Kia Picanto 2016 Review

Kia Picanto
Local Launch
Canberra, ACT

Kia expects its new micro car, the Picanto, to sell at the rate of 300 units a month in Australia. It's a pretty big call, given the whole micro car segment averaged under 900 sales a month in 2015. In effect, Kia says the Picanto can account for one-third of all sales in the segment. But has the company factored in the Spark effect? The Picanto may have its work cut out for it.

Blessed with a comprehensive specification for the money (from $14,990 drive-away), the Picanto is expected to draw in 70 per cent of its buyers from among the younger generation. But according to Kia the balance (30 per cent of private buyers) will be retirees.

And that makes eminent sense. The sizeable minority of Picanto buyers will laud the tiny car for the ease of entering or exiting its cabin, or loading the compact boot. Older folk won't face any difficulty twirling the steering wheel during parking manoeuvres or reading the major instruments, which are huge and easy to read. In other words, this is a car that appeals equally to both ends of the age spectrum – and for much the same reasons. It's a car that is easy to own and operate, for those who lack confidence on the roads.

If the steering is very light, which makes it ideal for flogging the car around at low speeds, it is perhaps too light at highway speeds. Despite that, the Picanto holds straight and true with minimal correction on centre. It also tips in pretty well, although the car's default handling trait is progressive understeer, accompanied by some body roll due to the Picanto's height, proportional to its wheelbase and track.

The ride quality is firm, although the Picanto does a commendable job flattening out bumps and ripples at lower speeds. According to the importer, the Picanto comes to Australia with a European suspension tune. When the car is replaced by an altogether new model it will likely get its own suspension tune to suit the Australian driving environment. For the moment, however, it makes do with a calibration that is not 100 per cent ideal for Aussie roads.

But then most Picanto drivers won't spend very much time on the sort of country roads that test the car's sound-deadening properties and ride quality.

Unlike some competitors, the Picanto has disc brakes all round, which is a plus. The pedal applies braking with some suddenness, but the Picanto feels generally secure under brakes.

With the driver's seat set to suit myself for the appropriate distance from the pedals, the lack of reach adjustment in the steering column left the wheel at arm's length. Having the seat set up at that distance from the wheel diminished rear-seat legroom as well, although I found the available kneeroom to be fine and there was adequate room under the front seat for the toes. But at 3.6m long, the Picanto is not bound to be the sort of car that allows passengers to stretch out – any more than any other micro-segment car.

Headroom in the rear was quite generous however. The Picanto's rear seat is about right for two average size adults/teens to travel some distance, or it could accommodate three (skinny) kids for short trips.

There are no adjustable vents for the rear-seat passengers, but the Picanto's standard air-conditioning seems to be a hard-working unit that should keep front and rear occupants reasonably comfortable in the small cabin right up to 'total fire ban' weather events.

For a car that's so small, the Picanto is also pretty solid. Doors and the tailgate feel light to open and close, but they do so with a robustness not always apparent in cars of this size, or even larger.

The controls, such as wiper and indicator stalks are soft-damped and feel engineered to a quality standard better than some vehicles significantly more expensive than the Kia.

While the soft materials inside speak to the Picanto's market position, the fixtures exude durability. Although the seat fabric is an outstanding example of that, the front seats are also impressively comfortable and supportive. Right throughout the Picanto there are examples of its kid-proof standard for wear-and-tear resistance, one such being the headlining.

The audio system head unit in the Picanto, complete with a small LED screen, is not particularly attractive, and promises to be less than entirely user-friendly until owners get the hang of the buttons. That, presumably, is at least one reason why Kia has gone to the effort of replicating the audio system controls on the steering wheel.

A word concerning the Picanto's five-star ANCAP rating. According to Kia, that rating is the result of data supplied by EuroNCAP for a Picanto crash-tested some years earlier. This update model still meets a standard to achieve five stars by ANCAP's current testing criteria, and Kia has 'updated' the paperwork for this to happen. In other words, without any further crash testing, it's still a five-star car in accordance with current crash-testing parameters, as far as ANCAP is concerned.

Over the course of the drive programme, the Kia averaged 6.5L/100km, covering roads ranging from freeways and intra-urban arterials to straight-out country roads sealed with coarse-chip bitumen. Needless to say, this is not typical of the sort of driving Picanto owners will necessarily undertake on a regular basis. As a better guide to the car's real-world economy, the Picanto returned a fuel consumption figure of 8.1L/100km from a cold start, and on a short-haul run to the airport from Canberra's CBD – in what passes for morning peak hour in Canberra.

It's been a long time coming, but the Picanto has arrived just in time to meet Holden's Spark head-on in the marketplace. Both cars come with something extra for the target buyers in this segment and promise to expand the segment's reach in the market. We look forward to seeing how that skirmish pans out.

2016 Kia Picanto pricing and specifications:
Price: $14,990 (drive-away)
Engine: 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 63kW/120Nm
Transmission: Four-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.6L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 130g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star (ANCAP, 2016)

Also consider:
>> Holden Spark (from $13,990 plus ORCs)
>> Nissan Micra (from $13,490 plus ORCs)
>> Suzuki Celerio (from $12,990 plus ORCs)