Is 2022 Kia Carnival LX the VAN with the MOST value?

I'm here with the 2022 Kia Carnival LX. We're going to go through the ins and outs. My name is Christopher. This is Cars Unlocked. Let's jump into it. So let's talk about what's going on with this Kia Carnival. Now Kia has replaced the Sedona with the Carnival and they're really trying to get away from that minivan status. But this is the 8-seater base model LX. On the front end, you can see it's going to come with a few features like these LED low beam headlights and you have your LED daytime running lights. It's going to come with high beam assist. And then we have this nice front black grille insert. Brand new Kia emblem right here for 2022. This being the base LX model, it's going to have an MSRP of $34,795. So right around $35,000, you can get yourself an 8-seater minivan. Now before we jump into the power plan, I just want to say special thanks to my friends at St. Catherine's Kia for providing this vehicle. Go see them. They're your Kia experts in the Niagara region. And don't forget to subscribe to my channel, Cars Unlocked. We're going to be presenting all the 2022s as they come out. But here we go. This Carnival is equipped with the 3.5 V6 engine. It's going to come with 290 horsepower and 262 pounds-feet of torque attached to an 8-speed automatic transmission. And you're going to get about 12 liters for every 100 kilometers in the city. 8.9 liters for every 100 kilometers on the highway. That's about 28 combined miles per gallon. Is it uncool to have a minivan? Well, Kia's kind of thought of this. A lot of my customers, when I tell them they need a minivan, they don't want a minivan. And they've really kind of styled this car to look like an SUV. I really like what they did with this kind of back panel here. They really kind of flattened it out here. And then the front kind of flows right into the rear window. You can still see this door track. That's where the sliding doors that come in. You're going to have to put that somewhere. So I really like what they did with this back panel. It kind of gives it a large SUV look here to the back. When we go down to the rims, this one being the LX, you're going to get the 17-inch aluminum alloy rims. It's going to come with all-season tires here. Here's our new Kia emblem right on the back. And then the back taillights go right through the trunk and liftgate here. Nice Carnival cursive badging there. And then we have our parking sensors. There's a backup camera right below that new emblem. Makes it easy when parking. Obviously, if you're home, your family around, you want to know how the cargo space is. And there is a lot of space behind the third row seats. You can see how deep the trunk is here. Very deep. You have like an extra four or five cubic feet of storage below the seats there for your strollers, things like that. Something else you're probably concerned with is how easy it is to stow and go the seats and maneuver the seats when you're going on those trips and things like that. And this one's actually surprisingly easy. There's a number one here. If you want to stow the seat into the trunk, just give it a nice hard pull and it's going to tow away and flatten. And then the second one, same thing. So a little easier than those caravans, things like that. I am happy with that. And then if I want to pull it out. One, two. That's not bad. This is only like the second time I've done this. So pretty easy. Definitely would be easy to figure out after you purchase the vehicle. Now let's jump in and check out the inside. This one being the LX, you get this nice black interior here. It's a cloth seat and then you also have the manual adjustable driver's seat. So if you want to get the power options, you would go up to things like the LX plus or the SX. But let's start it up. I do like this little slot for my phone storage right there. In terms of safety features, you're going to get a handful of safety features. You'll get the lane keep assist system, the lane follow assist system. You'll get the driver attention warning and the rear occupancy warning. Things like advanced forward collision assistance as well. That's going to help stop you when you're in emergencies. But let's talk about the business end of what's going on here. Nice wheel with our new Kia badging right in front. We have our controls here for this 4.2 inch monitor here. Our information display in between our gauges. We got our radio controls, our Bluetooth. And then we have this nice kind of silver trim. It's the same trim you saw on the outside in that back quarter panel here. That's all throughout the vehicle. Kind of adds to the higher end look here. But a lot of hard surfaces going on here. Very few buttons. That's a good thing. Easy to control. You have this nice 8 inch display which you can do things like your Bluetooth for your phone. You can do your Android Auto, your Apple CarPlay. All those different types of wire connections here. And your phone projection app. So stream media through Bluetooth. Satellite radio is going to come as well. And then for our air conditioning down below. Just our regular manual knobs here. A hot day like today, it's nice and easy to crank up. You can control the rear and you can also lock the rear if you want to keep the rear locked and sync with what you have. Definitely like the USBs in the front here. Lots of USBs down below. And then our shifter here. Straight back shifter. You can slap it if you want to adjust manual. Slap it to the left and you can adjust your gears manually. Going to come with an auto hold electric parking brake. And then there's a couple different drive modes. We got an economy mode, a sport mode, smart mode, and the normal mode. This being the LX package, you get this 8 seater bench here. If you want to get the captain chairs, you got to go up to the higher trim levels. That black cloth continues throughout the back. And there is a lot of space here. If you have a large family, you're definitely going to go with something like this. I like the USBs right in the seats in front of me. And then look at this. A nice hard back on the driver's seat and the passenger seat. That's great because a lot of kids like to put their feet up or kick their feet and it can just become messy out here. But let's look at how you access the third row because that's very important. I'm just going to pop the dial up here and it folds one touch. Not bad, not bad. And I can get in the back. And here we are. There is ample legroom here. I'm 5'9", so I don't feel too bad back here. I could definitely sit back here for a long road trip, two, three hours at least. So I'm pretty content with the front. Now, if I want to get out, this is where it can get a little complicated. There's just this little pull tab down by my feet here. And if this is my first time in this car, I probably don't really know where it is. And a young child isn't going to know where it is. You're going to have to get out and pull for him. So that's kind of my only beef. But I just pull the tab there and I can get out. It is easy to get out once you know where it is. It's just hard to find. And maybe an 8-, 9-, 10-year-old is really going to have a hard time. The adult's going to have to come out and they're going to have to move the seat for him. And that might not be what you want to do as a parent. So now we're driving this 2022 Carnival, the eight-seater minivan. Is it a minivan? Is it an SUV? Let's just call it a minivan for now. But it definitely drives like an SUV. That's the positive that you have here. I really like how it drives. When you accelerate, this 3.5 V6, it does give you a lot of oomph that you need. I'm going to just put my foot down right here a little bit and show you. And you can see, it does get up and go when you need it. Like, you don't have to worry about acceleration. That's one thing that I really like. The steering is pretty loose. Me, personally, I like a little more stiffer steering. I felt the same way in the Telluride that we filmed. But it does feel a little loose with the wheel and as you take the turns. And I've noticed that's pretty consistent in Kias. But Kia's kind of going through this revamping and they've really done well. They're riding off of the hotness of the Kia Telluride, the Stinger, that K5. So now they've kind of rebranded the Sedona as this Carnival. I've always had a good time selling the Sedonas. I've never had an unhappy person that I've sold a Sedona to. So I'm hoping the Carnival has that same kind of tribute. I would like to see the luxury models, but this definitely drives nice. If you're looking for an eight-seater van, even a seven-seater van, you should certainly be considering this Carnival. When you're looking through the back, you do get a little bit of a blind spot in the back rear window. I have my mirrors all the way out. But when I turn my head and do that shoulder check, there's a little bit of a blind spot. But with the mirrors, it's pretty easy to look past. And it's pretty easy to get all your viewing angles. I'm pretty impressed with the drive. For a base model, a van for $35,000, now without the caravans in the mix, I feel like Kia is going to sell a lot of these. So there you have it, guys. Comment below what you think of the 2022 Carnival. Thank you to St. Catherine's Kia for providing the vehicle. Make sure you guys hit them up if you have any questions about purchasing. As always, subscribe to my channel. Follow me on Instagram. Check out our TikToks on Cars Unlocked. And we'll see you in the next video.