20th May 2007, 14:25

KIA Carnival - Purchased in 2005 - Gear box use to block about 6 times in the 40,000 km. sometimes low speed, sometimes at 120km/h in highways passing from 5th to 5th for example, so you are neutral at 120 in the left side... with 3 kids and a wife inside. I changed the car, they refused to recognize the failure. Got a new Carnival, lost 5K. Now, again at 40,000 with the new Carnival I got in 2006, blocked twice, once at 20,000, once yesterday at low speed. Blocked in neutral. Statistically, if I get the same problem with 2 different cars, thousands of cars must have it, but I do not find the problem described on the Internet...

30th Aug 2007, 21:43

My partner and I also bought a Kia Carnival 2000 in October 2004. Two weeks after that we had to replace the starter motor.. Another 6 months later we had to replace the alternator. Luckily we only had to pay the excess of our mechanical insurance. One year after that we are told that our head gasket is blown. My father (a mechanic leaving overseas) had serviced the car while he was here for a holiday, but the mechanical insurance won't cover the damages as it wasnt done in a registered garage. It is going to cost us $10000 (quote from registered mechanic) to fix the problem which we can't afford to as we too have 4 kids to support. We are still paying this off and its been hell as we have not had the van for a year. Is there anyone in NZ with the same problem? I'd be happy to join in any suits or anything that will get Kia to address this problem.. I won't keep my fingers crossed though.lol.

13th Mar 2008, 04:30

I also bought a Kia Carnival 2001 model in June last year (2007).

Car overheated after two weeks and sent back to second hand dealer. They changed water pump, cylinder head gasket, pressure tested the radiator and cylinder head. After another 2 months, heating problem was back. Took it to Kia dealer who did a diagnostic on the engine management system. Came up with a circuit error on the oxygen sensor. Tried to get fixed, but they want ZAR2000 to fix. Now the engine idles at 2400rpm! Going to sort out the idle rpm and try to sell! Thoroughly fed up with this vehicle.

I'd be interested to join any class action. email me on peer.fatima@gmail.com.

Regards,

Fatima.

10th Jan 2009, 20:58

My son has a 1999 Kia Carnival, which is the biggest lemon I have ever seen. Two engines later, and now it won't go into reverse. The lemon is sitting out the front of my house waiting for someone, who would have to be stupid or insane to steal it.

I guess there is one positive about this lemon, it still has five forward gears left, for how long we don't know.

9th Apr 2009, 07:43

We were interested in buying a used Carnival as my wife is expecting our third child and the Nissan XTrail too small - am now terrified to go near a Kia - is there anyone out there with a positive comment other than Mr Moon!

30th Jul 2009, 22:46

31 July 2009.

As per all other "families" on this page we invested a lot of money in buying our dream family mover. We borrowed the money to purchase our 2002 Kia which now sits at the dealership awaiting repairs for a second engine.

The first engine was replaced before we bought it, we were never advised from the car yard that it had already been replaced.. who asks when the Kms are only 70,000.

We are out of warranty, out of service history compliance and out of a car... we do still have a loan though.

We are currently writing to Kia, but to no avail.. we are not sure what to do.

But I'll tell you and everyone I meet DO NOT BUY ANY KIA, Australians deserve better.

I even place notices on all KIA cars everywhere I go, and advise my story... we all must do something... they cannot get away with not repairing cars.

2nd, 3rd and even fourth engine replacements.. KEEP FIGHTING. DO NOT GIVE UP..

18th Aug 2009, 09:23

It's probably best you do give up, you're fighting what is now one of the biggest and most profitable motoring companies in the world. They have managed to grow so large and so fast because, your car aside, millions of people around the world are more than happy with the products they offer. Many would also agree that most of their earlier models, like your Carnival were very average, but what Kia and Hyundai offer now is totally different.

23rd Jan 2010, 05:55

Bought a 1999 Kia just before Christmas 2008. It had 129,000kms. Had heard that they used to have problem engines, but was assured that this one had a new improved motor put in in 2006. The Kia had only done 30,000 kms with this motor, and all problems had been solved because they were no longer using the Rover engine. Well three weeks after the twelve month warranty ran out, so did the motor. No warnings just suddenly overheated and blew. So I now have a dead Kia and a large bill.

Yes they are such nice cars, especially after a cramped Tarago, but at least the Tarago kept running. I had done less than 20,000k before this happened.

26th Jan 2010, 06:53

Early models of Sedona/Carnival are very bad, and especially the engines are totally useless.

Fortunately I did all the work on the car myself, but still I'd say this car was a total nightmare.

First the head gasket blew just out of warranty. I replaced this with some help from a friend. The engine is easy enough to work on, but it's very cramped, and there's a lot of equipment that need to be unbolted for access to the heads.

So first off it just cost me a lost weekend and a $40 worth of parts. I thought I had cured this for good, until I found out after just 6 months that the head itself was cracked. Now I replaced the whole engine with an second hand unit. Which blew after just one year with the same symptoms as the first engine. Luckily I had the old engine in store, and I had the head welded by a specialist, although he said the repair wouldn't last. So in less than 2 years I was on my 3rd major engine repair job.

In the meantime, I'd replaced a lot of other parts, including all brakes, front bearings, exhaust, electric window engine and fitting and a lot of other stuff. The final repair seemed to work out fine, and I was very careful not to overheat the engine and never stress it.

To my horror, now the transmission seemed to slip after just 6 years and 150 thousand kms. That too was replaced with a second hand unit that also started to slip after a year. And now the engine block itself seemed to be cracking, and I was entering my 4th major engine repair.

In the end I found out that I couldn't continue repairing this useless piece of junk, and sold it for scrap 8 years old and with less than 200 thousand kms. It's the worst car I've ever owned. A financial nightmare, and I could never rely on it.