[gen8888]

Hello all, I'm looking at the Carnival in SX-P trim due to the added features but worried about the lack of room to get into the 3rd row with captains chair and 2 car seats attached. Does anyone have the Captain's chair with a car seat on each and have enough room to walk through the center pass?

Thanks!

 

[cocobot]

I have the SX-P with three car seats. You're likely not getting an adult back there easily, kids can still get back there. You're definitely not getting anyone big back there without taking the car seat out. All in all, it is possible, but very tight and sorta frustrating. Your best bet is to move the seat forward and into the middle as far as possible and try to squeeze behind the chair. In fact, there is no easy collapse feature even without car seats as the only means of bending a chair forward is through the buttons that are on the interior side of the seat (not that you can make these adjustments with a car seat in there). The screens make it very difficult (especially with rear facing car seats) to squeeze between the captains chairs too (especially with the arm rests - wish there was a nice looking way to remove them). The features are really great with the SX-P, but I certainly wish I could get all SX-P features without the awful captain chairs in the back. You'll learn to live with it though.

Are your car seats both facing or boosters forward facing? I can give you a better picture.

 

[gen8888]

Thank you for the in-depth information that is exactly what I was looking for. I'm in a similar situation but have all 3 combinations.. I have one front facing, one rear facing, and one booster. I may look at thinner car seats for the 2nd row or move one to the 3rd row and put the booster in the 2nd row for pass through space.

I too wish there was a bench seat option with the SX-P trim, I'm hoping that they would offer that config in future iterations.

 

[cocobot]

Here is my setup for this. That seat is pushed all the way inward and mostly forward. I had to move the passenger front seat up enough to allow for the middle seat to come forward enough to leave room for my kid to squeeze into the back. We dropped the other section of the back seat down for more cargo space.

 

[TheMealOnWheels]

We have an sxp with car seats in both spots. I can say we moved a seat to the back when we had to let other adults ride with us. The biggest help was removing the screens, which are destined to break off if you try squeezing people through there, even little ones.

 

[Medallione]

I have the SX-P with three car seats. You're likely not getting an adult back there easily, kids can still get back there. You're definitely not getting anyone big back there without taking the car seat out. All in all, it is possible, but very tight and sorta frustrating. Your best bet is to move the seat forward and into the middle as far as possible and try to squeeze behind the chair. In fact, there is no easy collapse feature even without car seats as the only means of bending a chair forward is through the buttons that are on the interior side of the seat (not that you can make these adjustments with a car seat in there). The screens make it very difficult (especially with rear facing car seats) to squeeze between the captains chairs too (especially with the arm rests - wish there was a nice looking way to remove them). The features are really great with the SX-P, but I certainly wish I could get all SX-P features without the awful captain chairs in the back. You'll learn to live with it though.

Are your car seats both facing or boosters forward facing? I can give you a better picture.

You nailed it...a good summary of everything I dislike about the SXP trim. It was not really designed for the practical needs of a family, especially one with 3 small kids, all on car seats. I suspect this limts the appeal to families in this demographic, which would be most young families.. Yes, older retired folks with one or 2 grand kids or shuttle companies would love it, but everyone else, go for the more practical and versatile 8-seat trim but you pay a penalty by loosing some of the must-have creature-comfort features (in my view) that differentiate the Carnival, as a value leader, from the competition. Really, I don't know what the Kia designers were thinking, this is a minivan for families with kids and lots of knick knacks to ferry around, not a business executive shuttle van.

 

[TheMealOnWheels]

You nailed it...a good summary of everything I dislike about the SXP trim. It was not really designed for the practical needs of a family, especially one with 3 small kids, all on car seats. I suspect this limts the appeal to families in this demographic, which would be most young families.. Yes, older retired folks with one or 2 grand kids or shuttle companies would love it, but everyone else, go for the more practical and versatile 8-seat trim but you pay a penalty by loosing some of the must-have creature-comfort features (in my view) that differentiate the Carnival, as a value leader, from the competition. Really, I don't know what the Kia designers were thinking, this is a minivan for families with kids and lots of knick knacks to ferry around, not a business executive shuttle van.

I don't know about that, pretty sure they nailed it. If you want to ferry kids (majority?), get a lower trim, less expensive option that wouldnt be awful if it were scratched and stained. If you want to ferry adults (minority of buyers), get the expensive one. Seems like it's priced and appointed correctly to me.

 

[UN-Limited]

I have the SX-P with three car seats. You're likely not getting an adult back there easily, kids can still get back there. You're definitely not getting anyone big back there without taking the car seat out. All in all, it is possible, but very tight and sorta frustrating. Your best bet is to move the seat forward and into the middle as far as possible and try to squeeze behind the chair. In fact, there is no easy collapse feature even without car seats as the only means of bending a chair forward is through the buttons that are on the interior side of the seat (not that you can make these adjustments with a car seat in there). The screens make it very difficult (especially with rear facing car seats) to squeeze between the captains chairs too (especially with the arm rests - wish there was a nice looking way to remove them). The features are really great with the SX-P, but I certainly wish I could get all SX-P features without the awful captain chairs in the back. You'll learn to live with it though.

Are your car seats both facing or boosters forward facing? I can give you a better picture.

To be fair, the screens are easily removed with a single Philips head screw driver in about 5 minutes. The bracket that holds the screens is also easily removed. Simply pull off the plastic cover on the back of the front seats to access the screws for the mounting bracket. Total procedure, 10 minutes.

 

[Medallione]

I don't know about that, pretty sure they nailed it. If you want to ferry kids (majority?), get a lower trim, less expensive option that wouldnt be awful if it were scratched and stained. If you want to ferry adults (minority of buyers), get the expensive one. Seems like it's priced and appointed correctly to me.

I hear you. Except that the lower trim sans the VIP seats do not get the sunroof, bose audio, cooled seats, LED interior lighting, leather seats etc so the adults with the lower trim do not even have the option to equip their trim s with these at any price. Solution: give folks with 3 or more kids the option to have the above features of the top trim, either as a Tech package or make the VIP seats an add-on option.

 

[cocobot]

To be fair, the screens are easily removed with a single Philips head screw driver in about 5 minutes. The bracket that holds the screens is also easily removed. Simply pull off the plastic cover on the back of the front seats to access the screws for the mounting bracket. Total procedure, 10 minutes.

I was referring to removing the arm rests to provide more room between seats.

 

[Al52025]

To be fair, the screens are easily removed with a single Philips head screw driver in about 5 minutes. The bracket that holds the screens is also easily removed. Simply pull off the plastic cover on the back of the front seats to access the screws for the mounting bracket. Total procedure, 10 minutes.

How did you get that plastic cover off to remove the bracket. I took the screens out months ago but was afraid to remove the plastic over because it felt like I was going to break it

 

[UN-Limited]

How did you get that plastic cover off to remove the bracket. I took the screens out months ago but was afraid to remove the plastic over because it felt like I was going to break it

Wedge your fingers behind the plastic at the top of the seat and pull straight out toward the 2nd row with maximum effort. There are 2 metal retaining clips holding it place on the top. They will not break; however, once they pop loose, don't let your momentum carry you too far or you may damage the 2 plastic retainers which hold the bottom half. Those you'll have to baby a bit to get the entire cover off.

Good luck!

 

[kpat28]

Are you able to remove one of the captain chairs entirely in the SX-P? I know you can remove seats in the SX but it would be a game changer if we could remove one of the captain chairs in the SX-P.

I have three kids in car seats as well and we would like to put our twin boys in the 3rd row, put our 6 month old daughter in a captain chair and then remove teh second captain chair entirely so we can easily access the 3rd row.

 

[UN-Limited]

Are you able to remove one of the captain chairs entirely in the SX-P? I know you can remove seats in the SX but it would be a game changer if we could remove one of the captain chairs in the SX-P.

I have three kids in car seats as well and we would like to put our twin boys in the 3rd row, put our 6 month old daughter in a captain chair and then remove teh second captain chair entirely so we can easily access the 3rd row.

Sure, with the right tools, you can remove anything. But it's not designed to be removed by the owner. It would be a semi-permanent removal since there's no way to quickly reinstall when you need it.

 

[AhhhhhSnap]

Are you able to remove one of the captain chairs entirely in the SX-P? I know you can remove seats in the SX but it would be a game changer if we could remove one of the captain chairs in the SX-P.

I have three kids in car seats as well and we would like to put our twin boys in the 3rd row, put our 6 month old daughter in a captain chair and then remove teh second captain chair entirely so we can easily access the 3rd row.

This is exactly the configuration we do in our Chrysler Pacifica. The stow and go is the game changer and basically what my wife has wanted as a must-have along with the RES. Now that we’ve 4 kids, it’s been less of a need as we have kept the second seat in row two up all the time now. also, how Chrysler does their RES is awesome too.

Our last 4 vans (we typically lease // totaled one) have been Chrysler (2T&C and 2 Pacifica)….these new carnivals look awesome so hopefully can mix it up.

 

[Southern J]

Darn that’s concerning to me. I have three kids (9,6, & 3) and we are in the EX right now and upgrading to the SXP. We have two car seats and a booster seat and right now we are really enjoying that middle aisle. can kids even fit between the two captains chairs to get back to the third row if they can buckle themselves? Or is there anyway to swap out those Captian chairs with my ex chairs at the dealership?

 

[cocobot]

Darn that’s concerning to me. I have three kids (9,6, & 3) and we are in the EX right now and upgrading to the SXP. We have two car seats and a booster seat and right now we are really enjoying that middle aisle. can kids even fit between the two captains chairs to get back to the third row if they can buckle themselves? Or is there anyway to swap out those Captian chairs with my ex chairs at the dealership?

Kids can get to the back just fine. It's preferable to put the ones that can buckle themselves in the back. You can also move the chairs forward and side to side (just not very far). A child can squeeze behind. If you have two that can buckle themselves and leave one of the middle row seats open that's even better. It's an inconvenience but the tech doesn't make it a deal breaker going up the SXP.

I've no idea about swapping chairs. That would be amazing though.

 

[kckyle]

Darn that’s concerning to me. I have three kids (9,6, & 3) and we are in the EX right now and upgrading to the SXP. We have two car seats and a booster seat and right now we are really enjoying that middle aisle. can kids even fit between the two captains chairs to get back to the third row if they can buckle themselves? Or is there anyway to swap out those Captian chairs with my ex chairs at the dealership?

Nope, it’s been shared in other posts on here that the floor itself is different, as far as mounting points. You’re stuck with the seats it came with.

 

[kckyle]

I hear you. Except that the lower trim sans the VIP seats do not get the sunroof, bose audio, cooled seats, LED interior lighting, leather seats etc so the adults with the lower trim do not even have the option to equip their trim s with these at any price. Solution: give folks with 3 or more kids the option to have the above features of the top trim, either as a Tech package or make the VIP seats an add-on option.

Heated steering wheel (dealbreaker for my wife) and in-dash blind spot cams are SX-P only too.

 

[GrayHammer]

To be fair, the screens are easily removed with a single Philips head screw driver in about 5 minutes. The bracket that holds the screens is also easily removed. Simply pull off the plastic cover on the back of the front seats to access the screws for the mounting bracket. Total procedure, 10 minutes.

Can you video it? I am visual