Kia Carens Clavis | Most Accessible 7-seater EV | First Drive | PowerDrift |
[Music] Big usually means expensive, right? But then this showed up and said, “Nah, bro. I’m built differently.” The Kia Car in Clavis, a car we drove a couple of months ago and confirmed to you that an all-electric derivative is in the works and today we have it. This is the Kia Carin Clavis EV, India’s most accessible 7seater EV. And should this be your one next car to do it all? Time to find out. The Kia Karins Clavvis was a facelift of sorts given to the Karens a couple of months ago. Kia had confirmed an all version of the Clavis back then and today that is what we have. as they love you ain’t tough in love. So, what’s new? The wheels, they’re all new. And then you have the blank of grill design like most EV counterparts. The charging port is housed in the nose. And the bumper has active bits that open and shut to make it more aerofriendly. Kia has taken a conventional approach of making it look identical as possible to its IC sibling and that is great. The Clavis was introduced recently and I’ve definitely liked the way it looks. A long light bar at the front with redesigned headlamps, a long light bar at the back as well, and a few new curves in lines. But the larger change lies underneath all of this bodywork. [Music] two battery pack options, a 42 kWh battery pack with 404 km of range and a 51.2 kWh battery pack with 490 km of ARI certified range. A single motor setup at the front with two states of tune, 134 horses for the low spec battery and 171 horses for the higher spec battery. Doesn’t all of this sound very similar to an EV that also comes out of Korea but only seats five? Rock of age. [Music] What’s changed? More range as compared to the Creta thanks to the updated battery management system. More ground clearance as compared to its IC sibling. While the Creta gets two states of tune for the motor like the Clavus EV, the torque varies on the Creta, but not on the Clavus EV. How does it feel like when you’re on the move? Awesome. Today, we’re driving the 171 horsepower flagship variant of the Claus EV, and this is impressive. No lag is a given when it comes to EVs, but the ease with which this car picks up speed is impressive. Also, 0 to 10 in 8.5 seconds. Let me give you reference to context. Of course, this is not supercar levels of acceleration, but a Harrier. EV does 0 to 100 in 6.3 seconds approximately has two electric motors and about 300 horsepower and 500 new m of torque. This is half of that. Next up is battery. The 42 kW battery pack as I said earlier gives you about 404 km of range while this the larger battery pack which is 51.2 2 kW hour gives you 490 km of MIDC or ARI certified range. Today we’ve been driving around for about 50 km and we got the car at 95% charged and 445 km on the odo. And by the way, I’ve been driving around in sport mode all throughout because that throttle pedal. I’ll tell you about it in a second. But with all of that, also with my heavy throttle foot, I still have 392 km on the distance to empty meter, which actually is pretty damn nice. Also, this car gets three driving modes, eco, normal, and sport. Eco is where the throttle sensitivity is at its laziest. That’s of course to maximize range and reduce the amount of peak power it hits. Normal is to keep your throttle sensitivity slightly above economy as the name suggests and sport is where the throttle p is the most sensitive and that’s my favorite mode and that’s what I’ve been driving around in all morning and even with all of that we’re seeing a range drop of what 392 km is where we are. So we’re looking at a little above 50 km of range drop even with peak acceleration hitting multiple times throughout my testing runs which is great. Of course, we are just giving you approximate numbers today because we’re not really doing a range test. We will do it when we get the car for a longer period back at the HQ. Last thing I want to talk about is the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel. They are for regen modes. You have four regen modes. One being the least intrusive and four being the strongest. I would strongly recommend leaving it in regen mode two on the highways because that’s the best balance or rather the best of both worlds. But if you’re in stop and go traffic in the city, regen mode 4 works best because the car can actually come to a standstill and you can do literally single pedal driving, which is great. [Music] And then there’s the ride. If you’ve seen my video on the IC Clavvis, you’d know that it was a step up from the current. If you haven’t, go check it out. But with the added weight of the EV powertrain, the Clavvis rides stiff. Highway stability is awesome and there’s no unsettling feeling at tripledigit speeds. But the Kia Thud that I had mentioned is back. But there was a time when aspects like drivability and stability were paramount to a purchase decision. Stand up. Be the voice of the voiceless. To add to all of these parameters of a buying decision today, safety is another paramount which has been added on and is extremely crucial and Kia has definitely given the Clavus EV a step up from its IC sibling. The Clavus EV now gets ADAS right from the variant above base to the flagship, which is a great decision. Of course, you might debate that ADAS doesn’t really work well in India, but remember, it’s always great to have addedon safety when you’re on the road. Like I say, adaptive cruise control works really well, and that’s the most used feature according to me, but you have all of the other features that you can enable and disable to your convenience, which is also a great decision. On the inside, the Clavus EV is almost identical to its IC sibling with all of the displays, everything remaining the same. And since we’ve covered the paramount aspects of your buying decision, let’s move into the place you’d spend most of your time. The only large difference is the deletion of the transmission tunnel, which adds up for a lot of room and space for storage. So, you have a storage space right under the island situation that’s going on here. You have cup holders. The armrest holder also is identical. But this definitely adds into a lot of space for storage. [Music] But on the inside, there is a big bummer. The Clarvis EV is only available with seven seats. That means a bench at the back and no captain seats. Why? Upon asking Kia, the answer was that of course if there is demand, they will meet it and they will only need 6 months to get out captain seated versions. But their current client base predominantly demands for seven seats. That’s to fill maximum amount of people in a car like this. But to me, it is sort of a bummer because I would honestly feel as my family, I would want captain seats in the back for everyone to sit comfortably and enjoy a road trip because cars like these are meant to munch miles in. Of course, with the Clavus EV, you might not be able to do super long distances, but the stints that you can do to have captain seats at the back, to have six people in the car, a lot of room for storage and convenience, that is great. [Applause] celebration. The interior remains identical to the Clavvis. A panoramic display up front, touch-based AC controls, not a big fan of it. A new steering wheel and updated upholstery. The base variant gets a darker color palette, while the ones above it, like this one, all of this gets beige and blue. But there’s a problem. And the problem, you only get seat ventilation in the flagship variant. And that is definitely a big bummer since Kia is offering so much tech in so much equipment right from the base variant. That should have been a no-brainer. And then there’s the wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. While I understand it’s a fairly simple fix with a tiny module that you get off Amazon or Flipkart, why not fix this from the factory? Moving on. for the second row. Since this has a flat floor or a deleted transmission tunnel, squeezing three people in in the second row is going to be an absolute breeze. However, since the battery is housed in the floor, your knees now slightly sit higher up than what they usually would be and I sitting at 6’1 in tall, I have less under thigh support, and that is definitely a bummer over long distances. But apart from that, the cabin is fairly familiar. If you haven’t seen my IC review of the Clavvis, please go and check it out. The YouTube video will be somewhere here in that I button because apart from that, everything else stays the same. The leg room stays the same. This air purifier stays the same, which I have already shown my displeasure towards that is still here. But the third row as well, all of which is identical to the Clavvis. And to add to all of this, you have a giant panoramic sunroof, which definitely opens up the cabin a lot more to make it feel a lot roomier. And then there’s the third row, best suited for kids for most cars. However, thanks to the giant sunroof, this cabin opens up really well. And then you can squeeze in a 5 1/2 ft adult in the back seat for short stints if required. [Applause] [Music] The Clavis EV surely makes a strong case for itself democratizing the electric MTV segment for India. And while the quality of materials is great, sound insulation is good and comfort is decent, there are a few drawbacks. Drawbacks in the form of a stiff ride situation and a lack of a six seat variant all throughout the lineup. But what you do get is decent range and a dash right from the variant above base to the flagship which is a superb call. So should the Clavvis EV be your one car to do it all? It’s great to see EVs evolve to where they have today. And while Kia has taken its time to give us a great product, the infrastructure to back cars like these is still developing. And hence I say cars like the Clavia CV are great city commuters. But anything beyond that, you might just have to wait a little longer.
The Carens Clavis arrived on Indian shores just a few months ago, positioned as a more premium iteration of the standard Carens MPV. At the time, Kia hinted at an all-electric variant being in development, and today, we’ve had the opportunity to drive it. Visually, the Clavis EV remains largely faithful to its ICE counterpart, but under the skin lies an all-electric powertrain. It features a front-mounted motor available in two distinct states of tune, complemented by two battery pack options, offering a claimed range of up to 490 kilometres. But the question remains: if you’re in the market for a spacious yet budget-conscious 7-seater EV, is this the one to consider? Glen breaks it down for you.
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