Kia Rio LX 2007 Review

Road Test

There's a lot to be said for buying a new, cheap small car over a bigger, older, used car for the same money. For a start, there's no risk of buying someone else's problems. Then there's the advantage of getting a vehicle which complies with the latest safety requirements -- plus the pleasure of ownership that comes with a brand new car.

The Kia Rio is very likely to feature as one half of this kind of choice and for around $14,000 currently ($12,990 plus the government's slug!) you can get into a brand new one. The 14 biggies delivers a Rio in LX form as a five-speed manual five-door hatchback only (you need to upgrade to at least EX level to choose from the sedan body style). The optional four-speed auto version will cost you up to $2000 more.

In its latest form, the Rio is roomy, comfortable, nippy and reasonably well-equipped. But our LX's baseline status is demonstrated more by what's missing than what's present. For example only the front windows are electrically lifted and lowered and the twin exterior mirrors buck electric adjustment offering instead manual stalks. The fuel filler has an interior remote release, but the hatch doesn't.

And in the exception that proves the 'new car' rule -- while that most basic of active safety features, ABS brakes, are now even appearing on scooters, they're absent from the Kia LX. Again you'll have to move up a grade to get the benefit.

Yet the Rio is no stripped-out shell of a car -- it comes with aircon, an AM/FM radio/CD player, a generous driver's left-foot footrest, variable-speed intermittent wipers, twin vanity mirrors and even height-adjustable front seat safety-belt anchors. There's a remote locking immobiliser (albeit with controls on a separate fob) and rear foglamps, although only the very top-drawer EX-L sedan gets front fogs too.

The steering column is tilt-adjustable, the cabin is crammed with clever storage options including a locking glovebox, and the heater system is, if anything, overly enthusiastic -- converting a frigid interior into a sauna in minutes.

Our tester was even a sparkling metallic orange colour, Sunset in Kia-speak.

So much for what it is, alas, what it does isn't quite so rosy -- probably largely as a result of the car's 'average' Hankook tyres. The Kia's power steering is overly light and the car is prone to understeer, but sudden loss of grip in corners is unheralded and occurs suddenly, not progressively. In addition, the sudden loss of adhesion plus the lack of ABS means that brake lock-up can occur prematurely and with little warning.

None of these are desirable features on a car likely to be driven by under-experienced young drivers, or older folk looking for a small, light and nippy runabout.

Even if you don't drive the LX hard enough to find the mediocre limits of tyre adhesion, high ambient cabin noise levels and a long throw on the gear lever, albeit with a pleasantly positive selection, are irritations which jar with the rest of the car.

Impressively screwed together, the 'cheap-n-cheerful' Rio didn't demonstrate any squeaks or rattles; nothing fell off and everything worked as expected. And it delivered impressive performance from its humble 70kW and 125Nm 1.4-litre twin-cam injected engine. Kia claims a believable 6.7lt/100 km consumption despite the Rio's surprisingly heavy 1193kg weight.

Probably the biggest single sales feature will be the three-year/100,000km warranty. It's far from unique, but it demonstrates that Kia stands by its products which will mean peace of mind to P-plate newbies and aging boomers alike.

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