by David Finlay (4 October 2006)
The latest stage in Kia's comprehensive reworking of its entire product range is the introduction of the new-generation Carens. Like the older car of the same name, it's a compact MPV, and as such it's up against some pretty stiff competition. The previous Carens did not make a great deal of impact on a class already occupied by excellent offerings from Citroen, Ford, Renault, Vauxhall and Volkswagen - among several others - but the new one stands a much better chance of success.
It's based on a slightly shorter version of the floorpan also used in the Magentis, and it's unusual in that it offers both five- and seven-seat options within the same bodyshell. That may lead you to assume that the third row in the seven-seat car is suitable only for the very young, but in fact adults have more space back there than they would in some rival models, partly because the centre row can be moved forwards or backwards to find a suitable legroom compromise.
Apart from the ones in the front row, all the seats can be folded away to provide a flat load area without actually removing them from the vehicle. If you're far from home and can't find any accommodation, you can also create two beds by reclining the front seat backs and joining them to the middle row, or by combining the second and third rows in the seven-seater.
In seven-seat form the Carens has a measly 47 litres of luggage volume, but this extends to 414 litres if you fold down the back row.
The five-seater has fractionally more room at 430 litres, and both versions can carry 2106 litres if you turn them into two-seaters.
There are a couple of issues to deal with if you intend to transport goods and chattels. There is, to begin with, no cover to hide your luggage, so it would be inadvisable to leave the Carens parked on its own for very long without emptying it first. Furthermore, the tailgate doesn't open very far - in the space of a couple of hours I managed to smack my forehead against it twice, though there was some consolation in the fact that I did so against a rounded edge rather than a sharp one.
Kia offers two engine options with the Carens, both of the same size and producing much the same power. The cheaper option is the 142bhp two-litre petrol, but Kia is convinced that most customers will pay £1000 extra for the 138bhp turbo diesel alternative. Although no petrol Carens has yet been made available to the media, the case for the diesel seems indisputable.
Assuming manual transmission in each case, the two engines give identical 0-62mph times of 11.0 seconds, and the fact that the petrol car can reach 118mph while the diesel runs out of puff at 116mph is not the sort of thing that anyone with a life is going to lose sleep over.
In terms of fuel consumption, the petrol is significantly thirstier than even the automatic diesel (34mpg and 39mpg respectively on the combined cycle), while the manual diesel (46mpg) is further ahead still. There's an oddity here in that the range-topping LS is fractionally more economical than the less well-equipped and therefore lighter GS; Kia ascribes this to the larger 16" alloy wheels on the LS, and it may be that that car's slightly lower-profile tyres might grip the tarmac more efficiently.
To being with, the petrol car is available only with five seats and five-speed manual transmission, though you do get a choice between S and GS trim levels (other petrol models will be introduced in 2007). The diesel comes in GS and LS forms, and is the only one with automatic transmission.
The diesel auto has the same top speed as the manual and isn't much slower in flat-out acceleration, with a 0-62mph time of 12.6 seconds. The difference in the driving experience is much greater than those figures suggest - the auto feels a great deal slower than the manual, and although you can chivvy it on a bit by making use of the sequential manual shift facility, there's little point in doing so since there are only four gears to choose from.
The manual Carens is outstandingly more responsive, though the auto does redeem itself a little thanks to its exceptionally smooth changes from one ratio to another. In either form, the Carens is pleasant to drive, the ride quality in particular being very impressive. That applies to most of its rivals too - for some reason most manufacturers are very good at making their compact MPVs absorb bumps without distressing the occupants - but the Carens is right up there with the others.
It becomes confused if you start attacking swooping roads with too much gusto, but this isn't something most customers are likely to be interested in, and if you're driving the automatic you probably wouldn't be able to make it go fast enough for this to be an issue.
Other than in the third row of the five-seater, there is a great deal of passenger room, and the enormous glass area means that visibility is generally excellent. The windscreen pillars are obtrusively thick, though, and the small triangular portholes in them aren't much help, while rear three-quarter visibility is limited by the curious shape of the hindmost side windows - an odd example of style compromising practicality in a car which is hardly stylish in other respects.
Prices start at a very competitive £11,995 for the entry-level five-seat petrol S, and rise to £16,995 for the seven-seat diesel LS automatic. Group 10 insurance applies across the range.