Kia India has announced the launch of its fourth and latest ‘Made-for-India’ offering, the three-row recreational vehicle, Carens with prices starting at INR 8.99 Lakhs (ex-showroom, pan-India).
The Kia Carens is available in five trim levels: Premium, Prestige, Prestige Plus, Luxury, and Luxury Plus. The vehicle comes in 7-seater configurations from Premium to Luxury trims, with the Luxury Plus trim offering both 6- and 7-seater configurations.
The Kia Carens is offered with three engine options: Smartstream 1.5 Petrol, Smartstream 1.4 T-GDi Petrol, and 1.5 CRDi VGT Diesel, mated with three transmissions – 6MT, 7DCT, or 6AT.
During an exclusive media drive event held in the national capital, we got an opportunity to spend some quality time with the Kia Carens. Read on to find out about everything you want to know about the Carens.
Design and Engineering
For the first time, the Carens’ styling introduces the “Opposites United” design language to India. The two main pillars on which Carens’ exterior development was based were futuristic and bold design. It is the result of a collaboration between the Kia Design Centre in Namyang, South Korea, and the Indian design team.
Key highlights of the exterior features Kia signature tiger face with digital front grille, star map LED DRLs with crown jewel LED headlamps, star map LED tail lamps, sky light sunroof, R16 – 40.62 cm (16-inch) dual tone crystal cut alloy wheels and chrome rear bumper garnish with diamond knurling pattern.
Kia Carens is available in eight colour options with three all-new colours – Imperial Blue (New Colour), Moss Brown (New Colour), Sparkling Silver (New Colour), Intense Red, Aurora Black Pearl, Gravity Grey, Glacier White Pearl and Clear White.
Interior and Comfort
The Carens interior is sophisticated and plush, wrapped around a high-tech dashboard specifically created to appeal to the always-connected consumer. The car’s interior has many storage spaces throughout the cabin, and the first-row seats are ventilated, adding to the car’s convenience factor. The Carens packaging is one of the most important factors to consider and offers adequate room for adults in the third row, thanks to the longest wheelbase in its class.
Key highlights of interior are 2nd row one-touch easy electric tumble seat, Bose premium sound system with eight speakers, smart pure air purifier with virus and bacteria protection, Kia Connect next gen connected car technology, ventilated front seats, 31.7 cm (12.5-inch) full segment LCD cluster with advanced 10.6 cm (4.2-inch) colour TFT multi-information display, cabin surround 64 colour ambient mood lighting and smartphone wireless charger with cooling function.
Powertrain and Transmission
Kia Carens offers a surprisingly wide range of powertrain choices in its class with three engine options – Smartstream 1.5 Petrol, Smartstream 1.4 T-GDi Petrol and 1.5 CRDi VGT Diesel. These are mated to three transmission options – 6-speed manual, an intuitive 7-speed DCT and 6-speed automatic. Additionally, automatic variants of the Carens offer multi-drive modes for added convenience and driver-confidence.
Ride and Handling
The Carens is supported at the front by McPherson struts and the rear by a coupled torsion beam axle setup. With disc brakes all around and across the board, the ride quality has been tuned to absorb everything in its path, providing a compliant ride quality and high comfort. Despite its external dimensions, the handling and maneuvering is nibble and the throttle response is both prompt and precise. Body roll is well contained and ground traction is impressive for its size.
Safety
The Kia Carens is a true family car, offering several active safety features. The model comes with Robust 10 Hi-Secure Safety Standard Package, a first in India. Included as standard across all trims of the Carens are 6 airbags, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Vehicle Stability Management (VSM), Hill-Assist Control (HAC), Downhill Brake Control (DBC), Brake Assist System (BAS), Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Rear Parking Sensors, Highline TPMS and All-Wheel Disc Brakes.
While the ESC protects the car from the loss of traction, HAC and DBC let drivers confidently drive on uphill and downhill roads. Additionally, the VSM ensures occupant safety by offering stability to the car when the driver must perform sudden braking and turns.
Continuing this focus on safety, the Company has also offered Front-Parking Sensors, Highline TPMS, and Rain-Sensing Wipers with the car, giving utmost confidence to the driver at all times and allowing them to fully focus on road conditions ahead.
Kia Connect
With Carens, the connected car platform gets a complete revamp with the next-generation Kia Connect app, which replaces the previous UVO system. Kia Connect now hosts updated and exciting features with added safety and convenience. One of the major updates with Kia Connect is the enhancement of OTA (Over the Air) Map and System Updates, which is now capable of updating software without visiting the Kia workshop. The Carens will come equipped with 66 connected car features and what is more exciting is that the AVNT of the vehicle now supports ten native languages.
Verdict
Kia Carens is a brilliantly packaged product suitable for slightly bigger Indian families who wish to travel together. The Carens is offered in as many as 19 variants with prices ranging from INR 8.99 to 16.99 lakhs – very aggressive pricing strategy by Kia, plus the wide range of variants will allow Kia to cater to an even more diverse set of customers.
In addition to the exciting pricing, the Carens also offers maintenance cost as low as 37 paisa per kilometre. The company continues to personalise the vehicle servicing process for its customers and offer a competitive maintenance cost for all its models in the country. The design is appealing, the interior is practical and spacious, the ride and handling is very comfortable and nimble – all of which makes this a great value proposition.
The Carens also offers a robust safety package which includes 6 airbags, DBC, VSM, HAC, ESC and All-Wheel Disc Brakes, to name a few, comes standard on all five trim levels, making the Kia Carens one of the safest family movers. With the Carens, Kia has produced a winner which is capable to rival the best in the segment.
Kia Carens Pan India Ex-Showroom Prices in INR:
| Trim | Engine | Transmission | Pan India (Ex-Showroom Prices in Lakhs) |
| Premium | Smartstream1.5 Petrol | 6 MT | 8.99 |
| Smartstream1.4 T-GDi Petrol | 6 MT | 10.99 | |
| 1.5L CRDi VGT Diesel | 6 MT | 10.99 | |
| Prestige | Smartstream1.5 Petrol | 6 MT | 9.99 |
| Smartstream1.4 T-GDi Petrol | 6 MT | 11.99 | |
| 1.5L CRDi VGT Diesel | 6 MT | 11.99 | |
| Prestige Plus | Smartstream1.4 T-GDi Petrol | 6 MT | 13.49 |
| 7 DCT | 14.59 | ||
| 1.5L CRDi VGT Diesel | 6 MT | 13.49 | |
| Luxury | Smartstream1.4 T-GDi Petrol | 6 MT | 14.99 |
| 1.5L CRDi VGT Diesel | 6 MT | 14.99 | |
| Luxury Plus (6 Seater) | Smartstream1.4 T-GDi Petrol | 6 MT | 16.19 |
| 7 DCT | 16.99 | ||
| 1.5L CRDi VGT Diesel | 6 MT | 16.19 | |
| 6 AT | 16.99 | ||
| Luxury Plus (7 Seater) | Smartstream1.4 T-GDi Petrol | 6 MT | 16.19 |
| 7 DCT | 16.99 | ||
| 1.5L CRDi VGT Diesel | 6 MT | 16.19 | |
| 6 AT | 16.99 |
Power Drive 