Biggest issues so far / new owner

2585 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Solid Snake, 9 mo ago

Dwatson

Discussion Starter · 9 mo ago

New owner of the Carnival but I have a few issues that surprised me.

If you remove the middle seat on the 8 passenger config, the middle seats don't have an arm rest! The only way to have an arm rest is to use the middle seat folded down. Seems absolutely crazy. Definitely planned on not using the middle seat for more space and easier entry to the back

Middle seats don't move forward with car seats
If you have a fixed car seat, it's extremely difficult for kids to move the middle seat forward to get in the back. The seats don't slide easily and require the seat back to fold

No interior ambient lighting in the SX

No cover for the usb / phone charger cubby. Extremely unsightly

No homelink? No garage opener and just a cheap review mirror on the SX trim? Crazy

Front seats are OK but not amazing and the center arm rest is not long enough to be in contact with much of my arm

Ventilation seats barely blow anything. Much stronger in other vehicles

Beautiful car, nicely sized, and I don't think I could trade it for anything else but some of those are almost maddening

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bmn78

· #2 · 9 mo ago

Dwatson said:
New owner of the Carnival but I have a few issues that surprised me.

If you remove the middle seat on the 8 passenger config, the middle seats don't have an arm rest! The only way to have an arm rest is to use the middle seat folded down. Seems absolutely crazy. Definitely planned on not using the middle seat for more space and easier entry to the back

Middle seats don't move forward with car seats
If you have a fixed car seat, it's extremely difficult for kids to move the middle seat forward to get in the back. The seats don't slide easily and require the seat back to fold

No interior ambient lighting in the SX

No cover for the usb / phone charger cubby. Extremely unsightly

No homelink? No garage opener and just a cheap review mirror on the SX trim? Crazy

Front seats are OK but not amazing and the center arm rest is not long enough to be in contact with much of my arm

Ventilation seats barely blow anything. Much stronger in other vehicles

Beautiful car, nicely sized, and I don't think I could trade it for anything else but some of those are almost maddening

Agreed, especially regarding the arm rest! Other than that, I guess, it's subjective: I had homelink and garage opener in my previous car - NEVER used it in 5+ years. Ventilation is not as strong, as my previous car too; but the previous one had it way too strong, in my opinion, even on the lowest setting - caused some backpain for me, couldn't use it much either. Well, probably, I'm somewhat older / my back is not as good as yours

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Dwatson

Discussion Starter · #3 · 9 mo ago

True.
1 more thing... Apparently the 12" screen on the higher end models doesn't support wireless Android auto and carplay! My base model 2021 Kia K5 does but my top of the line carnival requires a cable which defeats the need to have wireless charging if I still need to plug in a cable

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kckyle

· #4 · 9 mo ago

Dwatson said:
True.
1 more thing... Apparently the 12" screen on the higher end models doesn't support wireless Android auto and carplay! My base model 2021 Kia K5 does but my top of the line carnival requires a cable which defeats the need to have wireless charging if I still need to plug in a cable

Wireless charging is so slow compared to wired that this one really doesn’t bother me though I’m surprised we don’t have the technology anyway.

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mrteeth2005

· #5 · 9 mo ago

Wireless charging is overated plus is damages your phone. We have it and never use it. Wireless Android Auto and Car Play would be nice. I've never had vent seats in other cars, so I can't say. But I know these work pretty well. You can definitely tell they are on, especially on hot/humid days. I've also read on a reviews that the vent seats on the Carnival works better than some luxury SUVs.

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Dwatson

Discussion Starter · #6 · 9 mo ago

The vent seats are definitely smaller complaints, but the Pacifica seats are better. I prefer corded charging too but since the usb bin doesn't have a retractable cover like most cars, I have this unsightly mess of cables required even to use carplay. Which seems crazy because you get wireless carplay on entry LX models!

I'd rank the lack of armrests as a number 1 complaint and no wireless navigation as #2 since those seem like obvious fixable issues. There are other things too like rear headrest are crazy small. I've have the car for 5 days and I've fielded more complaints from my kids than on my 8 year old base Caravan with comfort. In addition to armrests, apparently their heads keep slipping off the headrest so falling asleep is tough. Bonus is this car is larger so leg room is definitely improved

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mrteeth2005

· #7 · 9 mo ago

Well, we just took our SXP on a 600m road trip. I can tell you that it's the most comfortable drive I've ever had. I drove from Branson MO to Sioux Falls SD by myself with a few rest room breaks. I couldn't do that with other cars we've had in the past. The seats were comfortable. The HDA made it easy to eat a sandwich and get a cold drink while driving without worrying about the roads. My wife and daughter were lounging in the back and took two naps during that stretch. They love it. For me gripes are very minor. You just don't realize how good it is, until you drive other similar vans.

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UN-Limited

· #8 · 9 mo ago

Dwatson said:
True.
1 more thing... Apparently the 12" screen on the higher end models doesn't support wireless Android auto and carplay! My base model 2021 Kia K5 does but my top of the line carnival requires a cable which defeats the need to have wireless charging if I still need to plug in a cable

Probably another side effect of the chip shortage across the industry. OEM's had to make sacrifices in some places in order to keep shipping cars.

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Solid Snake

· #9 · 9 mo ago

One thing I’ve noticed on my 2023 is the doors will no longer lock using the Kia Access app while the engine is running. It throws a weird error in the app that doesn’t make sense.

Hopefully they fix this soon because I use this convenience feature a ton.

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