2025 Kia Carnival GT-Line Hybrid review: The perfect, pricey family bus?
The Kia Carnival’s probably the best car in the world.
Bold opening statement, but isn’t the purpose of a car – every car – to be the very best at what it was designed for?
A Carnival’s raison d’être is to carry up to eight people in roomy comfort, have mighty boot space, offer versatile seat configuration and be eminently safe.
If it’s also nice to drive, as this giant people mover certainly is, bonus points start racking up.
If a Porsche 911’s the benchmark sportscar, so the Carnival’s the halo people mover. If you’ve got a big family and/or lots of sports equipment to haul around, this Kia’s long been the segment standout.
READ MORE: Kia EV9 review: Why you should buy the entry-level Air, not the pricier ones
READ MORE: The VW ID. Buzz arrives, with pricing below the LCT threshold
READ MORE: The sexiest people mover? VW ID. Buzz GTX hot MPV locked in for Australia
Its biggest negative has been the petrol 3.5-litre V6’s drinking problem. A 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel’s has been the less thirsty but pricier alternative, but now, finally, a petrol-electric hybrid’s here.
Its quoted 5.8L/100km economy is far easier to swallow than the V6’s 9.6L/100km, a number that would rapidly climb (13.2L/100km) in town, where most Carnivals operate.
The hybrid’s not miles ahead of the diesel’s 6.5L/100km thirst, and this new model is offered only in top GT-Line grade, meaning it’s the priciest Carnival ever at $76,210 before on-roads. That’s $3300 above the GT-Line diesel, and $5530 over the GT-Line non-hybrid petrol.
That’s still plenty under fully electric people movers. Alternatives there include the LDV Mifa 9 (from $104,000), Mercedes eVito ($136,898), and seven-seat VW ID. Buzz (from $91,290). You could also throw the giant Kia EV9 (from $97,000) into the mix.
2025 Kia Carnival GT-Line Hybrid price and equipment
Like all high-grade Kias these days, the quality of presentation and standard inclusions impress. Once you’re in these flagship GT-Lines you’re scoring proper premium kit.
But that must be expected when the bill’s over $80k drive-away.
Included are LED exterior lights, with slimline squiqqles upfront for Tron-like night looks, and an LED strip running the tailgate’s length. Bold 19-inch alloys make this Carnival far sexier than any people mover has the right to.
A 12.3-inch infotainment unit shares a curved panel with a 12.3-inch digital driver display, while there’s wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, Connected Services with over-the-air updates and USB-C charge ports.
Front leather seats are power, memory, heated and ventilated, there’s a heated steering wheel, heated middle row seats, 12-speak Bose audio, dual sunroof, LED interior lighting and – kids love this – power sliding side doors. It’s a massive rear tailgate, but being powered with auto closing helps.
Safety-wise there’s remote smart parking assist, speed limit assist, adaptive cruise control, head-up display, blind-spot view monitor, rear cross traffic alert, parking sensors front, rear and side, a surround-view camera, centre airbag and rear occupant alert.
A few ‘surprise and delight’ features are a remote start parking assist where you can move the Carnival back or forward from outside the car, using just buttons on the key. It’s quite pointless, but fun.
There’s also a digital interior mirror with camera feed, and the kids have individual climate control across all three rows.
Big negative is no spare wheel, or even a space saver. You only get tyre repair goo, as the hybrid battery has stolen the spare’s space.
2025 Kia Carnival GT-Line Hybrid: What we think
Proving what thorough testers we are, I lived with the Carnival GT-Line Hybrid for a week, then the GT-Line diesel immediately after.
Fuel return running weekly duties – kids to school, highway travel, weekend sport – was 6.7L/100km the diesel and 6.2L/100km the hybrid, the latter after 730km of driving.
On the strength of our tests, the hybrid’s not worth the extra money if it’s fuel savings alone you’re after. Where you’d pick it is if you enjoy a hybrid drive. I’ll caveat all this by saying the hybrid will probably have stronger resale values as more people reject diesel.
And the hybrid’s town drive is superb. It starts in EV mode only (just like Hyundai and Toyota hybrids), running purely on its small 1.5kWh battery pack battery, proving silent and beautifully smooth.
Once you’re up to speed – think 40km/h or thereabouts – the petrol engine chimes in. You notice it doing so, but it’s hardly disturbing.
The petrol’s a 1.6-litre four cylinder good for 132kW/265Nm, while the electric motor adds 54kW/304Nm. That last number’s vital. The Carnival hybrid accelerates with decent gusto, not too dissimilar to an EV, and if you’re too eager the front wheels don’t mind spinning up a bit.
Even without anyone else on board, show it a reasonable hill and the little four-cylinder makes quite the protest. It’s hauling over 2.2 tonnes after all, but the torque-filled diesel (440Nm) manages the same hill with less fuss.
The big Carnival’s a brilliant highway cruiser; quiet, relaxed and the active cruise control’s a good ‘un. In town it’s also a smooty, but it’s so massive that parking, turning and trying to squeeze through narrow city gaps has you sweating.
It perhaps most impresses on a decent country road. Steering’s light but with good feel, and the balance through corners is superb. You’re sitting high up so you half expect it to be leaning like the Tower of Pisa in tight turns, but it sits neatly, safely and with great control.
It never crosses over into the realms of outright driving fun, but being able to maintain good speeds in corners makes for pleasant family journeys, with no nausea complaints even when Dad went into Seb Loeb mode. There are even paddle shifters to boost involvement.
A black mark is how nannying its driver aids are. The speed limit warning bongs incessantly if you go 2km/h over, while the driver monitor punishes anything but laser-focus forward-looking.
Sadly, the start of every journey involves not only doing up seatbelt, adjusting mirrors but also turning off the above driver aids. A short-cut button quickens the job, but it’s still a bind.
Why must everything beep? Leave it all on, and every time the speed limit changes it beeps. There’s then beeps for opening the door, opening the boot, the side doors, and when it says you need a break. Why? It’s just too much.
A positive safety aspect is the blind spot view monitor showing your flanks when turning, useful in this 5.1-metre long unit.
Otherwise, there’s very little to criticise in the Carnival as it simply nails its brief.
The cabin space is humungous, and even with all eight seats in place the deep boot offers 627L. You’re lucky to get that in five seat large SUVs.
These rearmost seats smartly and easily fold with a handle tug, giving van-like 2827L of luggage space with five seats in place. We managed to get four bikes in with five seats still up, and on another occasion it was easy to sling the kayak in with all seats down.
You can remove the middle row’s central seat, giving an easy walk through to the back row. These rearmost seats, with cupholders and USB ports, proved generous for adults. I walked my six-foot frame into one, and happily sat through a 30 minute journey, although I had to shout to be heard in the front row as it was so far away.
The versatility is off the charts. All middle row seats can be slid forward and reclined, while storage space and cupholders are ubiquitous, and roof-mounted air vents and sunshades keep the offspring happily chilled.
For super breeders, all three middle row seats have ISOFIX points and there are two more in the back. You could transport half the kindy class in locked-in safety.
Warranty’s seven-years/unlimited kms, but services are expensive at over $2500 for the first five, due annually or every 15,000km.
2025 Kia Carnival GT-Line Hybrid: Verdict
If you have a few kids and live with a Carnival, trust me, you convince yourself it’s perfect for your life and you never want to give it back.
The hybrid is no masterpiece of economy – the diesel version’s not far off it – but it does give a sublime, smooth EV-like drive at slow speeds or when stuck in traffic. And fuel bills are monumentally reduced over the V6 petrol version.
Ride quality in all circumstances is standout, while you will not find a more practical, smart people mover anywhere. It’s just genius.
The driver assist systems spoil the serenity, and it’s a missed opportunity only offering the hybrid drivetrain in the range-topping GT-Line.
Kia must follow Hyundai and Toyota in democratising hybridisation, and offering it across the range. But if you can afford this GT-Line, you’ll be the envy of every sensible family across Australia.
SCORE: 4.0/5.0
Kia Carnival GT-Line Hybrid specifications
Price: $76,210 (before on-road costs)
Basics: Petrol-electric hybrid, 8 seats, 5 doors, people-mover, AWD
Range: Zero on electricity – or very little more
Battery capacity: 1.5kWh
Powertrain: 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 132kW/265Nm (electric motor 54kW/304Nm)
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.8L/100km (ADR)
CO2: 136g CO2/km
