Kia Carnival VQ (2006-2015)

A lot of vehicle for the money – Bought a 2008 Grand Carnival Platinum in 2023 for $13,000 (secondhand). It only had 110,000kms on the odometer. Except for a 3 second tappet rattle at cold start up the car has been brilliant. We live 500kms from Brisbane & do several round trips a month. Petrol use is usually 10lt/100kms. Just done a 5000km trip from Qld to Vic & had no… Read more

problems. Front shocks need replacing but that's it. Has all the bells & whistles. We installed front/rear camera & new stereo with Bluetooth for phone & music. We'll have this vehicle for years to come.

Best Family Car we’ve had – We use everyday for a family of 7. Taken us everywhere with no problems. 3.8 V6 has heaps of grunt with minor maintenance issues. Twin sliding doors are great. Heaps of cup holders. Solid vehicle has well over 300 thousand on the clock now and has done our family proud. Our older kids have cars now so we are downsizing but hard to let go of all the room you get and material transportation. We’ve had it for 10 years, selling in mid 2021.  Show details

Don't do it!! – Ours started blowing smoke on start up at 81000 kms!!! The mechanic has said he has had 3 others in the last 3 months since seeing ours with the same issue we have been quoted $7000 to fix it! It has countless things fixed cosmetically when it was under warranty . The car Lay out is perfect and has the right amount of car seat bolts, fantastic… Read more

airconditioning, boot space all that jaz but just don't do it biggest waste of money I spoke to the guy who replaces motors locally and he said he replaced a motor in a 2016 so they obviously haven't fixed the issue ours is a 2012

Far superior to the earlier model-hugely improved – Bought it in 2013 with 60,000km on the clock. I was reluctant to even look at another Carnival after owning a 2001 model. However the wife liked it, the kids liked it and so we took one for a test-drive. Then I liked it. The big 3.9 litre V-6 is a good, strong motor, the gears (auto) are very smooth, it has a lot of little items that are luxuries,… Read more

abundant cup-holders, sunnies storage, extra little glove boxes, power outlets in the rear, DVD player in the roof with wireless headphones, electric and remotely operating sliding doors, leather seats all-round, opening windows on the sliding doors (which the earlier model did not have) and opening windows for the back row. The rear seats fold down flat to make a big cargo bay, but even with them up there is still a sizable luggage area, with the well into which the rear seats fold. The middle row of seats individually tumble forward to make the cargo area even bigger and then they can easily be removed entirely by pulling the release, to make a huge cargo area!

The 3.9 litre v-6 has huge grunt, a VAST improvement on the 2.5 in the earlier Carnival. The car overall feels so much more solid and well-built when compared to the earlier model, and overall much smoother ride, having 16" wheels. The car has, so far, been very reliable, with minor problems of the steering fluid leaking (very slowly, but enough to leave an oil stain on the drive after a few months) and some of the suspension bushes worn and rattling (replaced), and minor problems with the electric sliding doors not quite working as they should (cannot use the remote button to open or close them- a problem with the electric door-locking actuators which is quite expensive to fix).This is not a sports car and does not corner, brake or accelerate like a sports car, however, considering the size of the vehicle, it does get along OK and when lightly loaded it still accelerates surprisingly fast.

A major dislike is the "Space-saver" spare wheel. On a recent trip into the country I carried two full-sized spares (one on a roof-rack, one in the back), as on a previous trip I blew a tyre only 15 km onto the dirt of a 270km trip and was very nervous about the space-saver wheel being destroyed on the dirt (turned around back to the nearest town and bought a new tyre).

A minor annoyance is that the driver's seat doesn't quite go back far enough for me (I'm 183cm tall). Another annoyance is the aerial inbuilt into the side window, AM radio reception is awful, even in the city, with lots of interference and noise. FM reception seems much better. For a 2010 car, there is no blue-tooth or navigator system, but these are relatively cheap to install now.

We have done a number of long-distance country drives and it gets about 12 litres per 100km at a steady 110 Kph. Around town is a little more, at 15 L/100km, so a bit thirsty, but not unexpectedly so for a tall, heavy car. I occasionally use it to tow a heavy trailer, with no problems.

Fantastic Vehicle – We purchased our Grand Carnival new in July 2011. I can't fault it. it has just had its 190,000 ( yes one hundred and ninety thousand k service) and has never missed a beat carting firstly six and for the last 3 years 7 of us around. Never used oil, no squeaks and considering we lived in outback NSW for four and a half years of its life it has no… Read more

rattles. It's not too bad on fuel given it's weight, we get about 500/700 Ks out of a tank of petrol. We have been so impressed with it we decided to keep it for a lot longer than we normally would (kept our other two cars 3 and 4 years) everything still works, even the electric doors. We have also towed the trailer with motorbikes and stuff all over nsw and Victoria with it. I'm a bit shocked by some of the problems people are saying they have had with the Carnival. We have not had to replace anything mechanical on ours. Earlier ones were buckets of bolts no doubt, but I'd buy another one tomorrow. Ours has the 3.5 litre petrol and six speed auto, changes gears as good as the day we got it, and goes like a scolded cat if you put the boot into it, a surprise to many Holden Commodore drivers (don't tell the missus about that last comment) I haven't driven the new/current model yet, but they look good and if it's half as good as the one we have now, I'd buy one tomorrow. No complaints with the car, nor the two Kia dealers Parkes and Griffith NSW that have looked after it until it ran out of warranty ( now serviced by independent mechanic)

DO NOT TOUCH - Continuing problems with vehicle - worst customer service ever - no responsibility ta – A CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE FOR A REASON! We purchased our 2010 Kia Grand Carnival brand new and within months of purchase the CHECK ENGINE light came on and despite repeated inspections at multiple KIA service centres and an independent mechanic between 2010 and 2015, on approx TWELVE occasions, all providing varied diagnoses, the issue could never be… Read more

resolved and the CHECK ENGINE light would quickly reappear.

For the most part of the 5.5 YEARS we owned the vehicle the CHECK ENGINE light was lit up. The meant we had no way of determining whether there was a true issue with the engine.

On two occasions the vehicle was taken in for inspection because it was RUNNING ROUGH. On the first occasion this was rectified by spark plug and ignition coil replacement and the vehicle resumed running well. On the second occasion our KIA service centre told us the vehicle needed a FULL ENGINE REBUILD/REPLACEMENT at an approximate cost of $14,000.

We were naturally flawed that a regularly serviced vehicle with 110,000kms could be diagnosed as requiring a new engine, especially when the car was probably worth little more than 14k.

The KIA service centre and KIA customer service were equally difficult to deal with. They would not consider an alternate diagnosis maintaining a new engine was the only way. They would not enter into any discussion regarding our check engine light issue as we were no longer within the warranty period. They failed to recognise the fact that we had gone above and beyond reasonable effort to rectify the fault within the warranty period.

At stalemate with KIA, we took our car into an independent mechanic who SUCCESSFULLY REPAIRED the vehicle with spark plug and ignition coil replacement for approx $800. The car was again driving as normal. Had we listened to KIA we would have wasted $14,000 on a new engine.

Throughout this entire process, Kia Customer Service were painful, difficult and often condescending to deal with. All the research we performed through the process points to a severely flawed vehicle.

A very Good people mover grand carnival – *Very comfortable, easy to drive, very responsive *Very quiet, Very roomy interior good legroom ,even for 3rd row. Very reliable and running cost 700 km per tank Heaps of storage in back Seats 8 people comfortably Have to be careful of automatic doors not to force open manuallt as this disrupt the sequence Camera helps but hard to see to… Read more

side rear of vehicle when reversing ...large blind spot. Also blind spot on front passenger side. You need to double check.

Overall a very good people mover

Fits the whole family – Have had the car since new and it’s been amazing. Love the power sliding doors. Easy to get the family in and out of. Big boot space even with a pram in the back. I can fit all my shopping and still have room. Love that I can still use the back seats even with 2 car seats in the middle row.  Show details

GREAT 8 SEATER – The best 8 seater there is for value for money and in gold looks great. The only thing I didn't like was the 2 rear sets were put closer together and called 3 seats in the rear and very heavy and the front fog lamps had dummy bulbs CON for the price of 2 bulbs did spoil the deal. But the rest was great heaps of room nice fresh light look of… Read more

interior passenger trays cup holders 12v adaptors everywhere the seats don't drop into the floor like the grand but for the extra cost was not worth it. Only sold it as we had no use of 8 seats using only 5 for 3yrs.Top mover and the new 2022 style looks even better

Shameful – Car engine exploded, leaving the family dangerously stranded on the side of the road, after the warranty period, a defect which, according to wikipedia, was known by Kia when they chose to distribute this vehicle in Australia. Worst-in-class turn, engine problems, etc .. if you're looking at picking up one of these garbage-cans-with-wheels second hand from someone .... be very very very very careful. Think twice, thrice, then think again, OK ? Show details

Engine broken already – Our car was a great size for our family and we do above average k's. At the end of 2018 the car started blowing smoke. I was told I needed to replace the head gasket and this would not be done under warrantee as I did not have full service records. I went to an engine repair specialist who told me he wouldn't touch it after doing one recently… Read more

and having trouble with threading and the torque bolts. I went to a KIA dealership to repair it. When putting the engine back together they have threaded it and told me I need to replace the engine. This car is a lemon.

engine problems – Terrible mileage, valve seal and head gasket leaks, headlights blow out once a year. Only 5 years old and 100,000 km's. Door handle breaks, oil leak, leaking drive axles Inside layout is good. Has bad clunking noise in suspension, had to replace shock tower due to leaking shock absorber etc etc  Show details

Kia knew there were deficiencies, but distributed anyway – There's a reason for the bad ratings on Kia Carnivals .. when they were released to market (as a cheap people mover) in Australia, the company knew the product had deficiencies and were worst-in-market in terms of reliability and performance.... ... but they released anyway. Luckily for them, the catastrophic engine failure typically occurred… Read more

after the (5 year I think) warranty period. (In my case 3 months after). Luckily for them, they were able to avoid the vast majority of the repair costs when releasing this known-to-be-defective vehicle. There were many cases of course where the failures happened within the warranty period, but there were also a wide variety of purchasers who got screwed.

... unluckily for them.

Awful awful ethicality from a large business. Do not support them.

Has been a great family car – We purchased our 2007 Kia Carnival in 2009 with 37000kms on the clock. It now has 143000km and hasn't missed a beat in almost 7 years of ownership. We get it serviced every 15000km as per the schedule by an independent mechanic. It runs the 2.7L Hyundai V6 engine. We only bought this car because we'd previously owned a Santa Fe for 5 years… Read more

with the same motor and had no troubles at all.

Everything in the car works the same as the day we bought it. Nothing has broken and never had any electrical issues.

There's only a few nitpicks that could be improved on our model.

Firstly, it does use a lot of fuel in urban driving. It is a 2 tonne car so that is to be expected.

Secondly, on really hot days when fully loaded with both air conditioners running, the throttle response is very slow sometimes. I don't think this is an engine problem, more an issue with the drive by wire throttle. It just doesn't respond to your input quick enough. It's not a major concern and only happens on really hot days.

The gearbox can also be a little clunky at times. Mainly at low crawling speeds. It's just a character of the car and is not a concern. Once driving, it's nice and smooth.

Lastly, we usually have to replace brake pads every 45000 - 90000 km, depending on the type of driving we've been doing. Again, it's a 2 tonne car, so this is to be expected.

Overall, we've been very happy with this car. It's been great. I'll be sad to see it go when we eventually get rid of it. If it wasn't for the fact our kids are grown up now and we dont have to cart prams and stuff around anymore, I'd probably buy another one.

No problems until I let Kia Ballarat service it – Took a perfectly working car in for a service. Had to go back 4 times coz each time they stuffed something else up and tried to tell us it was like that when they got it.

The problems will start with Kia Darwin – We bought the car a 2006 model in 2009 from freedom motors. Brilliant car until in sep 2013 we were advised when am engine light came on to take it to Kia for a diagnostic check. What a mistake!! First it cost $2200 and no car for 2. Weeks to change items then the light came back on anyway the night we took it home. took it back 2 weeks later and… Read more

they have had it since (now 21 jan). What ever you do! Do not let these jokes at kia darwin touch your car! They will make you homicidal! Did not have a problem until we dealt with Kia Darwin. Is susceptible to being stuffed by dodgy mechanics

2007 kia carnival sports – So many troubles. Have had it since 2009 an ex demo model. Seats stopped flipping up almost immediately. have had many interior fixtures break. Oil leaks: just had two repaired and an oxygen sensor two months ago. Now engine light on again and two problems appear on computer. Timing chain knock. Has guzzled oil and fuel. Many interior upholstery… Read more

issues and steering wheel has perished. Haven't finished paying it off but is now out of warranty. Heaps of room for the kids. So many cup holders. Power. Expensive. Many problems. Not enough boot space.

Best People Mover i Have Driven – Hired this car through Hertz while my Captiva is being repaired and what a difference . The Kia absolutely flies. When we were looking for a new car we strayed away from Kia as a friend owned one 5-7 yrs ago and did nothing but complain about it . I should have checked it out for myself. It actually has 8 seats as advertised not just a few small… Read more

seats in the back that a very your child could only fit in . It is so spacious and has boot space, very easy to drive - doesn't feel like a truck. would highly recommend. Spacious, easy to drive, boot space and not sluggish Chews through the fuel a bit but in saying that all people movers do.

Fantastic, never had a problem – I got my 2008 Kia with 42,000 kms on the clock and now has 130,000 kms. I put a heavy duty tow bar on it and it tows a trailer with stone bench tops 5 days a week with the back full of tools. On the week ends it either pulls our caravan, ski boat or becomes the pick us all up from the pub or party bus for our girls. Its white like an ice burg and… Read more

I have had it fully sign written. It has never let me down. Its the perfect work horse. I can park it in town & lock the doors and all my tools are safe. Don't buy an early one, get one that's 2007 or newer. Room & comfort. Little bit thursty

Worst car ever – I bought my Kia Carnival from the Kia car yard worst mistake ever I have spent the last two years fixing ever thing from under the car to the engine and now I have to put a new timing chain in it so I paid 38000 thousand for the car and have spent close to 10000 thousand to fix it. Never again will I by a Kia. Room for my 5 kids  Show details

Don't buy it Jess – So stupid and dumb. All the time. Worst car manufacturer of them all. Can't believe anyone buys these cars. There is a reason they are cheap. I would say for the research and development of these cars they are overpriced. Worked on heaps and things that are made of plastic would never be on finer cars. It was made with as much passion as a mcdonalds cook

Alway worried if motor will blow up – Very noisey motor .sounds like the big end bearings are going to fail Don't get any help from kia Australia at all their not interested in it.kia kalgoorlie has replaced already oil pump and timing chain and all sprockets in motor ,just goes to show you that everyone can hear the problem but they don't know how to fix it Bad motor bad warranty service Show details

2010 turbo diesel – Great van,plenty of room ,average 7.6 litres /100 km on the freeway & around 9 litres/ 100 km around town.i was hesitant to purchase one as a mechanic I have worked on a few with engine problems ,pre 2008 models with the rover 2.7 litre v6 are rubbish stay clear of them.2.9 litre turbo diesel are a Mercedes engine , the 3.8 litre v6 are the old… Read more

Mitsubishi 380 motors.i have not come across any mechanical problems with these models so far. The carnivals that I service 2008 onwards are good and customers love them.since kia are now owned by Hyundai they have come ahead in keeps and bounds.

Terrible car – I have purchased 2004 carnival, it lasts with me just four months and then the engine blew up, my brother rented a 2009 carnival, and the heat went high suddenly. It has a real issue with engine, so I don't reccommend any one to purchase the Kia Carnival. And you feel all parts are weak in the car. Roomy for the kids. Engine issue and not strong. Show details

Not Very Happy – Oil leaks........took us more than 5 days to locate the original oil leak.....engine compartment space compact and difficult to work on...spare parts is a problem to obtain in from KIA Darwin.. I like my KIA Carnival very much and would not like to change to something else, but the oil leaks is a big concern for me Comfortable Fuel consumption not very good Show details

Reliable, comfortable people mover – I am quite surprise by all the negative reviews posted about this vehicle. We bought our Carnival in March 2007 and have had no problems what so ever. It is a large car so you wouldn't expect it to handle like a sports sedan, topping the scales at just over 2 tonnes fully loaded. It has just clocked up 70,000km. It was my belief that the motor… Read more

used in this model carnival was a Hyundai which was a trouble free engine Hyundai had been using in some of their models for a couple of years previous to using it in the Kia Carnival. As far as build quality, our Carnival is a solid well finished vehicle that gives you a sense of safety and comfort when behind the wheel. I have owned Fords and Holdens and find the Carnivals finish to be as good if not better than the locally made cars. It has a great sound system and the dual zone air conditioning really keeps things cool on those hot summer days. It can be thirsty, but once again 2 tonne being pulled around by 2.7 litre it works hard with a full load. I would have no second thoughts buying another Carnival or Kia for that matter. Reliability, Finish and Price Can be a bit thirsty

Excellent – Having owned a number of people movers, Tarago, Voyager, Nimbus I find this the best of the bunch for our large family. As long as none of the issues strike that are referred to around the motor it is a great vehicle with some very good engineering. like the ease of rear seat removal and reinstatement and the huge boot space when the seats are in… Read more

place. The dealership at Knox has been very good with the servicing and would recommend to anyone if assurances can be recevied from Kia around the motors. Cheap, lots of power, reasonable petrol consumption Only the spare tyre not being full size and concerns around other reviews on this site for issues being experienced.

OK – The Carnival seems to be a well-designed car if you need to ferry three children in their capsules and baby seats. All of the back seats have child restraint anchor points, which is a great help if you need to configure the seating to suit you. We bought the Carnival with the safety pack, which includes side-curtain airbags and stability… Read more

control, anti-skid braking et cetera, and gives the car a 4 star safety rating. I still can't work out why safety should cost you more in this day and age, but there you go. Initially the seats didn't flip over as they should, and even following a day at the dealer's, to remove a seat still requires a big effort. The gearbox can be very clunky, and the car uses 16l per 100km around town. That is excessively thirsty by any measure. All in all, I'm happy with the car, given the price. Be warned, if you intend to use the back seats, forget about boot space. Plenty of room, comfortable and affordable, 4 star safety rating. Nothing much, apart from being worries about the engine now that I've read some reviews, and being very thirsty around town.

Terrible – Not really a fair situation considering the amount of money we have spent on Kia's overall. Will be more alert to details with next purchase. great for transporting 7 people. Catalytic converter in the 2006 Kia Carnival has been replaced once at 33,000 miles. Kia will not honor the 2nd replacement because car is out of warranty and was not in… Read more

service with Kia for the 45,000. We were in the USA during that time. Also own a Kia 2010 Soul in the USA. So far so good, but will sell based on this bad experience. This has been a nightmare, and we have learned.

The worst car I've ever had – We had one of these for about 55000ks. Went through 3 engines before 40,000ks and 3 sets of brakes within 25000ks. Power steering also had to be replaced. The car messed up every family holiday for 3 years in a row. Dealing with the distributor was impossible. They never answered the phone (voice mail only--"your call is important to us blah blah… Read more

blah....") and never returned calls. Finished up writing to the Managing Director (c.c'd to various motoring magazines) and only then did we start to receive some sort of acknowledgment that the car was a pig. They might have improved these days but it was a disgraceful car and experience. Thank goodness for the Honda Odysey that we traded up to. The room Reliability, Dealer Service, Distributor Service, Build Quality, Poor engine power

Terrible – In my opinion, a car can only be judged on it's history. The carnivals have always had a good review when first released, and I quote "As Australia’s best-loved people mover since 1999" and "qualities that made it the crowd favourite". As these cars become older, a major design fault with the engine has come to light. Kia never recalled the first… Read more

series 1999-2002, but instead, had the engines manufactured else where. This never fixed the problem with the design and as a result the 2002-2005 model engines are failing also. In 2006, Kia redesigned the engine again, and , you guessed it, now that these engines are racking up the klm's, they are beginning to fail, although, it is a diferent fault. Anyone considering buying a carnival, or in fact a KIA, I would suggest you wait, and see what percenctage of these vehicle can make it past 100,000km's without an engine replacement, or even better, make it to 300-400,000 klm's like most other brands. Remember, $32,500 drive away plus $8000 for first motor replacement, then $8000 for second replacement etc and when you trade up, expect a trade in value off $6000 - $8000, About the same cost as your first engine replacement.

Caution - don't be naive and think it won't happen to you, and good luck with your purchase Spacious family car with reclining cabin seats not benches. At first glance, A very affordable car. Front seat a little short in the legs. Reliability of the mechanically components

KIA Carnival 2006 – Very nice car. Every one of the family likes its spacious for people and matreials. Nice for travel except sometimes sound/ noise at wendy and open areas at as disert. Chairs arrangment is one of the best. Remote control on all the five doors makes real comfort. spacious, value for money, three A/C distributed areas. No good A/C cooling while… Read more

standing, Radio sound problem, Front wipers get misaligned, Sliding doors little misbehave, No GPS system

Terrible – 10 months old, would not recommend one bcause of a) faults with suspension (replaced struts & excessive noise from suspension bushes)b) electrics (doors, windows and rear tailgate failed)c) seat belt warnings (broken wire) and d) sunroof leaked from day one third row seat suitable for adults, easy to enter and exit from third row. mid row flexible… Read more

with three individual seats. good stereo (infinity,)clear dash and controls, good vision, acres of room poor factory quality control, especially all items electrical, very thirsty around town.

Terrible – Do not buy at any price or with any warranties _dont even accept if for free _it will cost you time money pain pls tell everyone .do you trust your fellow human being (who isnt angry enough at the injustice this family and others have suffered) or those glossy ads and soul_less profit machines behind them!!!!!!. internal layout but this is not… Read more

enough _dont buy it or even accept if free!!!!!! everything esp engine that has been known to die as early as 30,000 kms

KIA and its dealerships are also akin to those psychopathic corporations with no morals scruples or duty of care esp to those of us who are most vulnerable ie families and carers

Terrible – Same sad story unfortunaely Family of 6 hard woking family lied to by shifty car sales man aware of the growing problems with these vehicles and prepared to palm them off to unsuspecting Families,blown head gsaket after owning this peice of junk for less than a year not to mention the 5 other times the vehicle had to be serviced every one washing their hands of the responsibility Same problem same outcome absloute junk car bad company