Kia Picanto: The rise of the Korean foot soldier
Kia and Korean cars in general have always had stigma placed upon them due to their rapid invasion into the mass automotive market. The stereotype tends to be that they are cheap cars purely designed to undercut other car manufacturers – the loss leader.
But as Hyundai-Kia Automotive’s latest sales figures place the Korean automaker as the fourth largest car company, overtaking US giant Ford, they must be doing something right. Motorfood decided to investigate by testing the first line of defence for the Koreans, the Kia Picanto.
Recently Kia has put a massive emphasis on style, with the new Cee’d and Soul not needing an optional brown bag to put over their head when you want to drive them. When the little Picanto rolled up to my doorstep its facelift was more cheeky and subtle not revolutionary and ground breaking. The front has been restyled to give it a rounder look that some call ‘cute’, while the rear has stayed much the same but with the addition of new LED tail lights.
The Picanto given to me to test had the 61bhp 1.0-litre engine instead of the 1.1-litre, so I was missing out on three extra horsepower. It was noisy and with a short first gear you can feel yourself launching into a cloud of noise until you change to second. The gear changes and clutch were fine, nothing special, but I wasn’t expecting anything special. The brakes on the other hand are operated like a light switch, either on, or off. The lightness of the brake pedal took a lot of getting used to, a lot of cursing and a lot of apologies to friends and family.
My initial thoughts on the Picanto were that it is nothing special and it is a box with the mechanics of a car installed. But then I thought a bit deeper and I think I started to get on the same wavelength as Kia’s board of directors.
If you want to think philosophically you will understand that money makes the world go round, and cars allow us to go round the world. The Kia Picanto allows us to go around the world without spending a great deal of money. With the Picanto ‘1’ starting at £6,495 and incentives such as the government’s scrappage scheme and dealer haggling you could walk out of a showroom with a brand new car for close to £4500. Potential Picanto buyers are also the ones most likely to be able to take advantage of the scrappage scheme as the ‘cute’ looks still don’t have the style or ‘steeze’ that the 17 year olds of the world are looking for.
Inside the Picanto it is plasticy but functional, minimalist yet purposeful. The base model comes well equipped with electric windows, power steering, tinted glass, two airbags and a CD player with MP3 connectivity. It was a bit disappointing not to see central locking, as leaning over the passenger seat to let your friends in is too 1990’s. The rear seats can hold 3 fully formed men and cleverly fold flat to allow you to put surprisingly large amount of items into such a small car.
I would compare the little Kia to the smallest piece on a chess board, the pawn. The pawn is the weakest and most abundant piece in the game of chess, representing infantry. When driving the Picanto you know you are perfectly capable of taking on everything around you but you are consciously aware that there are better things on the road.
I travelled on the motorway for a few hours with no major discomfort in the Picanto. The wind noise wasn’t deafening and the seats were comfortable. I did notice the fuel gage falling to the E mark a lot quicker though.
In the end I worked out that the little Kia is for a person who likes the new car smell but doesn’t have ‘Investment Banker’ written on their business card. It may take a few more years for the Picanto to be classed as cool, but Kia as a whole is starting to emerge as cool Korean cats.
The essentials
Car: Kia Picanto ‘1’
Engine: 1.0-litre or 1.1-litre
Power: 61bhp
Co2: 117
Mpg: 57.6
Cost new: Starting from £6,495
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