By Jon Quirk
07 November 2007
Kia is evolving. Before the arrival of the cee’d hatchback, the Korean car-maker was more reliant on low prices rather than outstanding products to impact the UK market. Until this year, the Picanto city car was the firm’s best-selling vehicle expressing this exact philosophy.
Now three years since the cheeky supermini’s arrival, Kia is changing tac, attempting to improve quality and push the marque (and its prices) upmarket. Great in concept but how well does a facelifted version of the Picanto fit into this new strategy?
On the outside
The Picanto may still only be available as a five-door but the cosmetic revisions are thorough enough to make it look markedly different. The new front and rear bumpers have added 40mm extra length to the car and the new lights, bonnet and front wings all help deliver a fresh look. It also receives Kia’s new corporate grille as seen on the cee'd hatchback and Carens MPV.
On the inside
Replacing the cabin’s slab of grey dash is an all-black moulding that features a bespoke CD-radio-iPod unit as opposed to some after-market drop-in. It’s a vast improvement though a few soft-touch mouldings wouldn’t go a miss to boost perceived quality. The steering remains adjustable for rake only and the instrument panel has now been backlit in orange to compliment the styling of the cee’d. Three more trim level finishes have also been added to the range.
On the road
The ‘new’ Picanto has received no development work on the ride or handling and the engine line-up remains unchanged. Both the 62bhp 1.0-litre and the 67bhp 1.1-litre petrol are eager revving buy they need to be worked hard in order to make any significant progress. Luckily, the Picanto has always been a very charming car to drive in town and this version is no different.
The driver controls, especially the clutch, are incredibly light to use and when combined with excellent all-round visibility, makes negotiating city centre traffic a synch. It feels stable and rides well at motorway cruising speeds too, even though the 1.1-litre unit will spin at around 4000rpm when it finally gets there. This may sound like a lot of revs but in truth, the four-cylinder copes well and all engine, wind and road noise is well suppressed.
Unfortunately, keen drivers will be less impressed by the significant amount of body roll in corners and how quickly those narrow tyres run out of grip, albeit predictably.