- by Sohan Ingole
Introduction-
SUV’s are now leading the market with its striking stance and premium features but in between them a proper premium MPV is still missing. In Indian market MPV are most favoured but still underrated segment, now we got Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Maruti Suzuki XL6 and Toyota Innova Crysta in the MPV market. But to fill this gap Hyundai launched its 7 seater Creta named as Alcazar in the segment last year, but now its rival Kia also makes its debut in this class with its Carens.
They reveal its 7 seater suv in last year and now Kia launched the Carens in India, this Carens is not made on Seltos platform. It is built on Sonet platform and therefore they are taking XL6 as their rival and not Alcazar. The Carens is completely new fresh production from Kia in India, they said it’s not a suv or neither a MPV it’s from a different world. It’s a fourth model of Kia and still Kia is in top three car manufacturers in India. The Carens is available in Premium, Luxury, Prestige, Prestige Plus and luxury plus trims and 19 variants.
Engine and performance-
The Kia Carens is available with three powertrains options. 1.5 litre Petrol engine, 1.5 litre Diesel engine and 1.4 litre turbo petrol unit. We are reviewing the Luxury Plus variant with a 1.4 lite TGDI petrol motor mated to a 7 speed DCT unit. Talking about this 1.4 litre unit, this engine is directly coming from Seltos to Carens well all the power output are also same only we get Carens written on the vehicle instead of Seltos.
So this TGDI motor produces an 138bhp of power with redlines at 6000Rpm and 242Nm of torque with redlines at 1500Rpm. This is a fastest unit in the Carens going from 0 to 100KMPH in just 10 seconds that’s a impressive, cause all the 1.5 litre unit goes 0 to 100 Kmph in above 13 seconds. Talking about this turbo motor it’s a punchy unit with next level of refinement, engine noise is null or zero to be say. The gearbox makes quite fast shift and we also have the option of manual shifts by paddle shifters or triptronic function. The performance is very impressive from this turbo motor, it doesn’t raves somehow and feels dull at the low end of the rave range. But as soon we started going past 4000Rpm it pulls like a monster and gives that punchy feeling. It doesn’t feels lethargic at anyways, performance is absolutely amazing it just lunges ahead at the top end of the rave range and feels more enthusiastic.
In the traffic it loves to leap ahead and sometimes it may create mishaps, but still we have to drive the vehicle carefully in traffic. To improve the overall performance Kia also given us three drive modes – Eco, Normal and Sport. Eco mode is for efficient driving where we can get best efficiency from this turbo motor. Normal is very useful in cities where we can get linear performance and good fuel economy as well. But in sports mode it changes into a beast giving us a best performance. In sport mode it hold the gear more longer and raves slightly higher than earlier. Kia has given us 3 years of unlimited warranty on the Carens and we can extend it till 5 years.
The ride quality is slightly better in petrol versions, because of the lighter weight suspension doesn’t feels stiff and ride quality improves a bit. The stiffness of chassis feels more in diesel powered car than the petrol, thanks to the added weight of Diesel engines but still in both powertrains it works decently well. But the missing elephant in the room is most of the rivals of Carens are offering 2.0 litre engines and cause it’s a recreational vehicle or a MPV it may carry 5 to 6 people inside it, so sometimes this 1.5 litre or 1.4 litre engine may feels underpowered. The performance is absolutely beautiful and feels enthusiastic as well the 2.0L engine change the game. But still it’s a decently equipped motor and make the job done.
Exterior-
The length of the Carens is 4540mm, width is 1800mm and height is 1708mm. Wheelbase is 2780mm and ground clearance is also ample enough for an MPV. The fact is Kia Carens is 30mm longer than Innova, 20mm than Alcazar in wheelbase and still Kia says it not a MPV neither SUV it a Recreational vehicle and from a different world.
Starting from the front we get completely new design and colour theme by Kia in this Carens. It’s a new design and we get black coloured grill or panel with some 3DX treatment on it which we seen on Seltos also. The grill is somehow very smaller than the XL6 or Seltos or maybe it don’t realised. There is one chrome line joining two headlights which looks classy because of the gloss black finishing below it. The most part of the front is crafted in glossy black and still it feels unique also. Headlight unit is placed slightly on lowered side with three led unit, drl is rightly placed above that which is in a unique shape which turns indicator also.
The lowered half of the front is again finished in glossy black paint with same 3DX treatment on the skid plate. There is one chrome line which is running through the lowered grill and attracts our eye sight on the road, the fog lamps are also gets three unit treatment and tried to match the headlights style. The vehicle is running on 16 inch dual tone alloys with all wheel disc brakes, the design of the alloys are very unique and it’s completely new.
We get black side body cladding which running throughout the length of the vehicle and reduces the overall visual bulk, this black cladding gives a extraordinary stance to this Carens. The door handles is finished in chrome with request sensors on it, this chrome treatment is also continued around the windows which looks classy and premium as well. Cause the wheelbase is biggest in the segment we got a massive roof with a sunroof, shark fin antenna and two silver colored roof rails.
Coming to the rear part and we got led taillights with wrap off treatment, on the tailgate we got connecting treatment for both the taillights. On its black coloured bumper we have the same 3DX chrome treatment and looking looks like exhaust tips. On the windscreen we got wiper washer with a high mounted stop lamp also. Kia designs this Carens very well and played with chrome and gloss black where it would be possible, they knocked the ball out of the park with the design and quality of the exterior.
Interior –
Like that, inside this recreational vehicle we got a completely new interior with all new colour theme also, interior is finished in Triton Navy + Sahel Beige. It’s a dual tone treatment which probably coloured in black but Navy blue is the flagship colour of Carens so we got blue over black. The dashboard design is completely fresh we got a plane simple dash which is finished in hard plastic, above the glove box we have a glossy black treatment with the same 3DX treatment. But the problem is it is a big fingerprint magnet and very hard to keep clean.
Now we have a 10.25 inch touchscreen infotainment system which is a new unit and we got lots of tech inside it like a android auto and apple car play, radio, media, navigation, vehicle settings, driving data, valley mode, quite mode, themes and lots of other useful data as well. The all infotainment unit is finished in gloss black so this is only problem with it. Below this screen we found continuously running AC vents with air conditioning controls, USB’s, charging ports and a wireless charging pad as well.
The centre console is loaded with lots of vehicle controls, chubby holes and a centre armrest with some storage space inside it. The steering wheel is a same Seltos unit where we have mounted controls, paddle shifters and adjustable in both ways. The mounted controls operates media, bluetooth and its 12.5 inch all digital instrument cluster.
This is a new unit which gives lots of information like TPMS, parking sensors, compass, speedometer, tachometer and all other usual bits which we seen in lots of cars. Its a sleek unit and bigger than its rivals Alcazar, Alcazar’s unit is 10.5 inch and here we got 2.5 inch bigger. Front seats are comfortable with good amount of legroom and headroom, like that in second row we have good amount of headroom and under thighs support but legroom is an issue.
On the driver’s seat we have air purifier placed right behind the seat, lots of times this air purifier eats legroom. The captain seats gets one touch tumble down function, when we press a button it automatically reclines and tumble down, this may create ease to access the third row and we can easily go. It’s a unique and first in the segment feature which is not coming in any of its rivals, but to put the seat down we have to do it manually.
Second row gives ample comfort with hand rest, bottle holders, sun blinds, height adjustable headrest, AC controls, utility tray and roof mounted AC vents also. In third row we have two seats with height adjustable headrest, legroom is extremely poor and headroom is ample in terms of space. But under thighs support and knee room is non existent or null, still we have two roof mounted AC vents, cup holders and reading lights also.
This is a practical cabin with impressive first and second row and still make the job done in third row, cabin feels very airy and doesn’t feeel claustrophobic. Thanks to the big windows and sunroof for better air flow and abundant amount of light. With all the three rows up it gets 216L of boot space which can be easily increased by splitting the third row in 50:50 format and after reclining the third row we get 500+ litres of space which is decently enough. Still Kia gives us a option of splitting the second row in 60:40 format, if we recline the second row also we can fit one Sonet there, that’s the level of space it offers. Kia Carens is full of space and comfort, thanks to its massive length and convenience of reclining the seats by one touch of finger.
Comfort and Convenience-
Kia Carens is coming with lots of tech inside it like a 8 speakers premium Boss sound system, 64 coloured ambient lighting, 10 inch touchscreen infotainment system system,
smart air purifier with bacteria protection, automatic climate control, fully digital instrument cluster, wireless charging pad, umbrella holders, 2nd row one touch tumble, follow me home headlights, paddle shifters, rain sensing wipers, automatic headlights, auto dimming irvm, cruise control and many more.
Safety and tech-
With features Kia is also thinking about safety in the Carens we get 6 airbags, ABS and EBD, brake assist, electronic stability program, hill hold control, hill descent control, TPMS, isofix child seat anchors, speed sensing auto door lock,
rear parking camera with front and rear parking sensors, vehicle stability management, all wheel disc brakes and lots of other stuff.
This 2022 Kia Carens is available in 8 colour options.
- Imperial Blue
- Moss Brown
- Intense Red
- Aurora Black Pearl
- Glacier White Pearl
- Sparkling Silver
- Gravity Grey
- Clear White
Conclusion-
The price of this new recreational vehicle starts from 9.59L to 17.69L (Ex-Showroom Delhi) and cost of Luxury Plus variant which we are reviewing starts from 17.49L (Ex-Showroom Delhi). In this budget price range or in this segment Carens compete with Maruti Suzuki XL6, Hyundai Alcazar, Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Mahindra XUV700, Tata Harrier, MG Hector Plus, MG Astor and Tata Safari.
This Carens is really good packaged with high on safety as well, performance is ample for an MPV. Kia really knocked the ball out of the park, thanks to the Carens which costs pocket friendly also. Overall this Kia Carens is versatile MPV which is a big player in this segment and yes, it’s really from a different world.
Rating From Team Ignition To Kia Carens
Kia Carens- Knocked the ball out of the park
-Team Ignition
All Image Credits- Crystal Kia Auto, Baner, Pune
- Edited by Atharva Patil
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