2025 Kia Carnival Review: The Great Minivan You’ll Wish You Bought Tomorrow

Technically, the Carnival’s not a minivan.

On Kia’s website, it’s listed alongside the brand’s CUVs and SUVs like the Seltos and Telluride as an “MPV” which… according to Wikipedia, is just another term for minivan. So, the 2025 Kia Carnival is, in reality, a minivan, it’s just a bit shy about it. To be fair, it’s not the only van with self-esteem issues. Where the very aggro-looking Toyota Sienna has been styled like a bullet train, the Carnival’s reworked front end is clearly trying to make it look more like an SUV—that shiny C-pillar trim meanwhile, as hard as it may try, isn’t fooling anyone into thinking this is a pickup truck.

Purely on merit, however, the Carnival is a vehicle that has nothing to be ashamed of. It’s comfortable, it’s relatively nice to drive, and, because of its minivan, er, MPV status, supremely practical.

The Basics

Refreshed for 2025, the Kia Carnival gets a boxier, more modern reskin. Front and rear fascias are new while the infotainment system receives Kia’s latest operating system capable of over-the-air updates. Assisted-driving tech is also improved (the Hyundai Group’s impressive Highway Driving Assist 2 is now available). There’s also a new, more fuel-efficient hybrid model, but this test is on the standard V6.

Inside, the Carnival is an enjoyably practical space. The dash design is classy and the plastics it’s made of feel nicer than the stuff that comes in the aforementioned Sienna. In this one, there’s even orange leather and stitching on the dash, and the vents do that thing of spanning the entire cabin, like they do in luxury cars. More importantly, though, the Carnival is simply a car that’s quite easy to live with. The two-mode panel of knobs and touch buttons that switches between climate and infotainment controls is a novel use of space, but you definitely will at some point crank up the temperature when you want more audio volume, and vice versa.

Otherwise, the controls in this thing make sense. Stalks are well-labeled, steering wheel buttons are intuitive, and the screens—two curved 12.3-inch displays in this high trim—are big, clear, and easy to navigate.

It’s Van Time

The main draw of any minivan, however, is space, and the Kia Carnival indeed has loads of it. Par for the minivan course, both sliding doors and the liftgate can be opened and closed by buttons (there’s a whole module for this above the driver’s head) or merely pulling on handles—by my count, there are five different ways of opening or closing each sliding door, and none of them require much arm strength—the last time I used power-close doors, I was in a Bentley SUV. In other luxuries, all four rear windows had hand-deployable shades and the seat belt buckles can be illuminated and come with felt padding to keep them from annoyingly knocking against other plastic.

Settling in, the second row is spacious. The Kia Carnival can be optioned with either the middle bench seen in this tester allowing for eight total passengers or second-row captain’s chairs, accommodating seven. With the whole bench up, three average-size adults could sit beside each other fairly comfortably, but that middle seat can fold down to become a little table-slash-cup-and-phone-holder. Speaking of, there are a total of nine cupholders throughout the Carnival.

All three middle-row seats can slide back and forth to allow both entry and more legroom for the third row. Climbing into the back, this is obviously the least spacious part of the Carnival, but it still beats the nosebleeds of many three-row SUVs. I’m five-foot-eight and can sit up straight in the outboard rear seats without knees or hair touching anything, but the middle seat rear-most seat does indeed feel like something that should be reserved for kids or emergencies. Third-row passengers get their own storage nooks as well as two USB-C ports—you can option up to seven of these ports in total throughout the Carnival. Retractable headrests remind me of a droid from Star Wars and smartly stow away when not being used, staying out of the driver’s sightline.

If you don’t often drive with more than four other people, stowing away the third row is reasonably easy, as is putting them back up again. In other nifty but now-standard-for-minivan features, the Carnival includes a passenger camera and PA system which let you both keep an eye on and yell at your kids in proverbial 4K surround sound.

Driving the Kia Carnival

The Kia Carnival contains many seats but I’d wager its best seat is still the one behind the wheel. It’s so smooth and easy, I kind of love it in the same way I love slipping into soft, cold-to-the-touch bamboo sheets every night. It steers intuitively lightly at all speeds and rides great, taking on the most jarring potholes like a champ. It’s also weirdly easy to place given its size—a robust 360-camera system certainly doesn’t hurt but neither does expertly-calibrated steering.

Carnival’s brakes deserve recognition for being confidently strong but very soft in “texture,” making smooth, don’t-wake-that-baby stops really easy to pull off.

Equipped with an old-school 3.5-liter V6 making 288 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque hooked up to an eight-speed automatic transmission, the Carnival is never wanting when it comes to acceleration. It’s also perpetually quiet and smooth, with engine noise muffled uncannily well. Floating down the highway at a reasonable speed, the Carnival honestly approaches luxury car levels of refinement.

If you must, the V6 Kia Carnival will tow up to 3,500 pounds.

Newly available for 2025 is a Carnival Hybrid that uses a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder and an electric motor sending 242 total hp and 271 lb-ft of torque through a six-speed automatic to the front wheels. This version gets 34 mpg city, 31 mpg highway, and 33 mpg combined, and should provide an even quieter, smoother driving experience although a road test of that one will have to wait ’til later. That model also gets different 17-inch wheels, active air flaps in the front fascia, and paddle-operated regen braking.

The Highs and Lows

Even without the hybrid powertrain, the 2025 Kia Carnival is one of the most practical, serene, uncomplicated, and blatantly satisfying vehicles I’ve ever lived with. It’s downright relaxing to drive while honestly being quite stylish—like ankle socks, it’s only a matter of time before SUVs and crossovers become a millennial-coded dog whistle of oldness, mark my words. (For the record, crew socks were the only type of socks that ever existed in my mind and wardrobe, despite being born in what the children now refer to as “the late 1900s.”)

Honestly, one of the only notable pain points I had with the Carnival was the touchscreen beep that was enabled when I picked it up. Not only was it annoying but also annoyingly difficult to turn off. After having to Google it (the mark of suboptimal UI design), it’s a swipe down from the top of the touchscreen and look for “Beep”—you might have to go into this control center’s edit tool if it’s not already there.

Fuel Economy

Among the FWD minivans, the V6 Kia Carnival is the thirstiest on sale, rated by the EPA for 18 mpg city, 26 highway, and 21 combined. A single mpg worse than the Honda Odyssey and Chrysler Pacifica which also still use V6s. The 36-mpg Toyota Sienna only comes as a hybrid, the Odyssey is (for now) V6-only, while the Carnival and Chrysler offer both gas and hybrid variants.

Carnival fans looking for better economy should look into that new 33-mpg Hybrid model, while brand-agnostic van buyers looking for ultimate efficiency can have the Pacifica PHEV that can travel up to 32 miles on just electricity.

Kia Carnival Features, Options, and Competition

The 2025 Kia Carnival starts at $37,895 including destination, undercutting all three of its main minivan rivals from Toyota, Honda, and Chrysler. However, it can be argued that the $39,135 Toyota Sienna is, apples-to-apples, less expensive than the Kia since it comes standard as a hybrid and the Carnival Hybrid starts at $41,895.

Standard equipment in the base Carnival LX includes tri-zone climate control, an eight-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, six speakers, Wi-Fi hotspot functionality, hands-free sliding doors, keyless entry, and most of Kia’s key ADAS technologies. There are five trims total, but the top-end $51,995 SX Prestige gets black 19-inch wheels, darker trim, the big 12.3-inch screens, a digital rearview mirror, 115-volt inverters up front and in the cargo area, “pure” leather, heated and ventilated seats, the option of VIP lounge seats in the second row, a heated steering wheel, optional rear entertainment systems, 12 Bose speakers, and Highway Driving Assist 2.

If it were my money, I’d probably go for the mid-level, $42,095 EX since that’s where you get the better touchscreen, hands-free tailgate, power passenger seat, as well as acoustic glass in the front doors. Although the luxurious SX Prestige is absolutely where it’s at if you can swing it, I’m a little disappointed that the heated steering wheel is locked behind this top trim.

Value and Verdict

As an item made to ferry families in great space and comfort, few cars are more fit for the job than a minivan and among minivans, the Kia Carnival stands out as a comparatively stylish, upmarket-feeling option. Kia’s infotainment and assisted-driving tech feels better baked than Toyota’s and Honda’s and, for what it’s worth, the Carnival’s styling is indeed a lot less “dealership shuttle” than the Chrysler Pacifica, especially with this 2025 update. The addition of the imminent hybrid powertrain doesn’t hurt its case either.

Like pretty much all of the minivans, the Kia Carnival’s biggest obstacle is its image. Once the default family car, a vain desire to look “tough” on the part of Gen X and millennial buyers has relegated minivans to a frumpy, niche choice. And, you know what? I get it. Nobody wants to drive the same car their parents drove. But if you ask me, that’s exactly why minivans deserve a comeback. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are entering both the workforce and their prime money-spending years. And if history serves, the RAV4 and Kia Sorento their parents drove should take the minivan’s place as the uncool, unloved parent-mobile of the era.

So, if you’re in the market for a family car that seats at least seven, you’re spoilt for choice. You can either do the basic thing and snag a Honda Pilot or Hyundai Telluride and feel marginally cooler now. Or you can play the long game and get the 2025 Kia Carnival before the societal tides turn and everybody else starts clamoring for one too.

Either way, prepare to feel relaxed.

Got a tip or question for the author about the Carnival? You can reach him here: chris.tsui@thedrive.com