Yes, it was a slower week.

By slower, I mean I used the Kia Carnival diesel less.

With a price of more or less P90 per liter, the driving became definitely less.

But don’t get me wrong — there is nothing about the Kia Carnival Diesel that I do not like.

In fact, every ride I drove in it was like going to the carnival.

Colorful and lots of fun.

What to love

As I stepped into the Kia Carnival, I felt a rush of excitement. After all, even if I am a small driver, the Carnival made me feel that every driving move I made kept me in control of the wonderful minivan.

The new Carnival’s front end is 90 percent grille and, yes, the grille is awesome to look at. The rear end has teardrop taillights and a slightly revised rear fascia sitting under the rear light bar, creating a similar design theme — minus, of course, the giant grille.

Yet despite the shift in front-end design, the overall look is put-together — cohesive is what they call it.

Inside — sitting is fine

Let me just say: This is one humongous ‘mini’ van.

You definitely feel that biggish-ness in the interior. The Carnival is nothing if not spacious. Okay, so maybe we’re a bit disappointed it isn’t a completely walk-through cabin, but with modern gadget storage and charging needs, that’s probably never coming back. Still, you get a decent walk-through in the rear when you have the second- row seats slid outboard.

Back up front, there’s acres of headroom and legroom, and a wide center console with three phone trays, four cupholders, multiple charging points, and a big center box. The dashboard is clean and simple, with A/C vents sandwiched between a wide but low touchscreen and auxiliary controls. A neat touch panel switches between A/C and media controls. Normally, we frown upon touch controls, but this one is done very nicely, and incorporates physical knobs for temperature, fan speed and volume.

The first two rows are made up of captain’s chairs with power adjustability. The second row is, obviously, the best in the house, with seats that move forward, backward and sideways over a wide range, but as the sliding controls are manual, seniors sitting in this row might need some help sliding the big, heavy seats into position.

The third row isn’t as luxurious, with thinner seat cushions than the forward rows, but it’s relatively spacious compared to SUV third rows, with seating for three, given they’re not too “thick” — and with proper headrests and even cupholders.

For those who don’t need the extra passenger capacity, it folds completely flat into the floor to reveal a frankly huge cargo bay, increasing the already impressive 627-liter cargo capacity by a few more liters and giving you a completely flat loading floor up to the second row.

While the power-adjustable second- row seats are still technically removable — as the non-powered ones in older Carnivals were — it isn’t something most owners can do without special tools and an extra set of hands to carry the extra-heavy seats.

Engine performance

I guess that this 2.2-liter turbodiesel is a big seller. Low-end diesel torque and a snappy eight-speed automatic conspire to mask any difference in off-the-line performance versus the electrically boosted gasoline flagship. You can even shift manually via the +/- gates on the shifter, but you will never really feel the need to.

On those long stretches of C-5, the Carnival shines. It has the heft and power to smother hundreds of kilometers of highway in one go. The ride is generally pliant, but with an edge of firmness as there’s no getting around the size of those wheels and the extra weight of the Carnival over the Sorento it shares a platform with.

The Continental CrossContact tires provide great grip, steady handling and quiet running, though with a van like this, I’d trade a little more of that handling finesse for a softer ride. That said, I won’t complain about how easily it tackles high-speed sweepers and the curvier sections of the Skyway.

But once in the city streets, that size starts to compromise things a little. I guess this is not the type of minivan you might want to drive down narrow eskinitas and alleyways.

Even rush-hour traffic on major arteries feels constricting, given the Carnival barely fits inside what passes for a traffic lane on EDSA.

Thankfully, you have 360-degree cameras that can be kept on while moving, giving you a good view of the edges of your lane. This is helpful if you’re hemmed between an SUV and the bus lane barriers.

So, yes, I did take a few spins around Manila. And yes, it was all good. But, truth be told, I felt a little pinch of guilt — as you and I know diesel — for now–and the war be damned. Better keep to short drives unless a hole in your pocket is what you are looking for.

But, diesel. And then one slows down to a stop.

War is stupid.

Until the next detour.