The Kia Carens Is the Best MPV
I test drove the Carens1 petrol MPV, both in the city and on the highway, and evaluated it against my requirements. My conclusion is that Carens is the best MPV.
An MPV is a vehicle that has three rows, where the third row can be folded to load long cargo. In fact, even the second row can:
The Carens is styled to look like a crossover, but since what you can do with it matters more than how it looks, so I’ll classify it as an MPV.
- No leather, which I like since it avoids cruelty to animals.
+ Rain-sensing wiper
- Cruise control but not adaptive
± No auto hold, so when you stop in traffic, you can’t let go of the brake in Drive.
± Idle stop go
± Both a P gear and a manual handbrake
± Eco, normal and sport modes
- Rear camera, not 360 or front, with curved indicators that move as you rotate the steering wheel.
+ Hill assist
Comfort
- I can’t stretch my legs comfortably.
- The headrest isn’t comfortable at all. The salesman told me to use a neck pillow.
- The steering wheel doesn’t touch my legs.
- Headroom is insufficient. My head feels close to the roof.
- The seat isn’t electrically adjustable.
+ Good handroom (the space I have when I stretch my hands forward). The console and windshield are far away, so it feels very spacious and open.
Driving
+ In eco, I couldn’t hear the engine when traveling at a constant speed of 100 kph
+ DCT, 1.5-liter turbo.
+ Handles speed bumps at 30
± The steering wheel is light but becomes heavy with speed.
± Sports mode is noisy (2000 vs 1500 RPM) but has less lag. Even there, hard acceleration has lag and then a surge.
+ If you stop too close to the vehicle in front, it beeps, with indications in green, yellow and red, with red being continuous beeping. Three zones: front, front-left and front-right.
Digital features
+ CarPlay works wired
- … but only on the USB-A port
- The car comes with MapMyIndia, which is bad, so use Google Maps instead via your phone.
Cooling
- Sunroof but not panoramic
+ Ventilated seats
+ Climate control
+ Can turn on AC remotely using app
- No cooled glove box
+ Cooled cup-holder
+ Rear window sunshades
- Single zone AC
Safety
+ Seat belt pretensioner with load limiter and height adjustment
+ ESC
+ Full coverage airbags
- No lane departure warning
- No blind spot monitoring showing a camera view when you use the turn indicator, or a beep if someone is in your blind spot.
+ DRLs
+ Auto headlights
+ TPMS
- Triangle warning icon in wing mirror when a vehicle passes by
+ Impact-sensing door unlock
+ Exit warning
Front passenger seat
- I can’t stretch my legs comfortably.
+ Good headroom
+ The window is panoramic
+ There’s a huge amount of handroom: when I stretch my hands forward, the console is far away, and the windshield and window are huge.
Middle row seat
+ I can stretch my legs comfortably, which I can’t in most so-called MPVs like the Hycross, Fortuner, Scorpio N or Invicto. I can only in the Carens and Alcazar.
+ Can be adjusted forward and backward. I’d typically move it all the way back, so that I can stretch my legs comfortably, but if the third row is occupied, or I have long cargo, or a lot of baggage, I can move it forward to create more space.
+ Reclines like the front seat
+ Armrest
+ Air purification system
+ Two C ports
+ Not as spacious as the front seat but window is panoramic. It was beautiful watching the world go by.
+ AC control (the vent is in the third row but the control is in the second row)
- The rear window doesn’t roll down fully.
+ In the center of the seat is a cupholder.
+ The middle seat has a headrest, too, not just the two sides.
+ The left and right seats have one erect and one reclining position
+ There’s an air purifier with 2 AC vents and 2 USB-C ports.
+ You can fold the middle- and rear row seats to load long cargo:
If you don’t need a 3-row vehicle, buy a Creta
The Carens is the best 3-row vehicle. If that’s what you’re looking for, end of story.
But what if you’re not particular about having 3 rows? In that case, the Creta and the Seltos are both better. Let’s compare the Carens with the Creta, where - is a weakness of the Carens, and + is a strength:
- In the Creta, I can stretch my legs comfortably in both the driver and front passenger seats, which I can’t in the Carens.
- The headroom is more comfortable in the Creta than the Carens.
- The Carens seat isn’t electrically adjustable. You can adjust as you drive, unlike manual adjustment where, if you pull the lever, the backrest can fall all the way back, risking loss of control. Even if you pull over and adjust the seat, you can’t adjust it precisely, while electrical adjustment can be notch by notch. In my Ritz without electrical adjustment, when I have a back pain, I often end up continuing to drive without adjusting the seat.
+ The handroom (the amount of space I have if I stretch my hand forward) is more in the Carens than the Creta. The window is also panoramic. It feels so spacious and luxurious, a feeling no other car provides. It feels like traveling down the road in a glass bubble, enjoying the world both in front and on the side.
- The Carens sunroof isn’t panoramic
+ The Carens has a cooled cup-holder.
So, if you’re not particular about having 3 rows, buy a Creta.
2024 model, not the 2025 Clavis.