[BoneCollector]

Good review although not as comprehensive as the previous reviews.

Carens also gets the 1.5L petrol engine in Premium and Prestige variants.

The face and side profile doesn't appear that great but when you look at the 3rd row space, these things can be overlooked.

[creative420]

I think another blockbuster for KIA. We will be looking to upgrade to a bigger car in 6 months. And this looks like the one to upgrade to. I have never pre-booked a car, so what happens if you want to change the trim or power-train: do you lose your booking slot?

Also, I saw some 3-4 video reviews online. Haven’t come across the one with middle bench seat. You guys stumbles on something?

[MinivanDriver]

Carens seems to have room where it matters most in comparison with the competition. The 3rd row under thigh support seems better than even the Innova. Leg room is at least on par if not better. In the matter of 3rd row usability, rest of the competition - XUV et. al does not even come close. If one counts the space in the under floor storage in the boot as well, it is pretty darn close to the Innova. Ride and handling is another point where it matches up or betters the competition. The diesel seems slightly underpowered. But the 0 to 100 time is still very good for a family MPV. It would have better fuel efficiency as well. The cabin experience seems to be pretty good too. Considering that it is likely to be priced 5 to 7L cheaper, I am expecting it to take the battle to the Innova. Also for Safari, unless they spice it up by adding 4WD, this will eat in to its sales as well at least a bit. I think there are a lot of folks who want a 3 row family car who were eyeing XUV or Safari because they wanted something better than Ertiga but could not afford the Innova. That is a very sizeable market that the Carens will carve out for itself. Another sizeable chunk will be carved out of existing seltos, creta and Alcazar sales. I predict the Carens would be a sales topper regularly making the top 10 in the sales charts.

[TaurusSHO]

Not the best interior design IMO. Adding gloss black plastics doesn't help either, it makes it look more cheap.
It does have the usual croud favourite bling and tech that'll certainly lure customers in.

[padmrajravi]

Looks like this is another hit from Kia. It is a complete package. Roof mounted air vents are anyday better than panoramic sunroof in my opinion. They make a big difference to second row comfort.

And I really like the idea of making all safety features standard. Kia gets my respect for doing this. Whether they pass GNCAP or not is another story. But atleast they are not discriminating based on model variants. I am hoping that this practice trickles down to other segments and manufacturers. It is sad that supposed safety advocate manufacturers still haven't thought about this.

[Silverfire]

Brilliant work by Kia. I know many folks who have been looking for a good 7-seater family car, and the Carens fits in beautifully. Kia’s designers have made good trade offs to tailor the product for this category of buyers e.g 16 inch wheels which aid ride comfort, a usable 3rd row with enough space left over in the boot for some storage, feature loaded, reclining seats in all rows, sliding middle row etc.

If priced well this could be the car to beat in the family 7-seater segment, and could take off customers both from the Ertiga and Xl6 at the bottom end and the Innova at the top end.

In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if it manages to steal some share from the XUV 7OO and Safari as well. Fits 7 comfortably, while being easier to drive, as fast/faster and in general superior customer service experience of Kia, might swing many customers.

[Bibendum90949]

Thank you for the pretty detailed review .

Few big plusses compared to Seltos.

- ESP as standard (this was a big miss with many variants in Seltos, esp diesels). Something which is as important as seat belts and airbags.

- 6 airbags as standard (a min.4 star GNCAP rating is what should supplement the no. of airbags, hope there's no slip-up this time around)

- disc brakes all around as standard.

Looks like Kia is trying to make amends after the Seltos' safety debacle. Fingers crossed though.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Simple and functional power window controls as well as ORVM controls. Only driver's side window has one touch up/down functionality

Keen to know if the control switches are back lit unlike Seltos which was a big goof up. I remember groping in the dark for few days in the first few weeks after I bought Seltos. Few of the owners had to order radium stickers from Ali express/Amazon.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

A close look at the "crown jewel" LED headlight cluster with the LED DRL on top. The entire cluster is surrounded by piano black:

While the fancy names sound good and look good, hope the most important function of headlights - to effectively illuminate the road ahead - is performed well here. But from the looks of it, it's a matter of time owners start to curse the poor headlight efficacy. This was one of the biggest let downs in Seltos. Few of us in the forum and outside had to spent 20k upwards to fix auxiliary lights. Seltos' headlight is the worst ever i've come across. I would be happy to be proved wrong with Carens headlights.

I know this is a tough demand. It would be great if during our reviews, the car is driven on national and state highways at night and the efficacy of headlights checked. I was in for a rude shock the first time I drove my Seltos on a highway at night. And that's something which a buyer can't test during TD. If we at Team BHP can't do it, no one else will.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Unknown safety rating. The Seltos just barely managed a 3-star Global NCAP rating!

This will keep coming back to bite Kia and rightly so. It'll remain as a true blemish in their Indian chapter. Hoping to see a positive change this time around.

Otherwise, this car has all the makings to become their next blockbuster story. Ertiga, XL 6, Hector etc would feel the heat. Overall, the team at Kia seems to have burned the midnight candle in the making of Carens than their Hyundai counterparts with Alcazar.

cheers,
bibendum

[motorworks]

Thank you for fantastic review! Team-bhp covers details that absolutely no one does!

The car does not really look good, I find it too busy with too many elements. I’m quite surprised by the usage of too many plastic types in the exterior, may be very difficult to maintain and plus in case of a even a small accident it makes repair that more complex.

The way the car is equipped, I cannot see this at par with the Alcazar. Maybe this will be at par with the Seltos. But I also get a feeling that Kia may surprise us all by offering a shocker of an entry level variant, thus sort of grabbing the eyeballs of the typical Ertiga Buyer. Now, the Ertiga is no where close to the Carens in terms of features, but Kia needs that attention of these buyers.

Any confirmation if this is actually based on the Sonet?

[VALLURIS]

Excellent Review.

I hope KIA will target Ertiga customers than Innova.

KIA using 1.4 instead of 2.0 used in Alcazar is pushing me to think that it will price it closer to Ertiga.

1-2 lakhs premium over Ertiga across variants will do wonders and should be a blockbuster for KIA.

[Mustang Sammy]

Excellent review as always.
While practical and well put together on the inside, this vehicle is not my cup of tea. Happened to see one driving on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, and it looked ugly and awkward especially with those skinny tires.

[rahil_29]

Finally after a long wait, the official Carens review have started flowing in.

Thank you Vid6639 and Chetan_Rao for such an extensive review!!

Looking forward to test driving the Carens, I hope Kia starts the test drives soon. Standard safety features are a big plus given the murky past regarding safety in Kia cars. Creature comforts like ventilated seats are a good thing to have and I personally feel that ventilated seats are a bigger plus than a normal sunroof/panoramic sunroof. Although I had my reservations about the navy blue and biege interiors, I am liking them in the multiple pictures that have been uploaded in this review.

Even though some features when compared to the Alcazar are missing, Kia should be pricing the Carens in and around the Alcazar which means the Carens top model should be priced in the range of 20 lacs ex-showroom. The way car pricing has taken an upward trend in the recent years, this seems to be a good enough package to be had for that price.

All in all, an exciting car with most creature comforts and standard safety package.

[Aakash118]

One feature I quite like in MUVs like Hector plus & Crysta is this, https://www.team-bhp.com/carpics/202...or-plus-27.jpg Anything like this available here?

[Piyush Kanthak]

Please someone tell me how will that dashboard hold up in the long run? Small gloss black panels in cars gets easily scratches and they start fading away very fast, but this covers the whole dashboard!

[Bingeljell]

Sorry for the stupid question guys, but is this therefore competing with the XL6 or the Hector or what? Or because of how they're looking at the variants, it'll probably compete with the XL6 at the lower end and nip at the heels of the Hector / Safari at the top end?

[achyutaghosh]

Awesome review, and just what the doctor ordered, if i may add. At long last we have a (hopefully) reasonably priced car in India which can accomodate 7 people and their luggage in comfort which is not a Toyota.

Exteriors are a bit of hit and miss, but I love the Carens interiors- probably got the neatest dash among all Kias sold in India, and of course the overall space packaging.

I also kind of dig the many "simply clever" (wink wink) touches including the the powered tumble seat, the ipad friendly table, the inbuilt air purifier that does not feel like aftermarket, and the multitide of USB ports!

Well done Kia- price it between 12-17 lakhs (top end model should come below base Innova) and you have a winner.