2025 Kia Carnival V-6 First Test: Keeping the Party Going
The refreshed Carnival minivan keeps pushing the segment forward.
Pros
- Great looking for a minivan
- Useful new software
- Still a great value
Cons
- Neither as quick nor efficient as rivals
- Firmer ride isn’t for everyone
- Ads for other Kias on backseat screens
Minivans may have fallen out of fashion with many automakers, but don’t tell that to Kia. The South Korean brand rejoined the segment in 2015 with the Sedona and introduced a follow-up model, the Carnival, in 2022. To help keep things fresh, the 2025 Kia Carnival line gets a thorough midcycle update that includes a new hybrid model and tech additions. The hybrid will unquestionably get the lion’s share of the attention, but we spent some quality time with the revised V-6 powered Carnival to see if the changes make for a more compelling van.
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What’s New for 2025?
While the Carnival Hybrid gets a whole new engine for 2025, the V-6’s changes are comparably minor. Aside from a sheetmetal nip and tuck, the interior gets an updated infotainment system with dual displays, and, on the loaded Carnival SX Prestige, Kia’s Connected Car Rear Cockpit dual entertainment displays, which offer rear-seat occupants the ability to control the climate, play games, sing karaoke, and view ads for the Kia EV9. The rest of the Carnival is mostly unchanged. Under the hood it sports the same 3.5-liter V-6 with 287 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque as the 2024 model, which drives the front wheels through an eight-speed automatic. Inside, it seats seven or eight, depending on configuration.
We tested a Carnival SX Prestige with the eight-passenger setup divided among three rows in a 2-3-3 configuration. The third row in all Carnivals can fold down into a well in the floor, while the middle seat can slide fore and aft, fold forward to offer outboard occupants cupholders and a mini table, and itself is removable. Second-row captain’s chairs are a no-cost option on the SX Prestige, which rang up to $52,755 as tested. The Carnival as a whole remains a segment value leader thanks to a $37,895 starting price for the base LX V-6 model.
How Does the Carnival V-6 Drive?
We’ll have a full rundown on how all these minivan-specific family-friendly features work in practice soon, but let’s focus on how the Carnival V-6 feels to those making the payments.
Drivers will find lots to like. It's not as spritely as some rivals (more on that in a moment), but the V-6-powered Carnival accelerates well, settles down quietly when cruising and has enough passing power on tap that we wouldn’t hesitate to pass slower traffic, even when fully loaded with eight humans. Kia appears to have made some suspension tweaks to the 2025 Carnival, too. Previous versions were undersprung, meaning they tended to feel nautical through bends and over bumps. The new one, on the other hand, feels stiffer and firmer. From behind the wheel, that means the 2025 Carnival is somewhat more enjoyable through bends and is less prone to seesawing back and forth on its axles after hitting bumps—though some on staff found that Kia perhaps overcorrected and made the Carnival too firm.
With no major mechanical changes to the 2025 Carnival V-6, it was unsurprising that our loaded SX Prestige effectively matched the performance of last one we tested, a 2022 model, accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds, from 45 to 65 mph in 3.9 seconds, and through the quarter mile in 15.7 seconds at 90.5 mph. Braking and handling results fell off from the last Carnival we tested, however. The 2025 model needed a sizeable 132 feet for the 60–0-mph stop (up from 118 feet) and lapped our figure eight in 28.7 seconds at 0.57 g average (versus 27.9 seconds at 0.60 g average). Based upon further experience with the Carnival line, we suspect the 2022 model’s handling and braking numbers were outliers; our 2025 Carnival experiences are likely most representative of what the average Carnival is capable of.
Although bench racing is rightly far from a top concern for a family minivan, it’s worth putting the 2025 Carnival V-6 in context with its other gas-powered rivals. It just edges out the segment sales-leading Chrysler Pacifica in acceleration tests, but the Chrysler claws back the advantage in brake and handling tests. Although the pair trails far behind the Honda Odyssey in straight-line tests, both the Kia and Chrysler post better handling figures than the Honda—partially due to the latter’s overaggressive stability control system.
The Carnival V-6 remains competitive but not class-leading when it comes to fuel economy; it scores 18/26/21 mpg city/highway/combined, just trailing the Pacifica and Odyssey, both of which are rated 19/28/22 mpg. Those looking to lighten their environmental impact while keeping their wallet fat and happy would likely be better served by the new Carnival Hybrid (34/31/33 mpg), the hybrid-only Toyota Sienna (36/36/36 mpg), or the plug-in hybrid Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid (82 mpg-e combined, with 32 miles of electric range before the engine fires).
Is the Kia Carnival Better Than Other Minivans?
Numbers only tell part of the story. For minivan buyers, how a van functions and feels for family life matters greatly. The 2025 Carnival certainly makes strides forward in that regard, marrying the existing seating flexibility of the pre-update Carnival with welcome new software defined features, such as the Ring doorbell-like family view camera, “Hey Kia” capability from any seat, and the new rear-seat entertainment options. It’s a better party in every way. How it stacks up against the competition, both old and new, however, remains to be seen. Stay tuned.
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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