Car reviews

Introduction

The Kia Picanto is a supermini that was built on a shortened platform of the Hyundai Getz. Although catering for a similar market sector, the Picanto has always been positioned as the fun car. Although in reality it is not too much fun to drive, but the Picanto does look good. It’s available in many bright colours making the Getz look even more boring than it actually is.

Exterior & Interior

It’s a jolly little car and you really cannot be angry with it, hence the owners often forgive their Picanto’s for all the small problems that it may produce. The Picanto is a typical example of Korean car design, but as the task was to produce a car that looks funny and attractive to younger buyers, the Korean styling was applied with the European customer in mind. As a result, the car looks fresh, even if it doesn’t have an edge on similar European models, it looks more decent than many kei cars that are offered in the UK.

The cabin space is quite good for its size. All of the seats are very comfortable and there’s even some headroom left, which can be at a premium in superminis. It’s a 5-door car and even taller people will find it easy to get in and out of and even spend some quality time in the cabin. There always must be compromises when it comes to small cars and the Kia Picanto’s compromise is the laughable boot space. It’s likely that your shopping bags will end up cruising around on the back seats. The interior quality is questionable, but it’s a real improvement from the 1990s Kia’s. The dashboard is solidly built, it very rarely rattles and all the controls are laid out in a logical and straightforward way.

The basic S trim is very basic even by the standards of cheap superminis. It’s advisable to go for the LX model which has central locking, air conditioner and all-electric windows.

Drive

It’s an abnormal city car with all the usual characteristics you get with a city car. It’s very easy to drive and you don’t have to put in too much effort to turn the steering wheel or to disengage the clutch. It’s an ultimate city car with a very short turning diameter, making it very easy to park almost anywhere. Speeding in a Kia is discouraged as the steering and brakes may not cope with an active driving style. There’s also quite significant body roll, so its advisable to keep to what the Picanto does the best, city driving.

Faults & Repairs

The Picanto doesn’t rely on a large amount of electronics and for an economical car it’s a good thing. It will mean fewer issues to worry about and less money to spend on repairs. There’s not that much that can go wrong on this car, the 1.0-litre engines are very well known and been around for ages. If there ever were any issues, they’ve been sorted long ago.