Road Test: Kia Rio 1.4 Tec

Who needs a R2.1 million Audi R8 V10, when you can have a R171 995 Kia Rio 1.4 Tec? Hell, for that money, why not make it twelve Kia Rio’s?

If you chose to spend two million plus big ones on twelve new, ultra-cool Kia Rio hatchbacks instead of on just one four-ringed, Teutonic tower of power – there’s no denying you’ll get a monstrously good deal. Four-wheel-drive, 5.2-litres displacement and 10 cylinders. I don’t think so. Twelve Rios to you means: twenty four-wheel-drive, 16.8-litres (that’s only two Veyron’s) under the bonnet and an earth clattering 48 cylinders.

Granted, you’ll need a big garage, but they’re small and easy to park with their superlight steering. You and your wife can have one each; each of your three kids can have one, which leaves seven for you to give to your friends or run a car rental company with. Who says cars aren’t an appreciating investment?

Best of all, the Rio you keep for yourself has so much Audi design DNA in it thanks to Kia’s current design boss, Peter Schreyer, it makes nearly as much of a visual impact as you go along. Look at the tiger nose and the swoop line down the bonnet, and the sporty, 17-inch, Audi like, alloy wheels.

The Rio is not quite as quick to 100 km/h as the R8, in fact it’s pretty slow even compared to its competitors and the 1 400 cc, four cylinder engine doesn’t sound quite as good as the ten cylinders of the R8. 0 – 100 km/h in 12 seconds is slow for a youthful car that presumably will want to get its youthful occupants to wherever they want to go without delay. Six cylinders howl, eight cylinders burble, ten cylinders bellow, but the Rio’s makes no appreciable sound at all in comparison. The Rio makes 79 kW and 135 Nm and it sounds like… hum.

The Kia Rio however, despite weighing a lot less than the R8, still feels quite heavy to pilot around. On the plus side, it means your kids won’t be going very fast when they inevitably have their first accident, but it won’t be all that economical for them to run either. The 1.4 Tec uses 6.4 L/100km and that’s if you drive like a priest.

I wanted to take it in and around urban settings to test a hatchback’s number one weapon: lane zipping in traffic and ease of use in tight environments. As a city runaround it’s really hard to fault. The engine is responsive, if a little weak, but that means you just need to choose the right gear, so you’re always involved in the driving experience. Good power assisted steering helps navigate the typical challenges of the city. The Rio’s steering feel is the best I’ve yet felt on a Kia.

The ride comfort is surprisingly good at reasonable speeds, considering the Rio is a relatively cheap hatchback that will be sold in great numbers across the world. The Rio’s interior is spacious, providing loads of head room for a tall bloke like myself. Interior fitment and quality is probably its strongest plus factor, however, and is easily on par with the Volkswagen Polo by providing more kit like a USB for instance, even if the Polo is better screwed together overall.

Two engine levels in the Rio range are the 1.2-litre and the 1.4-litre normal and the Tec specification with its 17-inch wheels, these wheels are a must-have. You can also have an automatic gearbox option for elderly buyers, which I have not yet sampled in the range. The Rio may lag behind the R8 and even the humble Volkswagen Polo in terms of performance, but it’s still a brilliant turnaround for Kia and the Rio nameplate and I’m expecting it to make big waves wherever it finds itself in the world.

What we like…

• Looks fantastic for a small hatchback. Perfect in fact.
• Peter Schreyer design is building a unique, new brand loyalty to Kia.
• Comfortable and well equipped interior.

What we would like…

• A 1.6-litre or even 1.8-litre engine under that bonnet.
• A five speed manual gearbox with the 1.4-litre power plant.
• It’s not exactly what you’d call cheap for a Kia, but that shouldn’t put you off.

Ray Leathern has been test driving and critiquing cars for four years now. He is South Africa’s 2010 Motoring Journalist of the Year in the magazine category, as well as a member of SA’s 2011 Car of the Year jury. What Ray writes, we read, and we suggest you do too.

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