Kia Carens EX: the car for the future

It’s surprisingly fast, thanks to prodigious torque mated to excellent ratios.

I remember the very first time I rode a proper MPV. It was a Renault Espace, which I rode during a holiday to France in 2001. I had read about it in car magazines, but to actually ride one was something new for a kid fresh out of college.

Fast forward a few years, and MPVs today are all the rage in Europe, apparently in Australia and New Zealand as well, according with motoring colleagues I spent time with while abroad recently.

While the Americans invented the ubiquitous minivan, the European-bred MPV was a properly designed multipassenger and multipurpose vehicle that was barely larger than the average family sedan—meaning it could squeeze into a variety of narrow roads, small car ports and back alleys, something that Americans (except perhaps New Yorkers) never have to contend with.

Kia’s Carens has all the right trimmings to be a proper MPV: on the large side of manageable, even for rookie drivers, with a seven-seater capability, conventional hinged (instead of sliding) doors to mimic that of a typical family sedan, a spacious boot with the third row seats down, and a 1.7-liter, VGT-equipped CRDi diesel engine producing 134 HP and 320 Nm of torque driving the front wheels via a slick-shifting six-speed automatic or a six-speed manual.

It’s surprisingly fast, thanks to a prodigious torque mated to excellent ratios, which really allows you to keep the Carens on the boil for fast, even somewhat furious, paces.

It’s a shame that not many people have taken to this MPV in hordes, because it has the practicality of a traditional AUV, with far more pizzaz and style. There’s also a very European feel to the Carens: It drives confidently on the highway, has excellent refinement thanks to its finely-tuned Macpherson strut front and torsion beam rear suspension that straddles between the European and the Third World quite well.

Chassis rigidity is very good, with low levels of NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness), despite riding on low-ish profile touring tires. And there’s a decent amount of feel and feedback through the controls, especially for an MPV, and a Korean one at that.

The interior is also of excellent build quality: Everything feels tight, and uses interior plastic seemingly better and less toy-like compared to its other Korean corporate sibling, Hyundai.

It is also arguably the best-looking MPV in the market. Design-wise, we can thank former Kia design director Peter Schreyer, formerly of Audi and now CEO of Kia’s parent company, Hyundai. Perhaps, we can also thank Herr Schreyer for the improving build quality of Kias (and Hyundais).

The Carens is large enough with a long wheelbase that gives it excellent highway stability.

With the third row seats up, the cargo space has 103 liters available; drop the third row seats, and this increases to 1,650 liters of cargo space. The third row splits and folds 50:50, while the second row splits 60:40, allowing you to carry a combination of tall, long or bulky items as well as people while motoring about.

To put that in perspective, that’s enough space for four large balikbayan boxes or six large suitcases. I know I can easily fit in two spare inline-six cylinder long-block assemblies inside the Carens, plus the necessary engine ancillaries, or about six pieces of 18-inch wheels with tires mounted on them.

Need more cargo-carrying capacity? A roof rack can increase your cargo twofold.

Top-of-the-line EX models get dual airbags, paddle shifters behind the three-spoke tilt and telescopic adjustable steering wheel, side mirror turn signal indicators, leather interior, ABS-EBD brakes, electronic stability control, a panoramic glass roof, 17-inch alloy wheels on stylish 235/50R17 tires, and a multi-media infotainment system with Aux-in, USB and Bluetooth connectivity as well as CD, MP3 and tuner functions displayed on a 4.3-inch LCD screen and playing your media through a six-speaker system.

It’s pricey at P1.48 million, but considering the space and options it comes with as standard, it’s actually a pretty good deal.

On the highway, the Carens has excellent driving manners. It’s large enough with a long wheelbase that gives it excellent highway stability, but despite being lower than its predecessor, is quite slab-sided such that very strong crosswinds can affect directional stability while driving on the Skyway down south on legal speeds.

Thrice I had to counter steer to redirect the Carens back onto the straight and narrow while on the Skyway. Going up to Tagaytay, the Carens had no problems carrying its heft up the narrow winding roads, often overtaking smaller and sprightlier cars on the way up.

The brakes are strong but tend to have too much initial bite; a tad less sensitivity or overassistance on initial pedal travel would do wonders to improve your confidence.

The Carens is indeed fast, is decently fuel efficient (9 kilometer per liter in the city, 12-13 kpl on the highway, with as good as 17 kpl on steady state driving at 90 km per hour), and has loads of space and versatility.

It’s amazing that not many people have caught on with the Carens. It’s far more stylish than your Toyota Avanza/Innova, costs less than a Peugeot 5008 MPV (its nearest rival), and with Kia offering amazing deals for the Carens, why we don’t see more on the roads is indeed a mystery.