The updated Kia Rio arrives in South Africa 2015
The car buying public has fallen in love with Kia Rio, evident by the amount of them on the roads, not just in South Africa, but worldwide. 2014 alone saw sales of the Kia Rio reach a total of 471 000 units to once again make it Kia’s top selling model globally. This leads into that well-known saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” When you have a recipe that’s clearly doing everything it was meant to do, small changes are often enough.
As well as earning many global awards, in South Africa, the Kia Rio soon became the company’s bestselling model. Besides scoring a nomination as finalist in the 2012 WesBank / SAGMJ Car of the Year competition, it has also been a consistent star in the Standard Bank People’s Wheels Award.
This new Kia Rio was first shown off at the 2014 Paris Motor Show and at the reveal, Michael Cole, Chief Operating Officer for Kia Motors Europe, noted that the improvements are of major significance. “The immense popularity of the Rio shows that our designers and engineers got most things ‘right’ when creating the fourth-generation of our compact B-segment challenger in 2011,” he commented. “The Rio retains the core attributes that have proved so popular with owners, while enhancements to the 2015 model include a slight visual makeover, giving it a fresh exterior and interior look.”
The turnaround time from the Paris reveal to having the cars on the showroom floors didn’t take long because as of the end of January, the Kia Rio is in SA ready to be driven. We had the chance to take one for a drive at the launch and I’m pleased to announce that everything under the skin remains and nothing that affects ride quality or performance has changed.
The Kia Rio (hatch & sedan) is available with a choice of two efficient petrol engines, coupled to either a 5-speed manual, 6-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission (1.4 only). The entry model features Kia’s 1.2-litre Kappa engine (65kW at 6 000r/min with 120Nm of torque at 4 000 r/min) mated to a 5-speed manual transmission while the next level up features the 1.4 Gamma engine (79kW at 6 300r/min and peak torque of 135Nm at 4 200 r/min) that makes use of a 6-speed manual or the aforementioned auto transmission.
As said, the changes to the 2015 KIA Rio have been entirely cosmetic, and every single one must be considered as a step forward. The Rio design team has updated the ‘tiger-nose grille’ and given the car a new front bumper with lower, larger air intakes and fog lights - and it looks great. While the exterior dimensions haven’t changed, this manages to give the illusion of a wider, more squat stance. At the rear there’s also a new bumper, the fog lights have been changed from a horizontal shape to an ‘L’ shape There are also three new wheel designs for the Kia Rio, the 17-inch ones on the range topper being the best of course, – more curved than before but equally eye catching. There’s also the addition of Urban Blue to the colour line-up.
The Kia Rio’s spacious interior has always been a nice place to be with a layout and instrument cluster retain those soft rubbery clicks and large red fonts. For 2015, the Kia Rio updates were limited to materials and trims; the four dashboard air vents now have chrome accents and the redesigned centre console now features piano black trim that gives the desired effect of a stylish, premium look and feel. Our only criticism was a small roof-mounted light which appeared to serve no purpose other than to dimly illuminate the gear lever, couldn’t be turned off, and was rather distracting at night.
The 2015 Kia Rio looks to be yet another winner and with Kia’s competitive pricing and obvious value for money, along with class-leading 5-year/150 000km warranty and 4-year/60 000km service plan, Rio comfortably remains the best.
Kia Rio Pricing
Rio 1.2 Manual R 176 995.00
Rio 1.4 Manual R 199 995.00
Rio 1.4 Auto R 211 995.00
Rio 1.4 TEC Manual R 212 995.00
Rio 1.4 TEC Auto R 224 995.00
An optional sunroof is available on the Rio 1.4 TEC for an additional R7 000.
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