A couple of weeks ago we drove Kia’s new A segment competitor in Turkey. As you can imagine it was under totally different circumstances than the back roads of Umhlanga where Kia chose to launch the Picanto locally.
The current Picanto has been available to South African’s since 2004 and during its model life Kia also released a facelift, to keep it worthy of consideration in a fiercely competitive segment. This definitely helped, seeing as during the past seven years more than 35 000 Picantos have been sold locally.
Now the all-new Picanto is here, and the success story looks set to continue.
From its grille to its exhaust pipe, this little Korean impresses with its design, and now clearly forms part of the larger Kia design philosophy. Park next to any of its main competitors, even those from sister company Hyundai, and the Picanto should, for most, be one of the most attractive in its segment. Well done, again, Peter Schreyer.
Range
Kia is offering a total of six model derivatives. The range kicks off with the 1,0-litre, followed by the 1,0-litre in LX specification and then the top of the range 1,2-litre (65 kW/120 N.m) EX. Al three of these models will also be available with – for an additional R10 000 – an automatic transmission.
The 1,0-litre three-cylinder engine develops 51 kW and 94 N.m and is the engine I spent most of the time with at the launch. Those readers who have experienced the three-cylinder Smart, will quickly recognise this engine sound. Although you can never expect fireworks from such a unit, the car was more than able to carry two adults through the traffic, and on the highway we could easily keep the car at an indicated 120 km/h. Going uphill in certain situations you will have to get used to working the gearbox though. But for what it is (mainly a city vehicle) there is really little to fault.
All the Picantos come with a five-speed manual gearbox as standard. It has a slick shifting action while a very quick stint in the optional four-speed auto’ proved it will be a good option for those sitting in traffic on their daily commutes.
Although the driving experience in these vehicles are important, the specification level is probably even more so at this price point.
Specification
To dip below the R100 000 (R99 995 to be precise) barrier, the standard 1,0-litre offers the most basic specification level. This still includes air-conditioning, Isofix for baby seats, a single driver airbag, and a CD/radio player including a connection for your iPod or USB stick.
Moving up to the LX model (R107 995) will get you – amongst other things – body-coloured bumpers and mirrors, front electric windows, front fog lamps and, more importantly, a passenger airbag.
Finally, the 1,2-litre (four-cylinder) EX offers the best range of features. Now the owner will have ABS brakes, Bluetooth connectivity, electric and heated side mirrors, rear electric windows and even steering wheel mounted remote controls. It will set you back R114 995, and you can also get a sunroof for an additional R6 000, although it might be better to rather pick the optional two-year/45 000 km service plan for R3 255.
Future models
This new Picanto isn’t the only news Ray Levin, CEO of Kia Motors South Africa shared with us.
Kia will be releasing another five models before the end of 2011. It will start with the Sedona VQ in two months’ time, the Rio hatch in September followed by the facelifted Soul in October. The last two models to arrive locally before the end of the year will be the Rio saloon and the more luxurious Optima (also known as the K5) saloon in November.
