A trip of 1000km is a very long way between toilet stops. But that’s the bladder-bursting challenge being thrown to Aussie six-year-olds by this latest model, recently launched in Australia, by ambitious Korean car maker Kia. Meet the Kia Carnival hybrid GT Line. The car that lets you travel from Brisbane to Sydney and beyond, all without a visit to the service station. (Okay, you might need to make the occasional comfort stop, but you get the idea). Kia was criticised a year or more ago for trying to develop a new vehicle category - grandiosely called the grand utility vehicle, with glossy ads trying to make the eight-seater somehow more racy than it was. Now it is repeating the dose, but this time with a campaign built about the car’s true virtues - a massive machine with a modest thirst. The Carnival seems to spread out in every direction, the omnipresent, gargantuan people mover, whether you be looking from the slightly external design to the yawning inside profile. It makes you wonder what Kia’s advertising agency was thinking when it unveiled those latest images of the big Korean while speeding around a banked-curve racing circuit - not exactly the natural habitat of the eight-seat, people mover. So who’s buying this big delivery van? It offers massive interior space - two adults in the front, three children in the second-row seats and possibly somewhere that might give nanna and pops a say in things. The key is the Carnival’s new engine - a seemingly puny 1.6-litre, turbocharged unit, complemented by a mild hybrid system that gives the big wagon ample performance with hatchback-like thirst. And it seems this new hybrid Caravan is beginning to cannibalise the market - where the Kia EV9 (an all-electric SUV) holds sway. But this change also seems to reflect a change in the new vehicle market. Sales of pure EVs seem to be waning, slowing at similar rates to combustion-engine vehicles. So what’s the vehicle filling all of those empty carports and garages? Hybrids. A technology that’s more than 20 years down the track but which suddenly has arrived to serve as the alternative to … well, everything. There’s still a strong and growing interest in the zero emissions segment. It’s just different. And it is being driven by the biggest market for hybrids ever seen. It’s won over some EV buyers who have had a taste of the electric-driving phenomenon and decided that, for the moment at least, a hybrid better fits their family’s wants and needs. More likely is that drivers of conventional petrol or diesel vehicles have done their numbers and decided a hybrid requires less of a commitment. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales continue to accelerate despite the downturn and large vehicles remain the most popular models for consumers. Recent figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show motorists bought 97,020 new vehicles in September, a 12.4 per cent fall from the same month in 2023. But people bought more than 13,500 hybrid vehicles in the same month - a 34.4 per cent rise compared to the same period in 2023 - and more than 2400 plug-in hybrid cars, representing a rise of 89.9 per cent. A hybrid vehicle, the Toyota RAV4, also claimed the title of Australia's best-selling vehicle for September. So, what about this shape-shifting Carnival “GUV”. Well, it’s surprisingly good.

Inside it’s plush but practical. Leather everywhere and a thumping BOSE delivering the tunes. While it’s a handful to park, the Caravan offers sliding doors to the three second-row passengers and that middle row slides forward to make third-row access a breeze. Even with two of its three rows in use, the Kia develops almost 3000 litres of cargo space. It’s not particularly cheap - almost $81,000 on the road is about $6000 less than the diesel and V6 petrol variants still available. Dual sunroofs, heated and ventilated seats and a massive, curving control screen comprising two, side-by-side 12.3-inch screens. The drivetrain is impressive - over the 700km road test the Kia sipped just 5.8L/100km. That’s if you can find a bathroom on the way. KIA CARNIVAL HYBRID GT LINE HOW BIG: Planet like (well, it’s got Pluto covered). There’s sufficient space to carry two average families, or half a dozen golfers, plus all of their gear. HOW FAST? Despite the slightly over-stated advertisement, the big machine is competent but hardly a speed machine. The additional thrust provided by the hybrid petrol-electric unit adds up to almost 20 addition kilowatts on the stats sheet which makes this surprisingly competent all-rounder. HOW THIRSTY: A nine-day extended test test left just morwe than 340km of range showing on the trip computer, with 730km already covered. That’s pretty impressive for such a thunderous big thing. HOW MUCH? At almost $81,000 on the road, the hybrid capability and impressive tech and luxury items on this flagship model - the GT Line - make this strong buying.