When you go on holiday you take a suitcase. If flying by a budget carrier, then you’re lucky if you can take anything bigger than a small ladies’ handbag or spectacle case and mankini.
Similarly if you’re about to adjust the tappets on a car engine, you don’t use a hammer, chisel and inch ruler.
It’s all about the right tool for the job and if you want to take a family anywhere, a Kia Carens will do the job a lot better than a Mazda MX5
And therein lies the trouble. Picking the ideal car for personal needs these days has been made that much more difficult because there are so many really good cars around, across so many sectors – Compact, Sub-compact, Saloon, Estate, Coupe, SUV, MPV, Crossover, 4×4, and all the rest. The choice is huge and varied. Bewildering even.
It therefore needs an exceptional car to stand out from the crowd, but the differences between models and marques are so small these days that ‘exceptional’ is hard to find.
That’s because of cars like the Kia Carens. It’s not exceptional, but it is another one of those good cars that makes it harder to decide.
Neither is it one of the best looking cars around, but any compact car that has seven seats is always going to provide designers with a difficult problem. Having said, that, it is one of the better looking seven seaters on the market and that can be said of all the models across the range these days. Kia is building exceedingly good looking cars.
The boot is not huge with all seven seats in place, but if you want a bigger boot you’ll buy a bigger car. Simple. The Carens is only 4.5 metres long, but provides loads of room for five and plenty of room for the occasional seven. A couple of adults could squeeze into the back seats, but it’s better suited for the bucket, spade and sandals generation.
Up front. there’s bags of room for driver and passenger, and with the slightly higher, upright seating configuration of this compact MPV. It’s easy to get in and out, with a comfortable driving position once ensconced. That will appeal to harassed parents too.
It’s not the fastest thing on the road either, but that’s not what this car is about. The 1.7 litre diesel makes a decent job of getting around and if you want to travel quicker, you’ll buy a bigger engine, so don’t criticise the Carens for being slow. It’s the ideal family runabout.
In fact it’s more than that. It was the vehicle of choice when attending the recent McDonald & Munro Speyside Stages, and just for a change, I stayed off the A9 on the road north to Elgin and headed through Scone and Blairgowrie and then through Glenshee to Braemar. Admittedly, the 1.7 litre diesel peched a wee bit up and over the Cairngorms but a quick change down and off it went again through Rhynie, Huntly and Keith. And you know what, I thoroughly enjoyed the drive. At no time was I going fast enough to miss the splendour that is Scotland, rain, hail or shine, and it swallowed all my gear for the weekend trip. Just one complaint. Breakfast at the 8 Acres Hotel in Elgin. There wasn’t any – if you were up and about before 8 am that is!
And don’t go thinking it’s cheap and cheerful. Kia prices are creeping up these days, but equipment levels are on the increase too. The result is a well equipped, well thought out car that is reasonably priced when compared to the opposition. Equipment includes all the expected driving safety aids these days such as an ABS, EBD and BAS braking system with Hill Start Control, and it also has Electronic Stability Control and Vehicle Stability Management, so nothing has been skimped on the safe driving front.
The seven seat configuration is pretty flexible too with the middle row of seats adjustable for legroom and one-handed operation for the rear row of folding seats. There are cubby holes and storage compartments all around the inside too, ideal for hiding the weans sweeties and then leaving them for an hour to find them! And speaking of weans, the fit and finish of Kia interiors plus the quality of materials have seen big improvements too.
And they haven’t just thrown goodies at the car for the sake of putting the price up. The additions have been well thought out, such as two 12v sockets and not just one, plus USB and AUX ports, and Bluetooth functionality. It’s got front fog lights and cornering lights, electrically heated and adjustable door mirrors and reversing sensors. It’s even got a rheostat switch for dashboard illumination and a ‘night light’ switch to switch off the large central panel illumination, lighting in the front footwells, a cooling glovebox and a ‘full size’ temporary spare wheel.
If I was being critical, then the tailgate doesn’t open up high enough for six footers to clear it comfortably. A degree of self preservation has to be exercised when working around the car with the tailgate open.
However the Carens has another thing going for it, Kia’s 7 year/100,000 mile warranty on new cars. That alone will make many more people swing towards this plain car’s multiple attractions.
As for me, I really liked it, and if I had a housefull of weans it would have to be a consideration.