Excellent city car
Front shock absorbers and top mounts worn.
Front O/S brakes binding, front subframe slightly corroded.
Excellent first car, comfortable, cheap to run and low insurance etc.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 13th November, 2021
Big car values in a little package
Nothing at all.
For the price difference between the models, we went for the top of the range Picanto and we're glad we decided to. :)
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Driving First:
The Picanto is very easy to drive indeed. The light steering and tight turning circle, combined with the elctric mirrors, make parking an absolute dream.
The clutch is light and bites high up, but you get used to it quickly enough and the gearchange is firm, but not obstructive, with plenty of feel, snicking precisely and smoothly through the gate.
The engine is very responsive - the well sprung accelerator letting you meter out the power to an infinitesmal degree.
The engines small capacity doesn't hinder you in a car this light and every one of the 64 horses propels you along at easily enough pace to keep up with traffic, not leaving you stranded trying to get onto the motorway as 1.1 cars from yesteryear would've done. It also sounds better than most little cars, giving a lovely turbine hum when you stretch it round to six thousand revs.
The ride is fairly firm, but absorbs most bumps well and is exceptionally good over speed bumps.
Handling is also impressive, once you get over the slightly numb steering, and it will hang on round tight corners for quite a while before any understeer sets in.
And the brakes. Wow. They're well overpowered for such a small car - all round discs with ABS and EBD, similar to the system you'd find on a Citroen C2. They bite early and hard, taking some getting used to, but once you are used to them, you never worry about braking again. They stop you. Dead.
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Interior:
You get multiple luxuries and doodads on the top spec SE+.
Half leather seats
Leccy mirrors.
All round leccy windows.
Air con.
Fog lights.
Etc etc.
Not bad for a tiny hatch back.
The interior is snug feeling, but has lots of headroom and plenty of space for two in the back.
The cabin is also well insulated, on smooth roads you can only hear the engine (and only quietly at that!), but on rougher roads there's a little bit of tyre noise. At motorway speeds, it suprisingly refined for a supermini - a little bit of wind noise, but nothing to make conversation at all difficult.
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Reliability wise, this cars been perfect, but it's only six months old. Fuel consumption has gotten better and better. I'm averaging 45mpg in town use in constant stopstart traffic. On the motorway it has seen 55mpg+ and I expect even that to improve as the car continues to wear in.
All in all, I love this car.
Can fault nothing on it, even love the looks, with the metallic blue paint and alloys etc.
And better still, it's great value and includes a year's free insurance. Would definitely suit a confident freshly passed driver who didn't want a banger to start with.
Will definitely be buying another Kia in the future. :)
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 14th July, 2006
I own a 2006 1.1 LX as a 2nd car, and find it excellent little vehicle.
In August we went for a break to Tenby in West Wales in it, leaving the Mitsubishi at home as we thought the Kia would be easier to park and drive around Pembrokeshire. I lowered the back seats and had no problem accommodating the suitcases.
Only problem I've had was due to the RAC butchering the battery terminal after the hatch didn't fully close one day, and the interior light flattened the battery. The puny terminal post and connector were both damaged such that a good contact couldn't be obtained. A new terminal and battery were fitted; the specific battery for the Kia has a moulding on the bottom for the clamp support to fit. I bought a non standard battery without the moulding, and with a deft use of a piece of wood, saved myself about £35.
Good little car overall.
My friend bought one of these on a 56 plate (2006), so it's 5 years old now... I saw him today and asked what mileage he had on the clock (28,000 was the reply)... I asked what parts he's bought for it and he said NOTHING... not brakes... not even pads... not even an exhaust section. 5 years old and he's bought nothing for it... other than 3 services to keep the warranty in toe.
Bargain car for £5995 :-)
Now 10 years on from previous post, I still have the Picanto. Over the years a few issues emerged, they are:
Offside ABS ring fractured needed new replacement.
Front brakes kept seizing on, if driven over 60 mph, needed new pads with locating tabs filed down and liberal amounts of copper slip grease.
Idle Control Valve needed replacing, car over revving at idle or on the over run.
New o/s/f suspension lower arm replaced due to corrosion.
New exhaust required after 14 years, amazingly, even though a standard off the shelf system was fitted, the exhaust flow seems so much better, the car has never been as responsive before.
With regards to your front brakes, worth considering if your brake hose is degrading. I had a similar problem with my old Honda Accord. I went through two sets of brake pads before the garage realised that parts of the brake hose were breaking off and causing the brakes to bind. But I needed to be driving for 10-15 minutes for this to start happening.
4th Nov 2009, 07:18
An addition to the above review - the brakes do take getting used too, as commented, the newer models have a disk/drum set-up that is more driver friendly. Also the indicator stalks have been changed over as they caused confusion. A good review nonetheless.