While Indian buyers have a particular liking towards SUVs; MPVs, with every passing day, are making their case stronger. Vehicles like Mahindra Marazzo, Toyota Innova Crysta and Maruti Suzuki Ertiga are raking up some really good sales numbers compared to many other SUVs. The Toyota Innova Crysta, especially, is known as the posterboy for MPVs in India.
Kia Motors, one of the newest entrant in India, decided to tap the premium MPV market of India and bridge the gap between the Innova and ultra-luxury entrants like the Mercedes-Benz V-Class/ Toyota Vellfire. It's contender is the Carnival MPV, which comes as the brand’s second offering in the Indian market. While the Kia Carnival is not a direct rival to the Innova Crysta, considering it's price point starts where Crysta’s tops-off, buyers tend to compare the two. Let's find out how these two different MPVs fair against each other in terms of size, power and features.
Design
Toyota Innova Crysta Design:
In terms of design, the Innova Crysta is among the better-looking MPVs out there. At the front, the car houses a large, blacked-out five-slat grille flanked by chrome borders. The bumpers have also been redesigned with repositioned fog lamps and indicator lights, along with a body-coloured faux skid plate at the bottom. The headlights and the LED DRLs now extend into the front grille. The side and rear profile remains similar with minor tweaks in the form of 16-inch (GX and VX variants) and 17-inch (ZX variant) alloy wheels with diamond-cut treatment. In the new Innova, the front bumper now comes fitted with sonar clearance to help ease parking hassle in tight spaces.
In terms of dimensions, the Toyota Innova Crysta measures 4735mm in length and 1830mm in width. The car stands 1795mm high and has a wheelbase of 2750mm. The car gets a boot space of 300-litres with all three rows up, and 900-litres with the third row folded.
Kia Carnival Design:
The Carnival comes as a brawny offering from Kia. The car measures more than 5.1m in length and stands tall and wide with an imposing stance. Even the wheelbase measure more than three metres. At the front, dominating the fascia is the large tiger-nose grille with a squared-off design. This is flanked by sleek yet large wrap-around headlamps. These headlamps get LED projector units while the fog lamps have, what Kia calls ice-cube DRLs, with blacked-off surrounds and chrome garnishing.
Similar to the Mercedes-Benz V-Class, the Carnival gets conventional MPV-like sliding passenger doors. But even with its boxy silhouette, the Carnival appears to be well-proportioned thanks to the floating roof design and the kink past the C-pillar. The car sits on a set of 18-inch wheels and there are two alloy wheel designs to choose from. At the rear, the squared-off tailgate is simple and lacks drama. Even the tail lamp design gets simple LED lighting and there are faux skid plates on the bumper to add to the rugged appeal. Currently, there are only three colour options to choose from – black, white and silver.
In terms of dimensions, the Kia Carnival is 5,115mm in length and 1,985mm wide. The car stands 1,740mm high with a wheelbase of 3,060mm. In terms of boot space, the Kia Carnival can free up to 540-litres with all three rows up, 1,624 litres with the third row folded and 2,759 litres with the second and the third row folded.
Cabin
Toyota Innova Crysta Cabin:
The Innova Crysta borrows none of its elements from its predecessor and has a cabin design similar to the expensive SUVs like Fortuner. The cabin now gets an updated nine-inch touchscreen infotainment system that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. The seats on the higher-spec variants are wrapped in Camel Tan (beige) leather upholstery. Added vehicle connectivity features now include geo-fencing, real-time vehicle tracking and last parked locations.
The Toyota Innova Crsyta is available in 6- and 7-seater configurations and is famed for its comfortable cabin for long distance travel.
Kia Carnival Cabin:
The Carnival can be had either in seven-, eight- and even a nine-seat configuration. Kia offers standup seats in the lower variants which fold upright allowing better ingress, while there’s something called ‘sinking seats’ which have got a clever mechanism that allows them to fold down flat on the floor. Then there are the Limousine’s VIP seats which are available only in the seven-seat configuration with special reclining and sliding adjustments, along with leg extension.
The cabin of the top-spec Limousine variant gets Napa leather upholstery, soft-touch materials on the dashboard and door pads as well. Speaking of practicality, there are many usable storage places present all around the cabin as well including a dual glovebox. Behind the leather-wrapped steering wheel, two analogue dials flank a MID screen. Dominating the dash is an 8-inch touchscreen system which has a user interface similar to what you get in Hyundai vehicles.
Engine
Toyota Innova Crysta Engine:
In terms of powertrain, the Toyota offers the Innova Crysta with the same petrol and diesel engines as before. This means on offer is a 2.7-litre petrol engine that outputs 166 PS and 245 Nm of torque and 2.4-litre diesel that delivers 150 PS and 360 Nm of torque. Both are mated to a 5-speed manual transmission and offer a 6-speed torque converter unit as an option.
Kia Carnival Engine:
Kia offers a single powertrain in the Carnival. This means on offer is a 2.2-litre diesel engine that develops 200 PS and 440 Nm and is offered with an 8-speed automatic gearbox.
Pricing
Toyota Innova Crysta Price:
The Toyota Innova Crysta comes in 18 variants. Price for the entry-level GX 7-seater variant starts at INR 16.27 lakh*. Meanwhile, the top-rung ZX 7-seater variant with automatic transmission goes up to INR 24.34 lakh*.
Kia Carnival Price:
Prices for the Carnival starts at INR 24.95 lakh* for the Premium 7-seater variant, while prices for the most number of seating (9) goes up to INR 29.95 lakh*. The top-rung 7-seater Limousine variant costs INR 33.95 lakh*.
*Ex-showroom prices
