mrdigitech
New Member
Many of us dream of riding in the posh, luxury rides we see every day, but the fact is; not many of us have the financial means to acquire these luxury cars. Luxury cars are extremely pricey and out of the reach of the common man. Notwithstanding, there are nice, portable cars we can get within the price range of 2 to 2.5 million naira and one of such cars is the Kia Picanto.
The Kia Picanto is a portable, hatchback car that’s equipped with moderate to high-end state-of-the-art facilities. The cabin of the Kia Picanto is quite classy and well designed; however, it’s smaller than the average hatchback car you’d find in the market.
Kia has gone the extra mile to ensure that the Picanto’s styling and design is impressive and efficient, especially when compared to older models. Kia has made so much hype about the Picanto’s design, which is quite impressive if you ask me, but it isn’t too different from older models. What is very obvious about the Kia family styling is the widened bumpers and “the Kia family face” that combine perfectly to give the Kia a bulky frontal view as well as angular, neat rear lights. One thing noticeable about the Kia Picanto’s design is that it’s slightly longer than its previous models. There is an increase in the wheel base by 15mm as well as a 60mm increase in length, leading to a minimal increase in legroom and boot space.
Taking a peep into the cabin of the Picanto gives you that feeling of peeping into a futuristic car. I mean everything needed in a 21st-century car seems to be in place. The materials seem to be of higher quality than those seen in previous models, however, costs have been cut in some areas of the interior. The switch gear of this wonderful ride seems to be light and firm, efforts have been taken by its manufacturers to improve the ergonomics. Although the Picanto is quite small in size, the cabin is surprisingly spacious especially when compared to the i10. We can squeeze in 3 mid-sized adults at the rear seat of the Picanto, ideally, it’s meant to contain two adults comfortably.
Performance
The Kia Picanto comes in a 1.0-litre three-cylinder Petrol engine, which is one of the best in its class and a 1.25-litre 4-cylinder engine. The Kia has a very good acceleration but needs a little effort for the engine to hit its stride. The four-cylinder engine featured in the Kia Picanto performs excellently well at higher speeds. When trying to purchase the Kia Picanto, you’d be given two petrol engine options: A 3-cylinder 1.0-liter unit and a 4-cylinder 1.25-liter engine. The 1.25-liter engine picks up speed better than a 1.0-liter engine, however, you’ll need to rev up the engine a bit to attain such speed. The 1.0-liter engine needs to be trashed in other for it to pick up initial speed, but then it still feels slow.
Riding and Handling
Its controls are quite solid especially when riding on rough roads and its bump absorption is truly exceptional. On worn out surfaces, especially the kind we have on our roads, the Kia Picanto is able to handle vibrations quite well, preventing a large chunk of the vibrations from entering the Cabin. The grip levels of the Kia Picanto on high speed is quite good, however, the loose body control seems to unsettle the Picanto on high speeds. The Steering system seems to perform below par and the brakes seem to be too grabby, making experts appear inexperienced irrespective of their level of experience.
Fuel Economy
The Kia Picanto’s fuel economy isn’t as prescribed by the manufacturers. Of course! They always seem to overstate the capabilities of their products. According to Kia, a 1.0 litre Picanto should cover 67.3mpg (miles per gallon) but in reality most Picanto car owners were able to achieve 38.1mpg to 56.3mpg, taking into consideration different road conditions. However, the Picanto still remains a highly fuel efficient vehicle despite the misleading specs from the manufacturers.
The Kia Picanto is quite affordable and offers users two options to choose from. The design and styling is quite impressive and a little different from older models. If you have a moderately sized family of 6, then the Kia Picanto isn’t for you because it’s too small to contain them. Kia has continued to deliver on its promises to deliver cheap, highly affordable cars to the Nigerian masses. Most low income earning Nigerians can only hope that the prices of the Picanto continue to crash.
Photo Credit: kiamotorsnigeria.com
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