Minivans haven’t given way entirely to SUVs, and the latest family movers offer almost all the goodness of a utility vehicle—and they do it with easier access and better comfort.
They do it with an increasingly luxurious spin, too. With the 2023 Honda Odyssey and the 2023 Kia Carnival, drivers and passengers get a swole list of features to go with their eight-seat cabins and strong safety scores.
Both have plenty to recommend to families. Still, one outpoints the other on the TCC Rating scale. It’s not the one built in North America, either. Which minivans tops the sliding-side-door list for us? Here’s how we break it down.
2023 Honda Odyssey
2023 Honda Odyssey
2023 Honda Odyssey
2023 Honda Odyssey
Kia Carnival vs. Honda Odyssey prices, features, and trims
Honda offers more trim levels, but higher prices
The Carnival LX scores on value
Our picks: Kia Carnival LX, Honda Odyssey EX
Both the Carnival and the Odyssey have risen into the $30,000 range, but the Kia’s an astonishing value, in comparison. The Carnival starts with a base price below $35,000—and that includes power sliding side doors, a seven-seat configuration, and an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Another seat for the second row costs $2,000 and brings with it synthetic leather upholstery and heated front seats.
Which Kia Carnival should I buy?
We’d still take the Carnival EX instead. For about $40,000 it has a bigger 12.3-inch touchscreen—which requires a cable to plug into CarPlay and Android Auto—as well as wireless smartphone charging, a power tailgate, 19-inch wheels, and a power driver seat. Fully loaded, a Carnival SX Prestige costs less than $50,000 and gets leather upholstery, 12-speaker Bose sound, a digital gauge cluster, blind-spot cameras, and a surround-view camera system.
Which Honda Odyssey should I buy?
Honda doesn’t sell a cheap Odyssey LX anymore, so the least expensive EX costs about $40,000. It comes with power side doors, heated front seats, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and remote start.
We’d pick the Odyssey Sport. For about $43,000 it gets leather upholstery, a power tailgate, a power driver seat, and 19-inch wheels. Spend more than $50,000 and the Odyssey Elite gets a heated steering wheel, heated and cooled front seats, parking sensors, a rear-seat entertainment system with a third-row camera for keeping an eye on those passengers, and wireless smartphone charging.
Advantage: The Carnival’s a deal.
2023 Kia Carnival
2023 Kia Carnival
2023 Kia Carnival
2023 Kia Carnival
Carnival vs. Odyssey safety
Both have standard automatic emergency braking
Surround-view camera systems can be equipped on either
Both score top crash-test ratings
Both the Carnival and the Odyssey have standard automatic emergency braking, but the Carnival also gets standard blind-spot monitors and active lane control, as well as options for a surround-view camera system and blind-spot cameras.
How safe is the Kia Carnival?
No crash-test results are available from the NHTSA, but the Carnival earns a Top Safety Pick from the IIHS, so long as it’s fitted with the SX Prestige’s LED projector headlights. Other versions get “Poor” headlights but maintain excellent crash-test scores.
Every Carnival comes with low-speed automatic emergency braking, active lane control, blind-spot monitors, reverse parking sensors, and a driver-attention monitor. Top versions add on adaptive cruise control, high-speed automatic emergency braking, a surround-view camera system, front parking sensors, and blind-spot cameras.
How safe is the Honda Odyssey?
The Odyssey gets the NHTSA’s five-star nod, and its IIHS award comes with a Top Safety Pick+ designation—stronger headlights across the board do the trick.
All models have automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitors, active lane control, automatic high beams, adaptive cruise control, and a rear seat reminder. Touring and Elite editions also get the Cabin Watch camera that monitors third-row passengers.
Advantage: The Odyssey redlines the safety-ometer.
2023 Honda Odyssey Sport
Honda Odyssey vs. Kia Carnival interior and cargo space
Neither has fold-flat second-row seating
Walk-through or slide-up?
Both have vast interior space with up to eight seats
The minivan’s ultimate flex is flexibility, and both the Kia Carnival and Honda Odyssey can lay claim to limber limbs and double joints. Both can seat up to eight passengers—with some notes.
The ultimate in flexibility in this class is, of course, the Chrysler Pacifica. It has fold-away second- and third-row seats in non-hybrid models.
How comfortable is the Kia Carnival?
The Carnival can’t do that, but it can provide a high level of comfort for all its cargo. The front seats have plenty of support and adjustment, so long as you opt for middle or higher-level trims. Storage abounds, in the door pockets and in the console.
Most Carnivals come with a second-row bench seat witha sliding middle seat that folds down to serve as a console, or stays up to grant it eight-passenger seating. These seats can be removed but don’t fold into the floor. The SX Prestige offers dual airline-style seats with footrests that sound luxurious, but don’t really have the space needed to stretch out; anyone over about 5 feet tall won’t find the footrests useful. In the fold-away third row, there’s space for large passengers, but it’s not as easy to get to that space, given the Carnival’s second-row accommodations.
Cargo space tallies up to 145.1 cubic feet with folded-away third-row and folded-down second-row seats; it’s 40.2 cubic feet with all seats in use. That’s good enough for hardware store visits or long road trips with lots of luggage.
How comfortable is the Honda Odyssey?
The Odyssey also doesn’t offer the Pacifica’s party trick, but we like its flexibility solution better.
In front, the Honda minivan gets wonderfully supportive bucket seats, with power adjustment for the driver. They’re covered in cloth or leather, and swarmed with small-item storage. No notes here.
Honda makes slightly better use of space in the Odyssey, with bins in the doors, consoles, side panels, seat backs, and under the floor.
The second row is where things get interesting. Choose your chair: Honda has a bench seat with a middle section that can be removed, which allows the outer seats to slide sideways and latch into a narrower configuration that enables better access to the third row. It’s clever, it’s distinctive; ultimately it’s just not as useful as it seems.
Honda’s third-row seat folds flat into the floor, and access to that row is easier since the middle seats slide farther out the way.
The Odyssey sports about 33 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third row, and 144.9 cubic feet behind the front passengers. We think Honda’s fit and finish comes off a bit nicer, too: the Carnival’s awash in glossy black plastic that doesn’t live scratch-free for long, even in the most careful hands. (Hint: children are not careful creatures, by and large.)
Advantage: Odyssey.
2023 Kia Carnival
Kia Carnival vs. Honda Odyssey powertrains and performance
Want to stay awake behind the wheel of your minivan? Pick the Honda Odyssey, which has the road manners of a smaller, more entertaining vehicle. Coupled with the punch of its V-6, it’s a clear winner here versus the fine but forgettable performance of the Carnival.
How fast is the Kia Carnival?
It’s about average, thanks to a 290-hp V-6 that couples to a smooth-shifting 8-speed automatic. Passing on the highway won’t cause you to pause, but nothing about its acceleration will surprise unwitting drivers, either.
Is the Kia Carnival AWD?
It isn’t, unlike the Pacifica or the Toyota Sienna. It stakes its performance claims primarily on a road-soaking ride that uses front struts and a multi-link rear suspension to stifle any dissent that tries to sneak in through the tires. Numb steering amplifies its inoffensive, practical tuning. It’s just relentlessly minivan in the way it ignores bad roads—and good ones.
How fast is the Honda Odyssey?
It’s less powerful than the Carnival but appeals to the senses more strongly. In part, it’s because the Odyssey’s 10-speed automatic has smarter off-the-line reflexes, while its 280-hp V-6 pushes out enough torque to dissolve knots in traffic. The 10-speed gets busy choosing the right gear on occasion, though.
Is the Honda Odyssey 4WD?
It’s not, so if you live where it snows, keep in mind a good set of snow tires and a front-drive car can go further than a 4WD vehicle with a big ego behind the wheel.
Like the Carnival, the Odyssey has front struts and a multi-link rear suspension that put the bias on ride comfort, not handling. Honda coaxes more feedback from its setup than Kia; the Odyssey’s steering tracks well enough on the highway, though it’s light and doesn’t have much centering weight. The Odyssey doesn’t completely relax its suspension, though, in coping with bumps: it generates plenty of lean in corners, but doesn’t let pavement seams ripple through its suspension for long.
Advantage: The Odyssey.
2023 Honda Odyssey
Odyssey vs. Carnival gas mileage
The Odyssey gets 22 mpg combined
The Carnival gets 22 mpg combined
Neither offers a hybrid edition
Is the Kia Carnival good on gas?
It’s adequate. The EPA rates it at 19 mpg city, 26 highway, 22 combined, which parallels other non-hybrid minivans but falls behind the brand’s own Telluride SUV, which peaks at 23 mpg combined.
Is the Honda Odyssey good on gas?
Good, in that it doesn’t fall behind the Carnival. Though it has more transmission gears, the Odyssey doesn’t put them to use for fuel-economy superiority: it’s EPA-rated at 19 mpg city, 28 highway, 22 combined. A little better on the highway, probably, but your mileage will vary.
Advantage: The Odyssey, by a single spec-sheet figure.
2023 Kia Carnival
Honda Odyssey vs. Kia Carnival warranty
The Carnival has a strong 5-year/60,000-mile warranty, and that expands to 10-year/100,000-mile coverage for the drivetrain. Honda covers its minivan with a basic 3-year/36,000-mile warranty but throws in 2 years/24,000 miles of included maintenance.
Advantage: The Carnival, but free service blurs the line.
2023 Kia Carnival
Kia Carnival vs. Honda Odyssey: Which one is the better minivan?
Honda scores top marks for safety and utility with the Odyssey, but fuel economy and flexibility don’t top the minivan ranks. It earns a TCC Rating of 6.2 out of 10. (Read more about how we rate cars.) The Carnival beats it handily in features and value, and does it while looking more stylish, in our opinion. The Carnival earns a TCC Rating of 7.0 out of 10. (Read more about how we rate cars.) The bottom line? We’d still rather drive the Odyssey, but we’d rather live with the Carnival.
