Highlights: –
- The Kia Carens is the most affordable 7-seater diesel car in India that one can buy today. It comes with both manual and automatic transmission options.
- Prices are introductory and will be revised in near future.
- Available with three engine options: 1.5-litre petrol and diesel, and 1.4-litre turbo-petrol.
Kia India has surprised us all by launching the Carens 6/7-seater MPV at an aggressive price range of Rs 8.99 lakh to Rs 16.99 lakh (introductory, ex-showroom), undercutting all its competitors by a huge margin. In fact, it’s quite close to India’s largest selling 7-seater MPV, the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. So, here we have compared the variant-wise prices of the Kia Carens against its direct and indirect rivals to see how does it fare against them: –
Note: Since all the cars here come in 6/7-seater or both configurations, we have compared only 7-seater variants of Mahindra XUV700.
Petrol Variants: –
| Kia Carens | Maruti Ertiga (7-seater only) | Maruti XL6 (6-seater only) | Mahindra XUV700 | Hyundai Alcazar | MG Hector Plus |
| – | LXI – 8.12 lakh | – | – | – | |
| Premium 1.5 – Rs 8.99 lakh | VXI – 8.92 lakh | – | – | – | |
| Prestige 1.5 – Rs 9.99 lakh | ZXI – Rs 9.65 lakh | – | – | – | |
| – | VXI AT – 10.12 lakh | Zeta – 10.13 lakh | – | – | |
| – | ZXI+ – Rs 10.13 lakh | – | – | – | |
| Premium – Rs 10.99 lakh | ZXI AT – Rs 10.85 lakh | Alpha – Rs 10.81 lakh | – | – | |
| – | – | – | – | – | |
| Prestige – Rs 11.99 lakh | – | Zeta AT – 11.33 lakh | – | – | |
| – | – | Alpha AT – 12.03 lakh | – | – | |
| Prestige Plus – Rs 13.49 | – | – | – | – | |
| Prestige Plus DCT 1.4 – Rs 14.59 lakh | – | – | – | – | |
| Luxury (6/7 str) – Rs 14.99 lakh | – | – | – | ||
| Luxury Plus (6/7 str) – Rs 16.19 lakh | – | – | AX5 (7-str) – Rs 16.67 lakh | Prestige – Rs 16.34 lakh | Super Hybrid 7 Str – Rs 15.95 lakh |
| Luxury Plus DCT (6/7 str) – Rs 16.99 lakh | – | – | – | – | |
| – | – | – | AX7 (7-str) – Rs 17.99 lakh | Platinum – Rs 18.29 lakh | Smart AT/CVT – Rs 18.44 lakh |
| – | – | – | – | Signature (6-str) – Rs 18.73 lakh | Sharp Hybrid – Rs 18.99 lakh |
| – | – | – | AX7 AT (7-str) – Rs 19.58 lakh | Platinum AT (6/7-str) – Rs 19.55 lakh | Sharp AT/CVT – Rs 19.99 lakh |
| – | – | – | – | Signature AT (6/7-str) – Rs 19.84 lakh | – |
| – | – | – | AX7 AT with Luxury pack (7-str) – Rs 21.29 lakh | – | – |
- Kia Carens undercuts all its direct competitors by a significant margin. In fact, it is just Rs 87,000 more expensive than the base-spec Maruti Ertiga and Rs 1.14 lakh more affordable than the entry-level XL6, and a full Rs 7.68 lakh than the AX5 7-seater variant of the Mahindra XUV700.
- Even it’s top-end turbocharged petrol-DCT variant is also better priced than all its rivals.
- The entry-level variant of the Alcazar is apparently the costliest of the lot as it’s better equipped than most of its rivals.
- The aggressive pricing of Kia Carens is no doubt helped by the 115PS 1.5-litre petrol engine which is the second least powerful here after the Ertiga/XL6’s 105PS 1.5-litre mill.
- Kia Carens is the only car here that offers 6-airbags, ESC, hill hold assist, TPMS, all-wheel disc brakes as part of the standard safety kit.
Also Read: Kia Carens Vs Hyundai Alcazar: Key Difference
Diesel Variants: –
| Kia Carens | Mahindra XUV700 | MG Hector Plus | Tata Safari | Hyundai Alcazar |
| Premium – Rs 10.99 lakh | – | – | – | – |
| Prestige – Rs 11.99 lakh | – | – | – | – |
| Prestige Plus – Rs 13.49 lakh | – | – | – | – |
| Luxury (6/7 seat) – Rs 14.99 lakh | – | XE – Rs 14.99 lakh | – | |
| Luxury Plus (6/7 seat) – Rs 16.19 lakh | AX3 – Rs 16.26 lakh | Style – Rs 15.94 lakh | – | – |
| – | AX5 – Rs 17.29 lakh | Super – Rs 16.99 lakh | XM – Rs 16.53 lakh | Prestige (6/7-str) – Rs 16.75 lakh |
| Luxury Plus (6/7 seat) AT – Rs 16.99 lakh | – | – | – | – |
| – | – | – | XMA – Rs 17.83 lakh | – |
| – | – | – | XT – Rs 18.05 lakh | Prestige AT – Rs 18.22 lakh |
| – | AX5 AT – Rs 18.94 lakh | Smart – Rs 18.99 lakh lakh / Rs 19.09 lakh (6-str) | XT Plus – Rs 18.85 lakh | Platinum – Rs 18.66 lakh |
| – | AX7 – Rs 19.25 lakh | Select – Rs 19.89 lakh | XT Plus Dark – Rs 19.05 lakh | Signature – Rs 19.14 lakh |
| – | AX7 AT – Rs 20.91 lakh | Sharp (6-str) – Rs 20.49 lakh | XZ – Rs 19.80 lakh | Platinum AT (6/7-str) – Rs 19.78 lakh |
| – | – | XTA Plus – Rs 20.15 lakh | Signature AT (6/7-str) – Rs 19.99 lakh | |
| – | – | – | XTA Plus Dark – Rs 20.35 lakh | – |
| – | – | – | XZ Plus (6/7-str) – Rs 20.64 lakh | – |
| – | – | XZ Plus Adventure (6/7-str) – Rs 20.85 lakh | ||
| – | AX7 AT AWD – Rs 22.25 lakh | – | XZA AT / XZ Plus Dark – Rs 21.10 lakh | – |
| – | – | – | XZ Plus Dark (6-str) – Rs 21.21 lakh | |
| – | – | – | XZA Plus Dark – Rs 21.41 lakh / Rs 21.51 lakh (6-str) | |
| – | – | XZ Plus Gold – Rs 21.89 lakh | ||
| – | – | – | XZA Plus (6/7-str) – Rs 21.94 lakh | – |
| – | – | – | XZ Plus Gold (6-str) – Rs 21.99 lakh | – |
| – | AX7 AT with Luxury Pack – Rs 22.66 lakh | – | XZA Plus Adventure Edition (6/7-str) – Rs 22.15 lakh | – |
| – | AX7 AT AWD with Luxury Pack – Rs 23.80 lakh | – | XZA Plus Gold – Rs 23.19 lakh / Rs 23.29 lakh (6-str) | – |
- The Kia Carens is the most affordable 7-seater diesel car in India that one can buy today.
- Its entry-level Premium variant undercuts the Safari’s XE trim (second most affordable diesel trim here) by Rs 4 lakh.
- Interestingly, its fully-loaded Luxury Plus automatic trim is also the most affordable of the lot, undercutting the mid-spec manual variants of its rivals by huge margins.
- The Carens get the same 115PS/250Nm 1.5-litre petrol engine as the Hyundai Alcazar, which is the least mill here, followed by Safari and Hector Plus’ 170PS/350Nm 2.0-litre unit.
- The XUV700’s 2.2-litre turbo engine produces up to 185PS and up to 450Nm. Interestingly, it is the only car in the segment to offer the choice of an AWD powertrain.
Kia Carens Video Review: –
New Kia Carens Diesel and Petrol Drive Impressions | Gagan Choudhary
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