Registering a big victory for the Kia at the carandbike Awards 2023 is the Kia Carens, which has been adjudged the Family Car of the Year. Launched in 2022 at a shockingly low starting price of Rs 8.99 lakh (ex-showroom), the Carens made an instant impact for Kia India, with over 50,000 orders being placed for the MPV within a month of its market introduction. Since then, the Carens has established itself as one of Kia’s most popular models, and the Korean carmaker has delivered around 80,000 units of the Carens till date.
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In the jury’s evaluation, the Carens fended off fierce competition for the award, and only narrowly edged out the Mercedes-Benz GLB and Toyota Innova Hycross. The jurors rated the Carens highest on the value for money front, and also gave due weightage to the Carens’ significance in the segment it operates in. After all, the Carens – based on the same platform that underpins the Kia Seltos and available in six- and seven-seat forms – has proven to be a fresh alternative to existing, established MPVs, and also bridged the yawning gap that existed between two of India’s most popular MPVs – the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and the Toyota Innova Crysta.
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The Carens, in true Kia fashion, offers buyers a plethora of powertrains to choose from. The MPV is available with a 1.5-litre, naturally-aspirated petrol engine, a 1.5-litre diesel engine, as well as the newly-introduced 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine that puts out an impressive 158 bhp and 253 Nm of torque. Kia also offers a choice of an intelligent manual transmission (iMT) as well as automatic transmissions for the turbo-petrol (7-speed dual-clutch transmission) and diesel (6-speed torque convertor) versions of the MPV.
Standard safety equipment on the Kia Carens includes six airbags, electronic stability control, hill start assist, vehicle stability management, all-wheel disc brakes, tyre pressure monitoring, three-point seat belts for all passengers and ISOFIX child seat anchors.
Prices for the Kia Carens presently start at Rs 10.45 lakh and top out at Rs 18.45 lakh (ex-showroom).
