2022 Kia Carens Diesel Long Term Reports

Visiting relatives, especially those coming from abroad, usually cause a problem in my household, given the amount of luggage most people carry with them. When my brother, who now lives in Australia, visits me, the conundrum that I usually face is how to transport the luggage when I go to pick up or drop him and his family at the airport. Four large suitcases are the norm. Earlier I had to rely on taking two cars to the airport to make sure everyone fits in, with their luggage, without any problem.

Now, when he recently visited me, I had the Carens as the long-term vehicle, and my conundrum simply disappeared. With its third row of seats folded, the Carens’ flat load floor offers a massive amount of boot space, which means that fitting four XL-sized suitcases is simply not a problem. Lifting those suitcases, however, is a totally different story. But what I like more is that despite just being over 4.5 metres long, the Carens offers this kind of interior space. Also, given its size, driving the Carens in congested areas or narrow roads is a breeze. A pretty good example of intelligent design, if you ask me! Of course, the other stellar quality of the Carens is its fuel efficiency, which makes it a cheap car to run and certainly aids my monthly budget. And lastly, even with a full bouquet of passengers and luggage, the ride quality of the Carens remains as stellar as ever, certainly something Kia engineers should be proud of.

One of the primary reasons why people get attracted to a car like the Carens is its practicality. With three rows of seating, the Carens can be a people carrier when you travel with your extended family or take your children and their friends for a birthday party. At the same time, if you have to shift house or do an airport run with relatives who love exceeding the luggage weight limit, the Carens can be very helpful – you can simply fold the third row and have cavernous space for luggage and massive suitcases.

In fact, I got to test both these aspects last month when we took the Carens on a long road trip as the camera car. Now, with its low loading lip and acres of room, it was a perfect setup for me to do some motion photography. At the same time, when we were not shooting, it gave the team enough room to fit not only their luggage but also a massive ice box, which, as you can imagine, was needed to keep all our drinks cool, given the brutal heatwave wreaking havoc in Delhi. In fact, if you’re shooting all day, it can easily get hot enough for you to be sick, so it’s important to keep yourself well-hydrated with some cold drinks. And this is where the practicality of the Carens also came in handy.

Another aspect of the Carens, which is also quite impressive, especially when you spend many hours driving, is the seats, which are exceedingly comfortable and give you terrific support on long journeys. Even the suspension of the Carens has been set up terrifically well and delivers fantastic ride comfort. Given all these qualities, the stellar fuel efficiency of the Carens seems like the cherry on the cake.

One of the qualities of the Carens that I haven’t spoken about in the past would have to be its fuel efficiency. Recently, the Carens was required on a long-distance journey functioning as the camera car for a few stories. In fact, we ended up driving it for well over a 1,000kms, and the fuel efficiency was absolutely stunning. When driven with a light foot, it averaged around the 21 – 22km/l mark, and even when driven hard, the fuel efficiency never dropped below 16km/l! In fact, in the whole group of cars that we were driving, the Carens’ running costs were the lowest. And, in these days of super-inflated fuel prices, that sure does come as a big relief for me.

On the trip, the practicality of the Carens was also a highlight. With the third row folded, all the team’s luggage easily fit with room to spare. Another aspect of the Carens that multiple colleagues of mine appreciated was the ride comfort. Despite us driving over all kinds of highways – broken, smooth, well-maintained – the Carens retained its composure and simply smothered the bumps. This, paired with the comfortable seats meant that when it was time to rest after a hectic few days of shooting, multiple team members preferred riding in the Carens so that they could snooze on the way home.

I reckon one of the ultimate tests of the comfort of a car is to see how it fares against the comfort of your sofa at home. If sitting in your car makes you feel as comfortable as when you’re sprawled out at home on your sofa, watching the idiot box, I would say the car has succeeded in offering a comfortable space for you. Why am I talking about the sofa here? Well, because over the past month, that’s exactly what I’ve been feeling while driving the Carens. You see, there are many things to wonder about the Carens’ engineering – utilisation of space, clever touches like the iPhone Pro Max size rear doors, and the lack of a panoramic sunroof – but for me, its biggest attraction is the ride comfort.

Whether it’s the comfort of the ventilated seats, the high-quality feel of the steering, or its sublime ride quality over broken roads, the Carens is a great place to spend time in. Combine all this with the practicality of a three-row people mover, and the Carens answers most questions that the Indian customer can typically pose. Needless to say, I’m loving my time with the Carens and can’t wait to take it out on a long road trip, which would also be a much-needed respite from Delhi’s scorching summer.

Getting a new long-term vehicle is always a delight, and more so if it’s the Kia Carens, which I was quite looking forward to driving. Ever since its launch, the buzz around the Carens has been massive. And given the fact that the interest in three-row vehicles is at its peak, it’s easy to see why customers are flocking to the latest MPV in town. And I understand why people have a hankering for three-row vehicles now. Ever since the pandemic began, my travel has been minimal, and while we might be safer after the vaccination, both my kids have not yet qualified for a vaccination shot, which means that taking them on a flight is a risk I’m not willing to take.

The natural alternative, then, is to travel by road, and this is where the practicality of a three-row people mover comes in. In fact, my winter travel hopes were dashed by the third wave, and now I’m hoping to go on a long road trip with my family this summer.

Coming to the Carens, the one thing I miss is the traditional tiger-nose grille that has become a hallmark of Kia products. The Carens’ muted front misses the aggression of Kia’s typical design, but overall, it’s quite nicely proportioned. There are lots of clever engineering touches to create space inside the car. For instance, the massive rear doors, which make getting in and out of the Carens a breeze. The huge rear windows also help bring in more light into the cabin, giving it an airy feel.

I also love the blue leather that adorns many surfaces of the interior and gives them a premium feel. A good thing about the Carens is the lack of a panoramic roof, instead of which, we get dedicated air vents in each row, which is going to be infinitely more practical in India than a big piece of glass, especially during the summer.

And with its 250Nm of torque, the diesel engine of the Carens provides pretty good performance, striking a good balance with its fuel efficiency. But how does the Carens perform on the highway? Well, that’s a question I’m looking forward to answering very soon.