Kia Rio Sedan

The Kia Rio hit South African shores running last year. Its combination of great value, edgy looks and solid interior not only put it ahead of the competition, but miles ahead in fact. So much so that there is something like a two month waiting list just to get your hands on one.

On the back of the Rio’s roaring success, Kia South Africa feels it’s time to introduce the sedan. So I trundled north, through Johannesburg traffic, into Pretoria to sample the newly introduced family member.

Walking through the car park of the Lombary Boutique Hotel, I was greeted with a line of familiar faces – as you would expect nothing has changed about the front of the Rio, now they’ve attached a rear end. A glimpse between the rows revealed an ever extending waist line, ending beyond the rear windscreen. While I’m no great fan of the boot being on a stairway to Heaven, it does add to the Rio’s dynamic and sporty stance.

From the rear there’s a distinct connection with other members of the Kia family – most dominate of which, in my opinion, is the Cerato Koup. The design is simple yet bold, with minimal detailing beyond the aggressive looking, Koup-inspired rear lights.

To complement the striking exterior styling of the sedan, the new Rio’s interior design has also been transformed, with a clean sophisticated theme that cleverly combines chic minimalism with rationality to achieve a calm timeless quality. As in the hatch, the 1.2 and 1.4 models will feature black woven fabric, while the 1.4 TEC gets leather.

With global market trends indicating that customers are buying down as it were, the demand for premium equipment in cars such as the Rio has increased. To match such demand, standard features across the range include a radio with CD player and MP3 compatibility, plus AUX, iPod and USB connections as well as Bluetooth® hands-free. There’s also an array of safety equipment that has lead to five stars from EuroNCAP’s crash tests.

The same two highly efficient four-cylinder petrol engines from the hatch will be on offer for the sedan, namely a 1.4 or 1.2 litre engine – generating 79 kW or 65 kW of power and mated to a six or five speed manual gearbox, respectively. Although the power figures look impressive, from my experience both motors need to be thrashed in order to get moving in any sort of hurry. If you’re not in a hurry however the 1.2 will return frugal economy figures of around 5.4 litres per 100km while the 1.4 model manages 7.0 litres per 100km.

From a ride and handling perspective the Rio will not be worrying the best-in-class dynamically. Its ride is fairly competent but obviously upset by sharper bumps thanks to its 17 inch wheels – although the smaller-wheeled 1.2 is better. The electric power steering, that now features a combined torque/angle sensor, provides decent speed sensitive weighting and resistance, but will not tempt you into an exuberant foray down a mountain pass.

Regardless of its dynamic downfalls it remains a winning overall package in my eyes – because if it’s good value, eye catching looks and has a spacious, modern, well equipped cabin you’re after, I can’t think of a better car to park in your drive.

Pricing as follows:

Miles Downard
First published in Autodealer KZN