With the great strides Kia’s made in its vehicles over the last few years, it didn’t come as a major surprise that the new generation Picanto is as good as it is.
I’d expected it to be somewhat larger than its predecessor, and the 60mm extra length it’s received now provides enough rear legroom for a pair of adults to sit fairly comfortably. The boot’s also grown by nearly 30 percent, to 200 litres.
I’d anticipated that the styling would be eye-catching given the first-rate eye candy Kia’s chief designer Peter Schreyer has been delivering lately, especially in the form of the Sportage.
Indeed, the Picanto’s a more aggressive looking thing, and its humble size is packaged with a bit of attitude thanks to inheriting Kia’s “tiger nose” family design trait up front, as well as a striking rear end featuring LED lamps.
As expected, the cabin’s gone a notch upmarket too. The dash is still not the soft-touch type you find in more expensive cars, but neither is it cheap or plasticky and the Picanto’s interior looks classy for this budget segment.
What delivered the most pleasant surprise was the Picanto’s chunky steering wheel which feels so fine to grasp. It’s the kind of steering wheel you’d expect in a BMW 3-series, not a budget city hatchback.
It doesn’t turn with an overly light, over-assisted Playstation action either, and though it’s very easy to turn the steering does have a little feel and resistance.
During the Picanto’s world media launch held in Istanbul, Turkey last week, the little Korean hatch also proved to have a decent ride quality, and its newly extended wheelbase has ensured it rides without the choppiness that characterises many city cars. It’s a refined little car with minimal wind and suspension noise.
Picanto will be available in two petrol engine derivatives when it arrives in South Africa in July, a new 1-litre three-cylinder producing 51kW and 94Nm, and a 1.2 four-cylinder with 64kW and 120Nm. They replace the 48kW/98Nm 1.1-litre powering the outgoing car.
The new 1.0 is capably powered, delivering a cheeky three-cylinder growl as it provides decent city commuting pace and the ability to tackle freeways too, although the baseline Picanto felt a little weaker to me than the 1-litre Toyota Aygo/Peugeot 107/Citroën C1.
The 1.2-powered Picanto felt a lot feistier and made the better freeway cruiser.
In South Africa there will be a choice of five-speed manual and four-speed automatic transmissions in both versions. I didn’t get a chance to try the auto but the three-pedalled Picanto had a pleasantly slick shift action.
The cars we drove in Istanbul were heavily specced with features such as heated seats, stability control, Bluetooth phone connection and six airbags, and it’s likely that most of these won’t be offered in South Africa where price is everything in this segment. The airbag count will probably be limited to two, but higher models will have comforts like aircon, electric windows and central locking.
Kia South Africa isn’t talking prices yet, but given its value-for-money track record, expect baseline versions of the new Picanto to be launched at around R100 000.
Kia’s riding high and is one of the world’s fastest growing automakers, growing its annual sales from 1.2 million units in 2006 to 2.1 million last year. With impressive cars like the Sportage and now the Picanto, it’s not hard to see why. -Star Motoring