Ever wondered why Kia is trying to come up with a new term for people movers? It’s because, in consumer studies, the feedback from buyers is that people movers aren’t cool.

According to market research conducted by car companies, dads don’t want to turn up to a hardware store in a people mover, and mums apparently aren’t flattered by doing the school run or weekend sport drop-offs in a family bus.

A box-shaped vehicle with sliding doors apparently sends a message to the neighbours that you’ve been given a life sentence of family chores.

Mum and dad would rather rock up in an SUV or a double-cab ute because – according to market research – such vehicles say to the outside world ‘I can escape this mess if I want to’. Even though they’re in the same traffic jam as you.

Not sure what this says about me, but I reckon the prejudice against people movers is unfair.

Putting image to one side, they’re much roomier and more practical than their SUV or double-cab ute counterparts, and are less cumbersome to drive than heavy-duty four-wheel-drives.

In an attempt to give the humble people mover a makeover, Kia has adorned the latest-generation Carnival with a daring design for this all-new model. Hence the abstract lighting signatures front and rear, faux diamond-pattern business-class panels on the rear roof pillars, and a choice of unconventional grilles.

To test the SUV pretensions, we took our 2021 Kia Carnival long-term test car on a country road trip to see if it does most of what an SUV can do.

The destination: Inverell in northern NSW. Located a couple of hours drive inland from the coast – or about five hours drive south-west of Brisbane – Inverell is off the main highways.

When coming from Sydney, there are numerous backroads after Tamworth or Armidale (depending on your original route). Most of the short cuts are dirt roads, but if the Kia Carnival is supposed to bridge the gap between people movers and SUVs, a bit of dust shouldn’t hurt it.

The only thing I was worried about were the road-biased tyres – rather than all-terrain tyres typically found on utes and 4WDs – and the lack of a full-size spare tyre. A skinny space-saver spare tyre is tucked under the sliding door on the driver’s side of the car. Should I need it, it’s dusty and tricky to access – and wouldn’t be ideal when driving back to civilisation on dirt or bitumen.

Nevertheless, given the sales pitch, the Kia Carnival should be able to handle a typical Aussie dirty road with relative ease. After all, the Carnival shares much of its underpinnings with the Kia Sorento SUV.

One big difference: the Kia Carnival is front-wheel-drive only, whether powered by a V6 petrol or 2.2-litre turbo diesel four-cylinder engine (our long-termer is the diesel).

There’s another difference: the same diesel engine in the Kia Sorento is backed by all-wheel-drive paired with an eight-speed twin-clutch transmission, whereas the new Kia Carnival has a conventional eight-speed torque converter automatic.

I much prefer the Kia Carnival’s smoother and more intuitive conventional eight-speed auto versus a twin-clutch transmission, especially in such a large vehicle.

It’s well matched to the engine, there’s no hesitation in slow-moving stop-start traffic, and it can take the angst out of difficult low-speed manoeuvres and three-point turns.

Loaded with people, cargo, and cookies, the Kia Carnival delivered exceptional fuel economy.

Despite following the ups and downs of the Great Dividing Range for much of the way from metro Sydney – between 250m and 1330m above sea level – the Kia Carnival returned average fuel consumption of between 6.6L and 7.6L/100km, providing a remarkable maximum driving range of more than 1000km on a single 72-litre tank when using fuel at its most efficient rate.

Dislikes? The rear suspension ran out of travel and thumped a few times after encountering some deep ruts on dirt roads. The front tyres scrambled when accelerating on dirt from low speed. The rear-view camera was fuzzy at night, even after wiping thick dust from the lens.

And I wish individual tyre pressure monitors – standard on certain Hyundai and Kia cars – were standard on the Kia Carnival to add peace of mind. On long drives, it’s helpful to be able to check the air pressure in all four tyres at the press of a button and without having to stop the car.

The charcoal-painted alloy wheels aren’t for me (I don’t think they suddenly transform the Carnival into a sports car), but others in the office find them appealing.

Likes? The acres of space for people and cargo cannot be understated. The cabin width provides ample elbow room. The storage space in the consoles and door pockets are cavernous. And the cabin has an upmarket feel.

To drive, it’s relatively quiet and refined, and sits relatively flat and composed in corners (even though the suspension can run out of travel and thump on big bumps). It’s a surprisingly comfortable and capable open-road cruiser.

I also appreciated other details that are often overlooked, such as the standard fitment of extendable sun visors (to block side glare), the epic low- and high-beam LED lights (no need for extra high beam lights for country roads on this car), and the extra central locking switch for the front-seat passenger (so your driving partner can lock the door when the driver exits quickly to check the mail or grab the take-away food).

Wish list? Speed sign recognition would be nice to have (Hyundai and Kia are slow to adopt this tech). A full-size spare tyre and the option of all-wheel drive would be welcome if Kia could package it. And I would love a favourites button on the dash or steering wheel to quickly dull or mute lane-keeping assistance, which is overly enthusiastic and tricky to disable when on the move.

Overall, though, the Kia Carnival is one of the most car-like people movers to date and a step up for the class. I’m just not sure Kia’s attempt to come up with a new name for the category will take off.

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