All New Carnival, 2008 Nissan Serena or Mitsubishi Grandis?

[imperialv]

Hi guy

I am planning to dispose my 02 Serena... Which one will you pick?

[papalord]

Hi guy

I am planning to dispose my 02 Serena... Which one will you pick?

got to http://motioncars.com/ and checkout their differences

my vote goes to the Carnival
If you want more seating capacity Go again for Serena

[basti08]

Gasoline? get the Grandis
Diesel? it's the Carnival...

but if i were in the market for a diesel van, i have a hunch that the current Carnival is not yet their top model. they might release a Sedona model which is more luxurious later in the van's life cycle.

[IMm29]

Carnival for me, too. Please check out the New Carnival thread.

[ecport]

I have a 2001 2.9 Liter A/T Carnival and recently purchased a Grandis to replace it. I had a horrible experience with a Kia Carnival and will probably never buy a Korean. I would still bet on a Japanese car when it comes to quality, build, maintenance and ease of use. No doubt the new Carnival has many improvements and will probably improve even more over the years but until such time I will stick to Japanese cars. The Carnival has more space, sliding doors, captain seats, riding comfort is ok too. But the quality of Carnival parts are terrible, break quickly and are expensive (odometer broke after 20K Kms; power steering hose, after 30K; replaced front shock absorbers after 35K, and many more). After 2 years, it felt like I was maintaining a 5 year old car! Tawag ko nga, Carnival of Horrors. The Carnival also has a huge turning radius. Ang baba pa ng resale value.
When you talk to a Kia salesman, they will say "Naayos na po yung mga problema ng dating Carnival". That just goes to show na may mga problema talaga.

I just hit 11K on my 7 month old Grandis, so far, so good. Took it to Banaue and Baguio over the past 2 weeks with 6 of us along with luggage.
The tiptronic feature was really helpful when overtaking. Rear seats are easy to reconfigure (kahit isang kamay lang gamit mo) and since my wife drives it most of the time, she finds it a lot easier to drive than the Carnival. It's also sporty, so ok lang sa mga tatay. Gas consumption for the Grandis is 6 Kms/liter for city driving, and around 10 Kms/liter for long drives. I use Petron unleaded 93 Octane.

False economy ang Korean cars, mura pag bili mo, katay ka sa maintenance ang baba pa ng resale. I guess that sums up my experience.
My comments may be on the extreme but surprisingly a lot of Carnival owners do have similar problems. I have another car, a Cefiro, where I just changed the spark plugs for the first time...after 5 years.

I hope this helps.

[pup2]

I don't think I would've been brave enough to buy a carnival in 2001, either. I've read bad exeriences from buyers of the old carnival myself. But that was 7 years ago. Not only was KIA lacking in experience, they hadn't even been bought by Hyundai yet.

Siyempre, only time will tell how much KIA has improved. Still, improvements are forthcoming, I believe. Kaya I wouldn't count it out yet.

OTH, we've had nightmare stories with Mitsu ourselves -- enough to turn us off AFTER having gone through the wonderful colt mirage and lancer box types.

[papalord]

I guess that sums up my experience.
My comments may be on the extreme but surprisingly a lot of Carnival owners do have similar problems. I have another car, a Cefiro, where I just changed the spark plugs for the first time...after 5 years.

I hope this helps.

Changed the spark plugs for the first time just after 5 years? out of curiousity, what kind of spark plug is that?