Kia Cerato 2017 Review

An aesthetically pleasing but fairly nondescript five-door hatch with oomph and comfort on its side, the Kia Cerato promises plenty of value for money. Unfortunately, it’s held back from higher scores by some frustrating Bluetooth and sat-nav glitches and a couple of strange design choices (four cup holders but no auto wipers?). Regardless, Kia’s seven-year unlimited warranty and competitive pricing make up for most shortcomings, even the lack of seat heaters.

Kia cars will always have a special place in my heart.

Maybe it’s that genius ad campaign with the dorky dad singing along to Grandmaster Flash or perhaps it’s because my parents traded their increasingly high-maintenance Volvo station wagon for a Kia Sportage five years ago and have never looked back (the cheaper servicing costs won us all over instantly).

Whatever the reason, I’m a fan of the Korean manufacturer and thus had high hopes ahead of testing the latest Cerato.

The five-door hatch starts at $19,990 (plus on-road costs) for the base-level ‘S’ model and rounds out at $32,490 (plus on-road costs) for the top-spec ‘SLi’ automatic. I drove the mid-grade ‘Sport’ version, which will set you back $22,490 (plus on-road costs). For that price, the ‘Sport’ delivers impressive creature comforts – satellite navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a 7-inch touchscreen, reverse camera, parking sensors and not one, not two, but four cup holders.

I would have loved heated, seats but you can’t have it all and overall, the Kia Cerato ‘Sport’ is good value-for money.

Getting in the Cerato, I feel instantly at home. It’s a no-nonsense set up with great head and legroom, good visibility and plenty of storage. The seats are fabric, but the steering wheel is wrapped in leather and although there are some plastic elements, the interior doesn’t feel cheap.

The roominess carries through to the back seat and boot, which can comfortably accommodate three large deck chairs (OK, that’s probably not your usual measure of spaciousness…but moving on).

I should mention that, from the outside, the Cerato is unremarkable – in a good way. In light metallic silver, it’s an elegant and unassuming little car, but it could easily be confused with several other well-designed hatches on the market. Heading back to my parking spot late one night I nearly tried to unlock a Holden Astra parked nearby, which to my eyes looked almost identical.

It’s somewhat unusual in today’s modern motoring climate that the Kia Cerato doesn’t have keyless entry or start, something I found a tad bothersome having just come away from driving a Renault Clio, which offered both. Of course, the keyless entry/remote start combination is part of the inclusions should you step up to Si and SLi model Ceratos.

And Cerato throws in some whacky design choices which aren’t deal-breakers, but can take some getting used to. For example, the window controls are located on the drivers’ door, below the central locking button. As a result, when I was trying to put the windows down whilst manoeuvring within my apartment block’s labyrinth-like car park, I’d often just lock or unlock the car. Not helpful.

Also, while the Cerato has auto headlights, it doesn’t have auto wipers. I feel the two are a package deal. Cruise control is straightforward enough, but Bluetooth pairing is a nightmare. For starters, it doesn’t let you pair the phone unless the automatic transmission is in ‘Park’ which, when you have a willing phone ‘pair-er’ in the front passenger seat, just feels counterproductive. When you finally do get it connected, brace yourself for when you get back into the car at a later time only to find it has unhelpfully disconnected itself.

As my boyfriend accurately said: “It’s frustrating when you’re mid-way through a great song on Spotify and you come back to find the car has switched to radio and you’re listening to Bruno Mars.” Given the phone pairing process isn’t exactly smooth sailing to begin with, you really don’t want to have to do it every time you get into the car. I found it’s best to connect your phone via a USB cord and use Apple CarPlay to minimise instances of openly screaming at an inanimate object in public. Sat-nav is standard, but my attempt to use the promising traffic map, which shows congested areas to avoid, ended in disappointment because the map never updated or moved.

Out on the open road, the Cerato is gutsy and responsive, handles smoothly and is very comfortable. My parents often complain their Sportage is a little rough on the road, but I found the Cerato took bumpy spots with ease. The speed is displayed in number form on the dash as well as on a dial, the trip computer is easy enough to locate and use and the reverse camera is solid. The parking sensors can be over-cautious – they go insane even when you’re pulled up behind someone at a traffic light within safe braking distance.

Otherwise it’s a quiet ride, except for the strange squeak my test car’s accelerator developed when I was driving to the airport on the freeway. Was it a malfunction or a mouse? It disappeared after half an hour, so we will never know.

One feature I really liked revealed itself when I parked and turned the engine off but remained seated for a couple of minutes to send an email with the heating on. A little warning popped up telling me I could potentially be discharging the battery. This felt particularly relevant as, several years ago, in my first week as a newly-licensed driver, I had to call for help because I ran my battery down sitting in the car with a friend and gossiping with the heating on full bore.

Disconcertingly, the Cerato did issue a service warning - worrying given the test car I was driving had only done 2559km.

The advertised fuel consumption of the Cerato Sport is 7.3L/100km, but my week of city driving averaged 9.5L/100km. Mind you, the only time I exceeded 60km/h was the aforementioned airport trip and otherwise most of my time was spent in bumper-to-bumper traffic or doing little supermarket runs.

At just over around 20 grand a pop, the Kia Cerato Sport has its flaws but throws in plenty of bang for your bucks. Add Kia’s famed seven-year unlimited kilometre warranty plus capped price servicing and you too could be singing Grandmaster Flash.

2017 Kia Cerato Sport pricing and specifications:
Price: $22,490 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 112kW/192Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.3L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 169g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP

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