Kia's light truck for heavyweight Aussies

Kia's new K2900 light truck range offers a serious 1.5-tonne alternative to a one-tonne light truck at one-tonne prices. The K2900 CRDi with its forward control three-seater cab offers a factory tray length of up to 3.1 metres, a payload of 1481-1740kg, depending on body and the standard grunt of a 2.9-litre diesel at a price starting from $28,990.

Kia's new truck which is also Euro-IV compliant has been a long time coming, since the previous K2700 was not ADR-compliant beyond December 2006, following Australia's January 2007 introduction of Euro-III emissions standards. The K2900 leap frogs these Euro-III requirements and goes straight to the Euro-IV standard applicable locally from July this year.

The big news is the new commercial version of the Kia J3 four cylinder diesel. In this application, capacity is boosted to 2902cc. While it retains twin overhead camshafts, Delphi's common-rail direct injection, a waste-gate turbocharger and intercooler, it does without the variable geometry turbocharger fitted to the passenger vehicle versions.

Kia claims it doesn't need it, as its 92kW of power at 3800rpm is a massive 59 per cent increase over the previous model's and the 245Nm torque peak, at 2000rpm, is a 49 per cent boost. More importantly for a light truck, 90 per cent of this torque is available from 1550-3200rpm.

The extra torque and efficiency, in combination with its standard five-speed manual transmission cuts fuel consumption by six per cent for a 10.2L/100km combined cycle figure. That figure, in conjunction with the 65-litre tank, leads to a range of up to 637km. The engine is also much quieter and CO2 emissions have been cut by almost five per cent.

Kia has exploited this extra grunt to increase the working capacity of its popular light truck (best seller in its segment from 2002-07) with exceptional load length. The factory steel tray, which accounts for over 50 per cent of sales, is 3110mm long with a width of 1630mm. Dual-12 inch rear wheels leave a relatively low 761mm load height with drop panels at the sides and rear for back-friendly loading and unloading.

The cabover engine bay design allows most of the load to be positioned within the K2900's 2615mm wheelbase and compact 5120mm length. Turning circle is more like a small car, at 10.04 metres.

Whilst the previous Cab-chassis version offered 1259kg payload, the new one jumps to 1740kg -- a 38 per cent boost -- and the towing capacity is 1400kg. The factory steel tray's capacity has risen from 1000 to 1481kg -- a 48 per cent boost.

Kia notes that this leaves a greater margin for specialised bodies and therefore expects the K2900 to offer a much wider range of applications, especially since it doesn't require drivers be endorsed for heavy-vehicle operation.

Building trades, food deliveries, self-drive rentals, traffic management, mobile homes, landscapers and furniture removalists are just some of the applications Kia will be targeting. Councils with low underground car parks have welcomed the continuation of the K2900's low profile cab design introduced by the previous model.

Kia's "Enjoy your work" philosophy has led to an enhancement of the cabin, already popular with workers whose working day is spent in the cabin. The K2900 comes with standard air-conditioning, single CD-AM/FM sound system, cloth trim, remote central locking, electric front windows, twin grab handles, tilt-adjustable steering column and recline function for the driver's seat. A drop down centre seat doubles as a lipped storage tray with twin cupholders, when not required.

Colour choice is limited to Clear White or Marine Blue.

After the NRMA assessed the previous model as the best tray top or ute in class for safe reversing, Kia has ensured that this capability continues. Although the K2900 features powerful ventilated front disc brakes with tandem assistance, neither ABS nor airbags are available.

Although a 4X4 version is under evaluation, Kia claims it is not yet available in Euro IV specification, which rules it out for the Australian market, in the short term at least. A twin-cab version is currently subject to further market studies.

To separate Hyundai and Kia further, in Australia, Kia markets light truck variations only now that Hyundai has taken over the van segments.

Fully-transferable warranty coverage extends to five years or 130,000km, providing service requirements are met -- now much easier, since service intervals have been extended from every six months/7500km to 12 months/15,000km.

Kia notes that, second only to the Sorento SUV, the K2900's predecessor was its most heavily accessorised model -- with aluminium trays, tipper bodies, nudge bars, tow bars, mats, dash mats, load mats and other items commonly specified.

The base cab-chassis starts at $28,990 while the factory steel tray with drop sides adds $1500 for an all-up price of $30,490. An aluminium tray model which increases payload over the steel version is available for $30,790.

CarSales Network will subject the new Kia K2900 to a weekend's full working test with load and crew in early April.

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