Nothing, except the following poor fitting:
1. The gear shifting gives a very loud metal clattering sound around 2500rpm.
2. Engine noise is too audible for comfort when going over 2500rpm.
3. Removing the back row seats required machinery to remove the screws.
4. The air-conditioning started to give audible noise after 1.5 months of use.
It is the cheapest mini-MPV available in Singapore and I suggest people who are looking for their first MPV should consider the Kia Carens. Although the price is cheap, nothing is cheap on its finishing and performance.
The thing I like best about the car is its road performance on cornering and lane switching at high speed. It beats the 2 other mini-MPVs i.e. Zafira and Premacy, I have tried.
I like everything with the car except the fuel consumption which is exceptionally high. The mileage is currently at 3500km and I get a average of 7-8km/l. This is considerably low when compared to the report of 10.6km/l for city driving, 11.8km/l for combined and 13.6km/l on highway. I wonder what are the parameters based on in compiling such report? I would like to find out from other owner's comments on the fuel consumption.
Melvin.
My Carens about 1.5 months old and I've been monitoring the fuel consumption since the day I got it. I'm averaging about 8.5 km/l in a mixture of urban and highway driving. Considering that I was getting about 10 km/l in my previous car, I think the consumption is quite reasonable. Anyways, you can never get those test results - I understand they inflate the tires very hard and they do very controlled driving (very un-normal driving). Anyway, I love the roadholding of the Carens during highway driving. Simply superb. If more people know about this, the Carens going to get more popular.
My Carens is 6 months old with a mileage of about 8000 km with an automatic transmission. I noted that the fuel consumption is ranging from 8 to 9 km/L in urban and highway. Generally, the car is a comfort to drive. However, I notice occasionally a whistling noise and I found out that if I turn off the AC, the noise is gone. But it is difficult to know when the noise will be appeared and I do not know the cause of this noise. Anybody had a similar experience and know how to fix it?
Tjandra.
Yes, I do find the Carens easy to handle and it has very good road holding. Fuel economy is around 8 km/l for the auto.
The noise in the air-con and transmission box is due to poor quality. I got it fixed, but it is back within a few days. Anyway, there is 3 years warranty.
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