures are better than my average fuel used in the last two diesel powered Carnival’s of 7.25L/100km and almost half that used in the previous generation petrol-powered Carnival, which was 11.1L/100km.
5. The price
The Kia MY25 Carnival GT-Line Hybrid costs $76,210 plus on-road costs and with premium paint costing an extra $695, this colour is Panthera Metal. You can Build & Order your new Kia Carnival on-line or visit your preferred Kia dealer for more information.
All new Kias come with a 7-Year Unlimited Kilometre Warranty and one year of complimentary Roadside Assist. The High Voltage Electrical Vehicle Systems Components have a seven year/150,000km warranty (whichever occurs first) against defects arising in materials or manufacture. Owners can renew their Roadside Assistance package yearly, for up to eight years, by simply returning their vehicle to an Authorised Kia Dealer for its annual scheduled services. Membership will remain valid for one year following your scheduled service, and will be renewed if an Authorised Kia Dealer completes the vehicle’s next scheduled serviced within one year. For the Carnival Hybrid, service intervals are once a year or 15,000km, whichever comes first, and the total service costs for the first seven services is capped at $4,597.
The best decisions start with a comparison and Compare The Market are proud to have helped 23 million Aussies look for a better deal on their insurance. Find out here if Compare the Market can help you save too!
So, there you have it. My summation of what makes the Kia Carnival rightfully so, the best-selling people mover in Australia.
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.