Where each one leads

Kia Carens

• Fewer Kia Carens cars in the Netherlands carry an illogical odometer record (2.6% against 6.0%).

Volkswagen Sharan

• Against cars of the same age, the Volkswagen Sharan comes out better at its first MOT test (passes as often as average) than the Kia Carens (passes 10% less often than average).

Only measures that do not depend on how many cars were sold: pass and failure rates against cars of the same age, ratings, fuel use and CO₂. How we compare

At a glance

	Kia Carens	Volkswagen Sharan
New cars registered in Europe	120,105 (2010–2020)	304,700 (2010–2022)
Licensed in the United Kingdom	12,811	29,087
On the road in the Netherlands	4,334	3,797
In traffic in Finland	1,251	1,484

EEA new-car registrations (CC BY 4.0) · DVLA licensed vehicles (OGL v3.0) · RDW (CC0) · Traficom (CC BY 4.0) · generations: Wikidata (CC0).

Reliability and problems

	Kia Carens	Volkswagen Sharan
UK MOT first-time pass rate	64%	75%
… against cars of the same age	−10%	average
Illogical odometer records (NL)	2.6%	6.0%

Complaint, recall and bulletin counts grow with the number of cars sold and are not adjusted for it. UK MOT: DVSA anonymised MOT results (OGL v3.0); New York: DMV inspections; complaints, recalls, bulletins and investigations: NHTSA (public domain); odometer: RDW (CC0).

Fuel, emissions and price

	Kia Carens	Volkswagen Sharan
Real-world use in Europe, petrol	—	8.7 l/100 km
Official CO₂ of new cars in Europe	—	192 g/km
Average power of new cars in Europe	85 kW (114 hp)	110 kW (148 hp)
Average mass in running order	1,581 kg	1,802 kg
Dutch list price when new (median)	€27,990	€52,852
Average odometer in Finland	188,000 km	256,000 km

Canada: NRCan Fuel Consumption Ratings, most frugal version of the latest year (OGL Canada). Europe: EEA monitoring of new-car CO₂ and on-board fuel meters (OBFCM), CC BY 4.0. Price: RDW catalogue price (CC0). Finland: Traficom (CC BY 4.0).