Faults:

Some chain in the engine snapped off at 15K. This resulted in engine block damage and great vibration from the engine (it felt like I was driving a sluggish truck on rocky road). The dealer said that the some generations of the KIA Carnival had faulty units.

After the engine chain and all other damaged parts are replaced, the automatic transmission took turn to fail at the same distance (15K). The car simply did not want to move on any transmission position. Had to be replaced with a brand new transmission unit block under warranty. I wonder how much cost if the transmission failed by the time warranty was over. This replacement took the dealer more than 3 months to do so.

Parking brake has never done its job. It was simply just an interior decoration. The parking brake never break the car from moving even I pulled the lever hard up. The dealer said that there's a bad construction on the parking brake.

Oil leakages were everywhere. I mean everywhere, not only from engine, but also from power steering and brakes.

Power steering gave me a constant headache. I had to replace the power steering seals on every less than 20K. It seemed that the power steering could not handle the heavy KIA Carnival Turbo Diesel.

Once the turbo started to whistle, I could see nothing, but thick black smoke from my mirror.

The brake pads are worn out easily.

General Comments:

Apart from engine and suspension troubles, here are the good points of the car:

The cabin is very roomy and comfy.

The sound proof is really good.

The model of the car itself is good.

Very good car for long distance travel.

Faults:

Fuel Injector needed replacing.

Several spark plug leads replaced.

Left side sliding door jambs_ rollers had fallen off and door would slide a bit and then jamb- I fixed it myself by making new rollers from a pair of cut-down 6mm sockets.

Front bumper clips keep coming undone- the whole front bumper feels as if it is about to fall off.

Fog lamp has filled with water from driving in the wet (not from actually going through deep water with it, but just driving on wet roads).

CD player/radio is impossible to work out- the owners manual has no instructions how to set the clock, the radio stations or anything. The CD skips with the slightest bump this is the genuine KIA badged player.

Wheel trims rattle constantly.

Auto gearbox starts to overheat on hot days and strange things happen such as getting stuck in 3rd gear or hunting between 3rd and 4th at several times a second.

There is an occasional low frequency vibration from the brakes or steering.

General Comments:

As a relatively cheap to purchase people mover it seems like good value.

It is very comfortable to drive and the kids love the little things like the overhead reading lights in the back, the rear airconditioner controls and the rear cup-holders.

The engine is underpowered when there are four or more people inside.

The stereo is great, once you have worked out the controls and if it doesn't skip. It is annoying that it switches off when you start the engine- e.g. parked waiting outside the school for the kids, listening to a CD, the kids come out of school, get in and then I start the engine, have to then turn the CD player back on and search through the tracks to find where I was up to.

Interior finish is good, but the plastic trim seems to scratch relatively easily. Some of the trim doesn't seem to fit very well.

Front and rear bumpers are held on with a few plastic clips and the front bumper in particular is very loose, with several clips broken. My wife did gently nudge another car (not enough to even scratch the paint) but enough to break the bumper clips.

The sheet metal is extremely thin and dents easily, especially in the carpark from shopping trolleys. The paint finish is quite good.

This car is built for comfort, not speed, and although it has been up to 140kph with a full load of children and Christmas presents, it doesn't inspire confidence trying to go fast on a windy road. Drive it like a bus- slowly around the corners, don't rev it hard and take a little more time to get there- perhaps that is why it is so comfortable to drive and be driven in.