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-   -   Kia Carens midsize MPV unveiled (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/218963-kia-carens-midsize-mpv-unveiled-14.html)

I have seen the car up close, in person and have spent about an hour with it. Wait till you see it in person before forming any judgements

As a XL6 owner, I was invited to a market research event early this year and there was feedback sought in comparison with other MPV's like Ertiga, XL6, Marazzo which were parked by its side (No Innova)

The interior looks at least (can't confirm quality) are far better than the other MPV's on sale today, although the feeling of space, which is a must in a good MPV was somehow missing

This will definitely appeal to the younger folks looking for their first MPV if priced right

If I was in the market today for a MPV it would have been tough picking between this and the XL6 if priced similarly, Although I might have still bought the XL6, unless KIA surprised us with a good safety rating

XL6 is just exceptional value for money and it needs to be seen if Carens will come even close

This is No Alcazar equivalent for sure and Kia won't make the mistake of pricing it there

So this is the Kia version of the Hyundai Alcazar?

I bought the Mid model Diesel MT Alcazar in October and have already driven it nearly 2500 Km's of mostly highway use in the hills of HP with one plains highway trip to Jammu.

The Alcazar is pretty good, a spacious, frugal, comfortable Cruiser packed with a lot of tech. It's not very exciting to drive but I have my VWs for driving excitement and let the chauffeur drive the Alcazar. I don't need the third row, so the boot space is exceptional and of great use to me.

Pretty happy with the Alcazar, and I'm pretty sure it's twin the Kia Carens will do very well too.

Reading the comments, this car is definitely love it or hate it in the looks department. I think it will sell in decent numbers.

Kia Carens to be exclusively manufactured in India at the carmaker’s facility in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.



Source

The front face keeps reminding me of the Toyota's version of the Wagon R - especially the DRL part. Somehow I don't find the Carens to be a very cohesive design. The wheels look small, which is ok for a comfortable ride, but then the small seats and the huge windows, then the small slim headlights. Somehow it fails to evoke the same wow feeling that the Seltos and Sonet do.

To me the car looks very good. The Alcazar is expensive because the base model itself very well loaded. Since the Carens is based on the Seltos, the top end variants will intrude into Alcazar territory. But yes, it can start with lower priced variants (in the 11 lakh range) as compared to Alcazar. Typical of Kia, I would think the price range will be 11-18 lakhs, with over 15 variants (3 diesel manuals, 2 diesel automatics, 5 petrol manuals across 2 engines, 4 petrol automatics) on offer straddling that price bracket.:cool:

Do not think the XL6 audience is core target segment. I would believe the XL6 customers are largely middle aged family men,and Maruti brand loyalists. The Carens, as you rightly said, will go after the younger crowd willing to pay a bit extra for fresh, stand-out design, and of course, lot of features.

As for safety, i think the Indian car buyer is flexible. The craze for cars like Creta, Seltos, Sonet etc has shown that we like to talk about and consider safety only if other criteria are met (design, features and price). :disappointed

And which Indian regulation or policy Tata and Mahindra are not following in terms of engine performance, reliability or quality? This is all very subjective. And even here there is no defined government policy.

So let’s agree to disagree. There are certain aspects on which all manufacturers have to improve, whether it’s safety or reliability, but as consumers we have to be aware and create awareness about glaring issues, irrespective of who the manufacturer is.

Aagghhh... What a Frankenstein of a car. :Shockked: Reminds me of the hearse vans I used to see in the US. After the brilliant designs of the Seltos, Sonet and the Carnival this is just an eye sore. Can't see them selling this in any of the developed nations with the confused and disproportionate design.

I'll disagree on this, the spade work and market survey and headache was all done for them by their mother company Hyundai since nearly 2 decades.

Kia came in and licked all the malai.

All credit to Kia for bringing in this beauty, which will fly off the shelves.

I don't think it will happen, even one of the review indicated Alcazar strategy here, lower variant will be fully loaded. I also believe they will never undercut Alcazar pricing, I expect it to start ex-showroom around 17L ( so ~20L on-road )

Comparing the seat size with the 2015 Lodgy - I find it adequate enough and it doesnt look like something new to me for the seats to be in this size. Of course , assuming the head rest is adjustable as we are able to in the Renault Lodgy ; And comparing the bench type to captain seats.

To summarize , I hope that the second and third row seat head rests are actually adjustable in the new KIA Carens and that they have only been put down in this exhibit vehicle to make the interiors / third row more visible.

There's no such government regulations for engine refinement, quality or reliability. That's why these manufacturers hide their flaws with Global ncap ratings. They advertise as the 5 star rated car, people think the entire car has 5 star quality :uncontrol

That's why I said, I want to see an agency, which starts testing the quality of the engines and the reliability of the car and provide ratings. A car is associated with numerous factors, not only safety. So it's good to have those ratings as well. We can't decide whether a car is good or bad with just safety alone.

No way in this a rival to Alcazar, it will definitely be priced lower than the Hyundai.
Manual handbrake, semi digital instruments (cheapened version of Alcazar one), smaller 16 inch wheels.

In a welcome move, it also has side torso and curtain-type head protection airbags as standard equipment over the Hyundai, so I'm not quite sure about pricing being lower.

It's also nice to see standard ESC again, like the Hyundai Alcazar.

I also hope they've fixed the Kia Seltos' pedal intrusion issues and the unstable airbag head contact observed in Global NCAP's frontal crash. I don't know what it is with Kia and footwell issues in RHD cars. They had similar problems with the previous Carnival in Australasia, but there they made improvements and sponsored a retest. I'm not very confident that they'll do something similar with the new Carens in India.

Frankly for someone who hates the Creta design, this car feels designed well with no ugly overhangs except for the thick chrome strip at the rear bumper.

I don't understand why if you hate the design, you need to ridicule a company for having a tiger nose grill that is in no way remotely close to the famous kidney grills. Get a life already, this forum is to have a healthy discussion on car launches and provide feedback on whats good and what might need a fix like those slim and small 2nd row seats or the lack of request sensors on the passenger side or removal of backlit interior buttons.

Let's keep this forum a true enthusiastic feedback from car lovers, not a ridicule of it.