Kia Rio 1.5

...
I found the Kia Rio and at first it was the base variant that caught my eye (at only £5995) but I looking into the detail, it was clear the 1.5 SE had a lot more to offer for the extra £3000. And I am glad we went for it.

First of all I should mention that we chose the Automatic gearbox. The manual variant (which we test drove as they did not have an automatic demonstrator) is not as smooth and the gearshift action is rather ...
...Overall, if you compare the Kia to a Ford Focus – without doubt the Ford is a better car, but is it £5000 better ?

** April 2003 Update **
Car still going strong, and we reported the parking sensor problem to the local main dealer who sorted it out without protest. Apparently ours had a faulty sensor that needed replacing.  ... more

When my wife and I recently had our first baby, we knew that my wife's aging Japanese coupe would have to go. So I searched various websites to find a 5 door hatchback in our price range.

I found the Kia Rio and at first it was the base variant that caught my eye (at only £5995) but I looking into the detail, it was clear the 1.5 SE had a lot more to offer for the extra £3000. And I am glad we went for it.

First of all I should mention that we chose the Automatic gearbox. The manual variant (which we test drove as they did not have an automatic demonstrator) is not as smooth and the gearshift action is rather woolly. The auto, however, is a breeze to drive and around town and gives a good balance of acceleration and cruising ability.

The 1.5 engine gives excellent performance, and cruises at 70mpg at around 2200-2500 revs. This means its very quiet at motorway speeds – much quieter than my Toyota Yaris. Its also quick away from the lights, although revving over about 4000 revs gives rather harsh engine noise. The fact is you don’t need to over rev it – the engine is powerful enough low down the range. Its no hot-hatch, but presumably if you’re reading this you don’t want a hot-hatch !

But where this car really starts to make sense is the extras you get: alloy wheels, metallic paint, 10 disk CD changer, air conditioning, power steering, dual map reading lights, heated door mirrors, rear roof spoiler, parking sensor (see later), remote central locking, lights-on warning and more.

The power steering is good and the turning circle is far tighter than any other car I have driven.

On the down side, the passenger space is not as roomy as you might think for this size car, and the seats are a bit hard. Combine this with the rather hard ride (which we’ve put up with because it helps with the handling around town) and you can get a numb-bum on long journeys.

In addition, the parking sensors do not always work – often when reversing they are constantly beeping (implying we are about to hit something when we’re not). We think this is mainly due to rainwater on the sensors, as it seems better in dry weather.

The fuel economy is probably the biggest problem with this car. We are only getting about 27mpg around town. This rises to 35mpg on a long journey. My view is that a car this size should be 10mpg more than this.

Personally I like the looks of the car – its like one of those trendy ‘lifestyle’ estates rather than a full estate, but it offers more storage space than a standard hatchback.

We’ve done about 6000 miles so far and there have been no problems. We did a 300 mile drive for a weekend away, and apart from the numbness the car was excellent – maintaining 70 (or more) between rest breaks without missing a beat.

Overall, if you compare the Kia to a Ford Focus – without doubt the Ford is a better car, but is it £5000 better ?

** April 2003 Update **
Car still going strong, and we reported the parking sensor problem to the local main dealer who sorted it out without protest. Apparently ours had a faulty sensor that needed replacing. 

...less