For 2025 the Kia Carnival minivan receives a substantial infusion of style to bring it more inline with the brands extremely popular SUVs, more features inside and out but most notably offers a powerful and efficient new hybrid powertrain option.
Having one of the youngest buyer demographics for a minivan in the North American market, Kia chose to take what they’ve got and make it even more attractive to the audience. Given three out of four Kia Carnival buyers are new to the brand, they chose to keep what’s working but add some important new check boxes on the list.
Starting with style, it gets a new face that echoes the bolder SUV styling of popular models like the full-size Telluride and the range topping EV9 SUVs. A more square jawed grille and vertically oriented LED headlamps give a more rugged look along with a new lower bumper fascia with skid-plate design elements.
At the rear is also a nip and tuck with revised LED tail-lamps that echo the fresh new look up front in addition to a revised lower bumper fascia which does much the same. New wheel designs across the lineup are added from 17-19-inches in size.
The cabin gets a substantial freshening up with new details and design upgrades throughout. A newly designed curved cockpit display has dual 12.3-inch display screen like before but has a slimmer look and new graphics. A new full color head-up-display that expands the level of graphics and information available is also now available.
They redesigned the center console and center stack controls to include now a more compact twist dial transmission selector instead of a traditional lever. This allows easier access to the cubby at front with the available wireless phone charger as well as the cup holders. Other visual changes and upgrades include new door panel designs, trim appliques along with revised color offerings.
Carnival continues to offer both seven and eight passenger capacity with the top model offering captain’s chars with full lounging capability and both heat and ventilation. There’s also a new rear-seat infotainment system that expands the array of features and screen size for those comfy rear seats.
Under the hood are now two options. Carried over is the well proven 3.5-liter V6 and 8-speed automatic transmission. The big news is new newly available hybrid powertrain that includes a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder and traditional 6-speed automatic transmission with a 74 horsepower electric motor between them. This offer up a total of 242 horsepower and 271 pound-feet of torque.
While fuel economy numbers aren’t yet released we can look to the Kia Sorento Hybrid FWD which utilizes a similar powertrain. It gets 39 mpg city, 35 highway and 37 mpg combined. The Sorento is smaller and lighter by about 400 pounds.
It’s hybrid system has the same gasoline engine but a much less powerful electric motor than the Carnival Hybrid. Our best guess is that the Carnival Hybrid will hit the low to mid 30’s for mpg. We’ll have to wait and see.
Notably, the Kia Carnival in both V6 and Hybrid models is only offered in FWD unlike the Toyota Siena Hybrid which comes standard as a hybrid and offers AWD. The Chrysler Pacific offers AWD on gas models but only FWD on its plug-in hybrid variant. The Honda Odyssey remains available only with a V6 and FWD . The chassis itself remains unchanged in its design and major dimensions.
The 2025 Kia Carnival and Carnival Hybrid go on sale this summer will full pricing, specifications like mpg and towing to be available closer to that time.
