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My 2022 Ceramic Silver Car Journal

21K views 43 replies 15 participants last post by  Carnivorel 
#1 ·
Hi Everyone,

The family here is super excited for our latest addition, a 2022 Kia Carnival in Ceramic Silver. Though my spouse will be the primary super-user of this vehicle, I am excited to dig into it as well, exploring the nuances of the launch-year Carnival. Firstly, perhaps a bit on what lead us to purchase this vehicle. We have 3 soon to be teens and we were shopping everything in the 3-row SUV segment. The Honda Pilot was our primary option, with the Telluride running second. When covid hit, we put our plans on pause for a bit as we were not traveling as much as we were pre-pandemic. As the kids continued to grow, we both realized that even a Pilot would have been a mistake as the 3rd row would quickly become cramped. I found out about the Carnival from many of the 'car youtube' channels that I frequent. We checked it out at a local dealer and were totally sold on getting one (except at THAT local dealer, as they wanted a huge markup over MSRP). We were quickly able to locate our Ceramic Silver vehicle at Matt Blatt Kia in Toms River, NJ at a much more reasonable cost (MSRP plus a minor markup - a sign of the times...). To the dealership's credit though, markup aside it was one of the easiest and best car buying experiences I have ever had.

A bit about me, I am a bit of a car nut. I have owned various BMW's including M cars, Audi S cars, Hondas, trucks, CUV's, the list goes on and on. Currently, my 2019 Porsche 911 T is my baby, and I daily a 2019 CRV or 2006 Chevy Colorado beater truck. I also have an E36 M3 that I am in various stages of restoring, that thread can be found here on Bimmerforums if you are into such things.

Anyhow, enough about me, let's get on to the car.

As mentioned our spec is 2022 in Ceramic Silver. It has a dark interior - which hopefully will be easier keeping clean considering the 3 kids and their friends. Oh, one more thing about me, car detailing is a bit of a passion of mine, so we will talk about that some more in these posts as well.

Our Carnival on delivery day:


The sales team was great at walking us through how to set everything up:


Home just in time for a wash with its siblings. Yes my garage is a disaster at the moment. 😂


I am super impressed with the finishes on the interior, even if it is going to be a fingerprint magnet.


Honestly, I'd rather be sitting back here!


(My)CRV v. (Her)Carnival, a showdown of the daily drivers in the Costco parking lot:
 
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#2 ·
So as we have been getting more accustomed to the car, I have been tinkering with a few 'mods' as I tend to do. First up, I want to play around with some in-car wifi solutions. Yes we have a Verizon hotspot, but given that my parents have retired to a rural area of South Carolina, and my spouses parents in a similar rural area out in PA, having options that account for alternate networks for signal is a good solution to test.

I've started by picking up one of these ~$70 GL.iNet Slate routers


The idea here is you can tether any device to it via USB (we have Verizon, ATT, and Tmo across our various devices). We will be testing this out on an upcoming trip. There is lots of information on LTE HACKS - Index page that I will not get into here, but it's fun to nerd out a bit on different options. In the future, I think I would like to try having a fixed 5G modem w SIM for full unlimited internet when camping / etc.

I taped it here (it fell down later):


Next up, one of the interesting things I noticed is that the LP Aventure LP1's w/ Pirelli All Terrain Tires that I have on my CRV are the same offset / size as what is on the Carnival. How about an All-Terrain Carnival?

Test Fit:






I think it looks pretty cool! I need to get some new hub-centric rings that fit the KIA, but I am really happy with how it came together. If only we had an AWD option. Def a good option for wintertime or camping. Now to shop for a small lift. 🤔

Lastly, de-badged the front and the rear trunk in prep for some PPF. Everyone around me is backed up by months, so this may not actually get done until we return from our trip. The hood looks cleaner without the badge. Also axed the carnival badge on the rear.



Wheels back on, a bit of a foam wash to tidy everything up:




Next up, Crossbars for the roof rack and my roof cargo box should be arriving soon. :)
 
#18 ·
I considered going with Thule crossbars but ended up going with the OE Kia ones. They should be here tomorrow or Thursday. The price was a tad high but I figure they will fit the best. Peace of mind when traveling down the highway with a cargo box over your head.
 
#6 ·
In terms maneuverability, a massive advantage of the minivan is the stumpy noise. I was concerned that Kia would extend the hood in its SUV styling mission, your photo comparing to the Honda put those fears to rest.

It’s strangely very difficult to get hood measurements for cars.
 
#17 ·
Yes, all 3 are adhesive, but I left the rear tailight KIA badge on. Use fishing line first to cut through the adhesive then remove with mix of a heat gun and adhesive remover. I used 3M adhesive remover in the aerosol can. Word of warning, the hood badge has some very sharp edges to it, DO NOT pry it up as it will dig into the paint on the opposite end. Ask me how I know. 😒

 
#21 ·
Spent the evening polishing the front end in prep for PPF. All high-impact areas are getting protected, Hood, bumper, mirrors, and area around the tailgate. Used Sonax Perfect Finish and a Meguiars microfiber polishing pad (for those who are interested).



The dealer-installed front plate frame really does a number on the bumper. 🤦‍♂️


They were kind enough to mail us our perm. tags, I put this Weathertech plate frame on all my cars.


Also, I always find something in my randomly assigned plate frames. In this case, the first 3 digits = S54, which was the internal BMW code for the engine that was in the E46 BMW M3 among others. :cool:

Dropping off for PPF tomorrow, the installer will have the car for the next few days.
 
#22 ·
Spent the evening polishing the front end in prep for PPF. All high-impact areas are getting protected, Hood, bumper, mirrors, and area around the tailgate. Used Sonax Perfect Finish and a Meguiars microfiber polishing pad (for those who are interested).



The dealer-installed front plate frame really does a number on the bumper. 🤦‍♂️


They were kind enough to mail us our perm. tags, I put this Weathertech plate frame on all my cars.


Also, I always find something in my randomly assigned plate frames. In this case, the first 3 digits = S54, which was the internal BMW code for the engine that was in the E46 BMW M3 among others. :cool:

Dropping off for PPF tomorrow, the installer will have the car for the next few days.
Just some cautionary advice... You may want to consider blurring your license plate photo when posting online. You'd be amazed by how much personal info people can get from that.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Yippie! My local Kia dealer called and my factory crossbars have arrived.

Packaging


Everything in the box & associated hardware


End caps have the new KIA logo, but it is rather subdued which is nice.


Mounting guidance from KIA - helpful if you buy aftermarket bars


Added some anti-seize to the threads as a precaution


Front bar on, plenty of clearance for the sunroof. It looks like it could be mounted forward a bit more but I'll just go w the instructions.


Rear bar mounts just forward of the rear support for the roof rails


Looks awesome! Can't wait to get my roof box on it.


Overall the install took me about 30min, and I was taking my time. I am happy with the overall quality/fit/finish of the bars. I almost went with Thule instead but figured since it was a newer vehicle I'd go with OEM. Peace of mind when having a load on top of your vehicle.

Just a couple of notes from Kia that bear repeating:
  • Do not exceed 165lbs weight on the crossbars (box included)
  • Evenly distribute loads
  • Refer to your cargo box manufacturer for guidance on maximum highway speeds.
EDIT: One more rather interesting tidbit, in the instructions it says to reach out to Yakima for support - so I have to figure that they are manufacturing these crossbars under contract for Kia. I am unable to tell if there is a comparable Yakima model in the same size/spec, but interesting to note.
 
#28 ·
Yippie! My local Kia dealer called and my factory crossbars have arrived.

Packaging


Everything in the box & associated hardware


End caps have the new KIA logo, but it is rather subdued which is nice.


Mounting guidance from KIA - helpful if you buy aftermarket bars


Added some anti-seize to the threads as a precaution


Front bar on, plenty of clearance for the sunroof. It looks like it could be mounted forward a bit more but I'll just go w the instructions.


Rear bar mounts just forward of the rear support for the roof rails


Looks awesome! Can't wait to get my roof box on it.


Overall the install took me about 30min, and I was taking my time. I am happy with the overall quality/fit/finish of the bars. I almost went with Thule instead but figured since it was a newer vehicle I'd go with OEM. Peace of mind when having a load on top of your vehicle.

Just a couple of notes from Kia that bear repeating:
  • Do not exceed 165lbs weight on the crossbars (box included)
  • Evenly distribute loads
  • Refer to your cargo box manufacturer for guidance on maximum highway speeds.
Looks really great and thank you for the detailed instructions and pics.

I wonder why they say 27.5 inch between the bars ? I agree with you that it looks like you can space them out more w/o interfering with the sunroof... with 12ft paddle boards would prefer to space them out as much as possible.

Do you know what's the car's height with the bars? I am pretty sure I should be able to make it into my garage with the rooftop box on (might be tight), but will probably have to adjust the paddle board lift to park under it with the box on in the winter...

Also, would be great if you could update on noise level when you have a chance to drive it on the highway. Some people complained about aftermarket crossbars' noise level so I wonder how the OEMs are...
 
#29 ·
Car is away getting PPF but the deliveries keep coming in.

Thule Vector cargo box!






Albeit a bit pricey (I think this is the top end of the Thule line), we ultimately decided on this box vs the Motion as we liked the lower profile more, and also have the matching Thule GoPack+1 duffel bag set for the 5 of us. The big idea is everyone's bag can go in the cargo carrier, freeing up interior space for our long trips. Can't wait to test it all out once the car gets back!
 
#30 ·
Car is back from PPF and it looks great! Roof box is installed as well, really digging the functionality of this vehicle.







Also took time to fully decontaminate the glass, polish, and seal with glassparancy.




Excited to hit the road later today and start our trip to South Carolina. Can't wait to see how the vehicle does on a long trip.
 
#33 ·
We are back from our ~1600 mile road trip to South Carolina and back. Have a couple of key observations on the Carnival after putting so many road miles on it.
  • Def disable lane keep assist on rural roads, I found many situations where I was fighting it going around long sweeping corners - it kept wanting to 'push' the car to the outside of the road. Can be borderline dangerous if you are not ready for it.
  • Radar cruise works like a charm and is great
  • The nannies in the car are a bit overdone. blindspot beeping, lane drift beeping, etc. Oftentimes I was fighting it while doing exactly what I was intending to do. I do not remember this being as intrusive in recent model Audi's and BMW's / etc.
  • The infotainment radio interface is absolutely atrocious - is a list view of all SiriusXM channels too much to ask? I also had multiple instances of having the radio on and carplay cutting off the sound, only to go back to the radio and having the channel reset to the default 1, starting the whole circus over again. (I mostly listen to spotify via carplay anyway, but I was particularly annoyed by the clunkiness of the system in general)
  • The seatbelt chime would not stop going off even though I was sitting in the car in park with the engine running.
All minor issues, but seem to be software-related annoyances that hopefully Kia will address in time with more updates (or perhaps there are options in the menus that I just have not dug enough for yet).

The biggest issue I encountered though, is that the factory instructions on where to mount the crossbars for the cargo box are completely BUNK. It looks as if it is instructing to leave enough room to avoid the sunroof hitting the front crossbar, but the result is that the roof rail is not strong enough in the middle, and creates a wobbly mess while driving at highway speeds. When we were in South Carolina, I repositioned everything and it 100% remedied the issue.

Now for some pics.

Before hitting the road, we got a nice shoutout from Larry Kosilla (Ammo NYC on YouTube).


Can't say enough about this Thule cargo box system. it was perfect for fitting all of our gear.


The normal trunk area was filled with our SUP board and road bike amongst other items for the trip. Kept the cabin nice and free of clutter.


Repositioned the crossbars (as mentioned above). Moving the forward bar toward the front of the vehicle completely stabilized my box.


On the trip back we got 28mpg with the cargo box on regular-grade Shell. This is particularly impressive considering we were on 81 north through the mountains.


Overall the trip was a huge success. The kids loved the carnival and no complaining was to be seen which was great! Aside from the nags above, the car is a pleasure to drive on a long trip like this, and we certainly made the right choice in buying it.

Oh, and I got a kick over how many people would point or look at our car - totally unexpected for an ahem, MPV. 😂
 
#34 ·
We are back from our ~1600 mile road trip to South Carolina and back. Have a couple of key observations on the Carnival after putting so many road miles on it.
  • Def disable lane keep assist on rural roads, I found many situations where I was fighting it going around long sweeping corners - it kept wanting to 'push' the car to the outside of the road. Can be borderline dangerous if you are not ready for it.
  • Radar cruise works like a charm and is great
  • The nannies in the car are a bit overdone. blindspot beeping, lane drift beeping, etc. Oftentimes I was fighting it while doing exactly what I was intending to do. I do not remember this being as intrusive in recent model Audi's and BMW's / etc.
  • The infotainment radio interface is absolutely atrocious - is a list view of all SiriusXM channels too much to ask? I also had multiple instances of having the radio on and carplay cutting off the sound, only to go back to the radio and having the channel reset to the default 1, starting the whole circus over again. (I mostly listen to spotify via carplay anyway, but I was particularly annoyed by the clunkiness of the system in general)
  • The seatbelt chime would not stop going off even though I was sitting in the car in park with the engine running.
All minor issues, but seem to be software-related annoyances that hopefully Kia will address in time with more updates (or perhaps there are options in the menus that I just have not dug enough for yet).

The biggest issue I encountered though, is that the factory instructions on where to mount the crossbars for the cargo box are completely BUNK. It looks as if it is instructing to leave enough room to avoid the sunroof hitting the front crossbar, but the result is that the roof rail is not strong enough in the middle, and creates a wobbly mess while driving at highway speeds. When we were in South Carolina, I repositioned everything and it 100% remedied the issue.

Now for some pics.

Before hitting the road, we got a nice shoutout from Larry Kosilla (Ammo NYC on YouTube).


Can't say enough about this Thule cargo box system. it was perfect for fitting all of our gear.


The normal trunk area was filled with our SUP board and road bike amongst other items for the trip. Kept the cabin nice and free of clutter.


Repositioned the crossbars (as mentioned above). Moving the forward bar toward the front of the vehicle completely stabilized my box.


On the trip back we got 28mpg with the cargo box on regular-grade Shell. This is particularly impressive considering we were on 81 north through the mountains.


Overall the trip was a huge success. The kids loved the carnival and no complaining was to be seen which was great! Aside from the nags above, the car is a pleasure to drive on a long trip like this, and we certainly made the right choice in buying it.

Oh, and I got a kick over how many people would point or look at our car - totally unexpected for an ahem, MPV. 😂
Nice review! And yeah, I haven't gotten this many looks and comments in a car since my 2011 Camaro SS. I don't buy my cars for the attention, but it's still kinda nice to receive.
 
#39 ·
Hi Everyone,

The family here is super excited for our latest addition, a 2022 Kia Carnival in Ceramic Silver. Though my spouse will be the primary super-user of this vehicle, I am excited to dig into it as well, exploring the nuances of the launch-year Carnival. Firstly, perhaps a bit on what lead us to purchase this vehicle. We have 3 soon to be teens and we were shopping everything in the 3-row SUV segment. The Honda Pilot was our primary option, with the Telluride running second. When covid hit, we put our plans on pause for a bit as we were not traveling as much as we were pre-pandemic. As the kids continued to grow, we both realized that even a Pilot would have been a mistake as the 3rd row would quickly become cramped. I found out about the Carnival from many of the 'car youtube' channels that I frequent. We checked it out at a local dealer and were totally sold on getting one (except at THAT local dealer, as they wanted a huge markup over MSRP). We were quickly able to locate our Ceramic Silver vehicle at Matt Blatt Kia in Toms River, NJ at a much more reasonable cost (MSRP plus a minor markup - a sign of the times...). To the dealership's credit though, markup aside it was one of the easiest and best car buying experiences I have ever had.

A bit about me, I am a bit of a car nut. I have owned various BMW's including M cars, Audi S cars, Hondas, trucks, CUV's, the list goes on and on. Currently, my 2019 Porsche 911 T is my baby, and I daily a 2019 CRV or 2006 Chevy Colorado beater truck. I also have an E36 M3 that I am in various stages of restoring, that thread can be found here on Bimmerforums if you are into such things.

Anyhow, enough about me, let's get on to the car.

As mentioned our spec is 2022 in Ceramic Silver. It has a dark interior - which hopefully will be easier keeping clean considering the 3 kids and their friends. Oh, one more thing about me, car detailing by blacktiedetailing is a bit of a passion of mine, so we will talk about that some more in these posts as well.

Our Carnival on delivery day:


The sales team was great at walking us through how to set everything up:


Home just in time for a wash with its siblings. Yes my garage is a disaster at the moment. 😂


I am super impressed with the finishes on the interior, even if it is going to be a fingerprint magnet.


Honestly, I'd rather be sitting back here!


(My)CRV v. (Her)Carnival, a showdown of the daily drivers in the Costco parking lot:
Looks good
 
#43 ·
The nannies in the car are a bit overdone. blindspot beeping, lane drift beeping, etc. Oftentimes I was fighting it while doing exactly what I was intending to do. I do not remember this being as intrusive in recent model Audi's and BMW's / etc.
Too funny. I had the exact same gripe which is why I either turned those "off" or set them to "warn only". Extremely frustrating fighting my vehicle when I know what I am trying to accomplish.

The seatbelt chime would not stop going off even though I was sitting in the car in park with the engine running
THIS! My other vehicles it'll ding a few times then stop but man the Carnie's is super annoying.


One other gripe I have with mine is the auto headlight mode. In the mornings there are long shadows all along my route to my kids' school. The entire drive the headlights go on, then go off. On, off. People heading towards me must think I'm insane. And if you turn them to "off" mode, it chimes with a message in the dash "headlights are off" because it thinks I should have them on.

Also kinda bummed the sunroof shade sliders are manual. The kids will open the rear one and forget to close so I have to climb out and close it through the sliding door. That and wish the 2nd sunroof had the tilt open option like the front. It only slides open/close. My wife has a 2023 Sorento with the panoramic sunroof and boy do I wish they offered it for the Carnival.

Last gripe, having to tap through 4 menus to enable wifi hotspot. Hope they address in future firmware update so that it'll stay enabled if you chose to have it on. I thought I had a solution by setting Wifi Hotspot as my star button on the steering wheel but that only works when you first enable hotspot. On next start-up, it went away.

Otherwise love this vehicle. My kids are really dig the reclining 2nd row captain's chairs. And I like the performance, handling, and the crazy amount of cargo space when the 3rd row is stowed.

Yours looks great, btw. Any other mods/updates you're planning?
 
#44 ·
Last gripe, having to tap through 4 menus to enable wifi hotspot. Hope they address in future firmware update so that it'll stay enabled if you chose to have it on. I thought I had a solution by setting Wifi Hotspot as my star button on the steering wheel but that only works when you first enable hotspot. On next start-up, it went away.
I did find a work-around for this. I have the star button on the touchscreen buttons linked to hotspot. One press and wifi turns on. The option for hotspot isn't available for the steering wheel star for some odd reason.
 
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