In the past several years, Kia has taken a new name and image for itself, building up a reputation for developing and producing some of the best consumer-focused, budget-friendly vehicles on the market. With the introduction of the Kia Telluride, the brand was easily able to dominate the third-row seat SUV market, and with the Kia Stinger, it sets its place among performance-oriented sedans. But, there is one Kia vehicle that isn’t as hot on the market as the brand’s vehicles in other market niches: the Kia Carnival minivan.

The 2021 Kia Carnival

The 2021 Kia Carnival is the newest vehicle released by the growing brand, but it hasn’t quite hit the mark of dominating the minivan market niche. According to Edmunds, the Carnival is only ranked #4, being surpassed by longer-running and more popular minivan options. While it is still ranked among the top 5 rated minivan options, there aren’t that many choices to pick from, as the niche is small and growing seemingly smaller year after year. Ranked at #4, it is only a few tenths of a point shy of some of the competition, leaving us to wonder just where Kia fell short.

What beat the Kia Carnival?

The Kia Carnival was beaten out by several options that buyers are more familiar with to start. Sitting at the top of the list is the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, with an overall score of 8.2 out of 10. It’s worth noting that there isn’t a big discrepancy in the ratings between all of these vehicles, showing that they are all almost equal, if not separated by a few nit-picked pros and cons.

• #1 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid: 8.2 out of 10
• #2 Honda Odyssey 8.1 out of 10
• #3 Toyota Sienna 8.0 out of 10
• #4 Kia Carnival 7.9 out of 10
• #5 not ranked

Is the Kia Carnival a good car?

The Kia Carnival received commendations for its offering of high-tech features, especially for the budget-friendly MSRP with a starting price of $33,275, as well as its variety of options that can be found among the trim levels at various prices. The comfortable and spacious interior does well to compete against that of the competition, but what sets it apart is the exterior styling, which keeps up with the image Kia has been building of creating unique and modernly-styled cars that stand out from the competition and are recognizable to the brand. Even if the Kia Carnival isn’t the top-ranked minivan according to Edmunds, it ekes by at just a few tenths of a point short and still does well to stands on its own against more popular options.

As a newer vehicle, it is likely that Kia will work to refine the Kia Carnival until it is one of the best vehicles on the market for the minivan niche, and following on the coattails of the popular Kia Telluride, there is no reason why the Carnival can’t eventually dominate the minivan market in the future.