Category: Compact MPV 
Price Range: £11,495 to £16,495
Useful space with five or seven seats, good ride quality, strong diesel engine, improved quality.
Weak petrol engine, plastics could be better, lifeless steering.
Practical and sensible family transport; no more, no less.
Most of the crucial figures won't be available until closer to the Carens' on-sale date, but you don't have to be a wild optimist to predict that it will not be an expensive car to fuel, service, tax, insure and repair. There's more of a question mark over how much you'll get for it when you come to sell it in a couple of years; here, Kia's lack of image may prove unhelpful. That said, even the market leaders lose a lot of their value and can soon look very shabby, betraying the signs of the hard life that most of them endure.
The Carens comes with a three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, and three years' free roadside assistance.
