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Kia Carnival's 50,000 km / 5th service & more

15th April 2024, 14:00 by Parry M

In my last update I had mentioned how weary I was taking the car to the dealer because of the cramped spaces. This concern is no longer relevant now. The new facility is quite large, well designed and looks quite modern too.

BHPian rrsteer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Recently completed our Carnival’s 50k/ 5th service. Apart from a resurfaced squeaking sound that was addressed 3 months back by replacing the tensioner assembly, I had no other concerns to report. I can say that the overarching story of my ownership remains intact. The car performs well, but service support has been very poor. It would not be wrong to say that apart from the failed bearing of the tensioner assembly, all other issues have had the dealer’s stamp. Earlier they spoilt the tyres of the car, last service they damaged the front bumper, and this time they provided me an inside view of their terrible work processes. I had placed an order for a part – replacement for the car’s cardboard type underbody cover which had a slight tear. This request was placed in September last year. Six months on, I am still waiting for the correct part to arrive. To begin with, the dealer personnel forgot to place the order, later, thrice they ordered the wrong part, of which twice the same wrong part was ordered in succession.

There is good news though. The dealer finally opened a new service center. In my last update I had mentioned how weary I was taking the car to the dealer because of the cramped spaces. This concern is no longer relevant now. The new facility is quite large, well designed and looks quite modern too.

The new service center:

But can’t help thinking, it seems to be in sync with Kia India’s general philosophy (my opinion only) – more focus on the outside look and feel, but less on the inside.

Coming to the car itself, it has now completed over 50k kms in 31 months of ownership. That translates to a monthly running of about 1500kms. It is a sharp reduction compared to the car it replaced -the Innova, which averaged about 2500 kms per month. A part of this is attributable to the mindset shift post Covid. People are more amenable to doing business over video calls or transacting virtually, reducing the need to travel. But a good deal is because the Carnival has brought about a specialisation to our garage which didn’t exist before. Due to its shape and size, we are following an unsaid rule that Carnival=highways. This specialisation has been further cemented with the recent purchase of Tiago.EV – a most suitable car for city runabouts.

As mentioned above, the car recently faced its first mechanical/electronic part failure. The bearings of the tensioner assembly failed at 46k kms and 28 months into the ownership period. The new part was ordered and fixed in two weeks. The assembly itself was replaced under warranty. However, the belt, being a wear-and-tear item, wasn't covered. I ended up paying for half the cost of the belt, the other half was waived off as a goodwill measure after some negotiations. Disappointingly, the replaced part too failed within three months. The new part is expected to arrive by next week. Same part failing twice is not confidence inspiring, but for now I am willing to look pass it as a case of bad luck, as generally the car has been quite reliable and drives as good as new.

I have both read and heard from a few owners, complaints about early brake wear – somewhat understandable, as it’s a heavy vehicle with an auto gearbox. But am happy to report that at 50k, the brakes of my car were reported to be good for another 10k kms at least. Apart from the brakes, I am also much inclined towards preventive upkeep of the auto transmission. Going against the tide, Kia prescribed a transmission oil change at the 90k km mark in the owner’s manual. I brought this up with the service advisor as part of a discussion, to which he said and I quote ‘as per the latest advisory from Kia, the transmission is sealed for life and we are not authorized to do a transmission oil change.’ If that’s the case, I will get the oil changed from an able outside garage at 60k kms.

I recently also purchased a Scangauge for the car, and its a good way of keep a tab on transmission temperature. The transmission temperature mostly stays below 70 degree Celsius, but take the car to the hills and the temperature shoots up to 90-95 degrees in no time, although I have yet to see it go past 100. I am no expert in this, but I generally stop the car by the side for some rest if the transmission temperature continuously stays over 95 degrees for a longer duration. The other thing I have noticed is that the temperature increase gradient is less steep if driven in the manual mode. Generally too, I enjoy driving more in the manual mode, while driving on the hills.

Overall, as mentioned in earlier posts, the space and practicality that accompanies the design of a full size MPV, the lusty engine programmed to an intelligent 8 speed auto and the great highway fuel economy that the car is capable of, are its biggest draws for me.

Some pictures to go along with this update.

Above, I talked about practicality, didn’t I? Some demonstrations below:

Here we are carrying about 60-70 tree saplings.

Transporting all sorts of things.

An update will be incomplete, without me flaunting some fuel economy figures. Below are the stats of a recent drive from Delhi to back home Jalandhar. It was done on a long weekend, meaning heavy traffic throughout, while also having to deal with road diversions and interruptions caused by the farmer’s protest. I was very pleased with the figures in the end. The lifetime average fuel economy too is a very good 12.9 kmpl.

It has not been all highways for the car, when presented with a chance and if conditions allow, I do carefully take it offroad.

I have also been adding accessories, bit by bit. In the last 10k kms, I have added the following:

1) An external tyre pressure gauge. It has proved very helpful in keeping the tyre temperature around the intended values.

2) Scangauge II (got it from US through a visiting relative). It throws a range of data- not all of which I understand or even need, but its greatest use is keeping an eye on transmission temperature. The other thing I found out is that the eco mode in the car is an eyewash. I have not seen any change in the engine rpm, air fuel mixture or the engine load while using it.

3) A neat trunk organizer – helps me keep the tyre puncture repair kit and other things neatly tucked in.

4) A funnel for pouring DPF. Again, of great use, no more spilling of DPF fluid.

5) Some ambient lighting – I arranged them around the perimeter of the front seats, and it gives a nice effect at night, although there is just one color.