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Kia has launched it's all new V6 Carnival in Australia, a full-size seven-seat people mover with a unique selling point - it's a family vehicle that families can actually afford.

Priced from $29,990, complete with dual climate control air conditioning, power steering, sliding rear doors on both sides and a six-speaker audio system, Carnival introduces to Australians the first six-cylinder people mover that's got all the space, style and versatility of the competition without an impossible price. Carnival gives buyers a well appointed, fully featured vehicle with generous room for seven or, with a few quick seating adjustments, a versatile load carrier. It all comes in a safe, stylish package that has never been more affordable.

Full-sized, six-cylinder, seven-seat people movers have always been positioned in the price realms of BMWs, Audis, Mercedes-Benzs and Saabs. Until now. Carnival has brought people movers solidly into base model Commodore and Falcon territory.

But Kia's Carnival will do more than re-write the market for new people-movers, it will also have a profound impact on the second-hand people mover market. If you want a six-cylinder people mover for $30,000 you're currently looking at a new Carnival or an MPV that dates to 1995 or 1996. If you're looking for a second-hand Voyager for 30K you can forget it.

And yet the Carnival is longer than the cheapest Voyager (which costs $46,800, by the way), and it has a longer wheelbase. It has more power, better ground clearance and a superior coefficient of drag. It seats the same number of people and offers sliding rear doors on each side, just as the Voyager does. All for a startling $16,810 less. $16,810 is a lot to pay for an extra 55mm in width (oh, and the Voyager's fuel tank, at 76 litres, holds one extra litre, too).

"The Carnival is about to do for the buyers of people movers what Korean brands have already done for small car buyers - made new vehicles affordable again," said the General Manager of Kia Motors Australia, David Hughes. "The Australian market is ripe for a solid, safe and reliable people mover at a razor sharp price, and the Carnival's price is as sharp as a scalpel.

"Three out of every four people movers you see on the roads have been bought second-hand, and we don't believe that Carnival's major competitors will be new people movers from other manufacturers. Rather, they will be second-hand people movers - three to five-year-old Taragos, MPVs and Odysseys, and even older multi-seat four-wheel-drives. Carnival will also offer a far more satisfactory solution to people looking at traditional wagons with add-on seating in the cargo area."

Buyers pummelled by years of sky-high people mover prices may be excused for expecting a poverty pack from Kia, but they'd be very wrong. Look at the standard offerings in the $29,990 Carnival:

• Dual sliding side doors with child-proof locks
• Dual climate control systems (air conditioning and heating)
• Energy-absorbing steering column
• Power front windows
• Central locking
• Tilt-adjustable steering column
• Power-operated, heated door mirrors
• Folding armrests front and mid seats
• Six speaker audio system with AM/FM radio and cassette player
• Body-coloured bumpers
• Tinted glass
• Adjustable roof rack
• Variable intermittent two-speed wipers
• Rear wiper and washer
• Automatic electric aerial
• Front overhead console with sunglasses storage and courtesy lights
• Height-adjustable front seat belts
• Sliding door/fuel filler door interlock

Spend just $3000 more and you'll get a Carnival with an electronically controlled four-speed automatic gearbox that also carries:

• Driver's airbag
• Six speaker audio system with AM/FM radio and compact disc player

"Obviously we expect the great bulk of Carnival sales, around 85 per cent, to consist of automatics, but we believe it's important to offer a five-speed manual because there is demand for a six-cylinder people mover in manual," Mr Hughes said. "At the moment Voyager and MPV don't offer this option - manual transmissions are only available with the less powerful fours like Nimbus, Spacia and Tarago all of which, I might add, are more expensive than a V6 Carnival."

Families were paramount in Kia's design for the Carnival. It has been built on a car platform to deliver car like ride and handling. The suspension uses MacPherson struts at the front and a five link system with coil springs at the rear to give positive handling, along with ride quality that's comfortable at every seating position.

The vehicle has been designed to meet or exceed all applicable safety standards with integral crush zones and a full complement of safety features. A driver's airbag is fitted to Carnivals with automatic transmission. Kia's internal barrier testing was done against the standards imposed by the US Federal safety test legislation and yielded a five-star result. Carnival's safety exceeds the requirements imposed in both the USA and Europe.

Given that lots of younger passengers can be expected, a priority in setting the ride characteristics was to make the vehicle as free from pitch as possible. Pitch is the major cause of motion sickness, and this objective has been greatly assisted by a wheelbase just nine centimetres short of three metres.

Wide-opening front doors and sliding rear doors on both sides provide unrivalled ease of entry and exit, while the light, top-hinged rear hatch gives fast and easy access to the cargo area. There is a wide variety of seating and cargo-carrying options, and full walk-through from the front bucket seats to the rear.

Despite looking and driving like a more compact vehicle, the Carnival could never be called a mini van. With an overall length of nearly five metres (4890mm) there is room for a full load of passengers and their luggage, and sliding seats make for even greater flexibility.

The light weight 2.5-litre quad-cam all alloy V6 features a vibration-resistant block and an electronically controlled variable-flow intake system. Despite being a smaller engine than Voyager's 3.3-litre, it turns out more power - 132 kilowatts at 6000 rpm. That's also more power than the new MPV. Meanwhile 220 Newton metres of torque at 4000 rpm ensures there is plenty of pull, even with seven passengers and their luggage.

Buyers can choose between a five-speed manual transmission or a four-speed automatic with power and economy modes, both of which have been designed around smooth shifting and economy.