new Kia Rio gets a good review

BrianD3

I think it looks decent inside and out. There will be a 1.1d 3 cyl version with an official average fuel consumption of 88 mpg. It'll have a 7 year warranty. It will likely be cheap to buy, hopefully undercutting the similarly economical Polo Bluemotion by several thousand.

The Autocar review below (of the 1.4d and 1.4 petrol) says that it has good refinement and ride comfort and the "interior quality ranks above the Ford Fiesta's" The car is bigger than the average supermini and is relatively spacious.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Kia-Rio-1.4D/258087/

EPM

Looks decent. Came close to buying a proceed. If the engines are anything like the 1.6 in the ceed and proceed they should be a no brainer.

colm_mcm

The figures for the diesel don't suggest it to be nippy. The 1.1d should be ridiculously slow.

For Forks Sake

BrianD3 wrote: »

"interior quality ranks above the Ford Fiesta's" The car is bigger than the average supermini and is relatively spacious.

The interior and spec on a bog spec 1.1 in this country will look nothing like those pics.

unkel

autocar wrote:

Both cars confirmed that the Rio - 4405mm long, so one of the biggest and roomiest cars in is class

That has got to be some typo?

Superminis are typically about 4m long...

I'm not convinced they are value for money. Sure the 7 year warranty is impressive but a base Rio for £10.5k where you can buy a base Fiesta (which no doubt will depreciate less, deservedly or not that's irrelevant) for £9.5k. A premium for a Korean car over a European one? Never thought I'd see that day

The Koreans have come a long way from the utter sh1te they were selling up to a few years ago. I guess if you don't care much about cars, except that they go from A to B reliably and if you appreciate the piece of mind of the long warranty, the Kia might make it onto your shortlist

BrianD3

unkel wrote: »

That has got to be some typo? [

Superminis are typically about 4m long...

Well spotted, it should be 4045 mm. I think it's still one of the biggest cars in its class though.

colm_mcm

Length is 4045mm
Autocar got it wrong.

ottostreet

a 1.1 litre diesel Kia on a Motors forum, and not one comment saying 'Boo-hiss?'

Fine then, I'll do it.

Boo-hiss!

dharn

ya have to agree 1.1 litre 3 cylinder diesel you would be as well off with a honda 50

VolvoMan

Steve Cropley is a dithery old fart these days and tends to give anything a good review. The car is probably only average.

Leonard Hofstadter

Never mind the car, what is there to be getting excited about a three cylinder 1.1 diesel?

The Polo BM already does 85 mpg, but has more power and has a slightly larger engine. It's bloody expensive for a car that size without air con though!

Anyway, back on topic, this car takes no less than 16.4 seconds to hit 100 kph, meaning this is about as slow as a three cylinder Corsa, and only marginally quicker than the now thankfully decesased one litre Polo, so obviously it's a model to be avoiding. If I was that tight with money that I had to have the 1.1 diesel, I wouldn't see the point in even having a car.

SV

ah fúck. I'd rather walk.

EPM

A 1.1 diesel is obviously for people hell bent on economy and nothing else, especially performance.

I had a 1.2 diesel for a few days recently and if you want to go anywhere at a reasonable rate it just wasn't going to happen. That didn't make it a bad car though, driven sensibly it could do stupid mpg. If that's your thing then it's perfect. I couldn't do it for more than one game of fuel light bingo though:)

vectra

Some people will no doubt want them.
Think "Older drivers" a lot of them do not want high power cars.
These would be ideal for tottering around.

Henry Ford III

I was in a rented Kia Rio at the w/e. Not sure if it's the newest model, and frankly I couldn't care. It was dreadful. Hideous infact.

Crap plastic interior, noisy, slow, tinny, and the spec. was a complete joke....

No central locking.

No a/c.

No electric windows.

No much anything really only seats and a wheel. It did have a usb socket however, but the stereo was so ****e it didn't get used. It also had a button labelled "ESP" which I pressed once or twice hoping for some sort of psychic intervention.

I know these are cheap cars, but good grief they are nasty too.

Oh and it had a 7 year warranty.

BrianD3

Henry Ford III wrote:

Not sure if it's the newest model, and frankly I couldn't care.

Good contribution :rolleyes: You were in the old one, the new one isn't out yet.

Kia is improving all the time unlike, eh, Ford which has made the Focus uglier with each generation and still persists with a sh*t warranty. And according to Autocar the new Rio "interior quality is ahead of a Fiesta". I'd say that stung.

Zonda999

Yeah, in fairness, i think successive generations of Korean cars should be treated with a clear outlook. The rate at which they have improved is very impressive IMHO, and this new Rio genuinely looks to be a nice supermini, not just a nice budget supermini. Without seeing either in the flesh yet, I'd fancy this new Rio to be a better car than the new Yaris

The old Rio was/is a fairly desperate yoke though, comparable to a European supermini from the early nineties maybe.

-Corkie-

Looks fairly decent to me the old model was fairly crap looking in fairness.

Kinda O/T a small bit but a friend got a new A3 sportsback last week and its so plain and basic its not funny and it was nearly 30K...:eek:

Eric Cartman

with the exception of the automatic theres the irish interior. If even 1 of these is bought with any spec on it , ill eat a hat

johnos1984

I drove the Kia Venga 1.4D when my sister was changing.

It was nippy up to about 70kph and then just went dead. The MPG figures were great but there is no way I could live with it.

I'd hate to see what the 1.1D is like

Henry Ford III

BrianD3 wrote: »

Good contribution :rolleyes: You were in the old one, the new one isn't out yet.

Kia is improving all the time unlike, eh, Ford which has made the Focus uglier with each generation and still persists with a sh*t warranty. And according to Autocar the new Rio "interior quality is ahead of a Fiesta". I'd say that stung.

Poor contribution.

Not going to bother rising to the attempted bait, only to say that I don't agree.

johnos1984

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Poor contribution.

Not going to bother rising to the attempted bait, only to say that I don't agree.

IN fairness HF what he said is true as regards the new Focus.

Henry Ford III

johnos1984 wrote: »

IN fairness HF what he said is true as regards the new Focus.

A matter of opinion shirley? The new Focus is an excellent vehicle. Looks are subjective after all.

-Corkie-

Henry Ford III wrote: »

A matter of opinion shirley? The new Focus is an excellent vehicle. Looks are subjective after all.

Opinion exactly. I love the new Focus its looks really well imo.

johnos1984

Henry Ford III wrote: »

A matter of opinion shirley? The new Focus is an excellent vehicle. Looks are subjective after all.

Aye but the opinion is valid. The warranty is poor in terms of what the competitors offer (and Ford ain't great in my experience, not saying all dealers but just in my experience), the car is ugly, it's getting very bloated and seems to of lost Focus* on what it started out as back in 1998.

*no pun intended

JoeA3

I'm with Henry. I'd rather walk barefoot on an freshly stone-chipped road than take one of those Kia's for a spin.

I don't get the hate for the new Focus' looks on here either It looks like a very smart car to my eyes from most angles (not sure about the rear 3/4 view), a much better looker than it's pretty bland predecessor. I was a big fan of the original Focus. I owned one, but I really didn't like the Mark 2 so I steered away from the brand then. The new one is a return to form I reckon. Interior is decent too, leagues ahead of that Kia, that's for certain!

colm_mcm

Saw a saloon focus, it looked daycent. The fuel flap on the hatch is messy looking.
It's all a bit dull.

johnos1984

JoeA3 wrote: »

I'm with Henry. I'd rather walk barefoot on an freshly stone-chipped road than take one of those Kia's for a spin.

The interior above is from the old Rio unless I'm very much mistaken. In fairness to the Rio it's a no frills cheap transport washing machine. It does what it says on the tin. The new Focus is trying to be a "sporty" family car when in fact it just has a hard ride and has become very fat and bloated looking.

JoeA3 wrote: »

I don't get the hate for the new Focus' looks on here either

The original was light, airy and sharp looking.
The MKII became a bit more grown up but still had nice clean lines and a nice interior, if a little bland but it was still nice to drive.
The new one appears to be the mid life crisis of the Focus life cycle, it's put on weight and is trying to look young again. The h/b just looks like an estate. The saloon is pleasant enough looking and a far better looking car IMHO.

Henry Ford III

johnos1984 wrote: »

Aye but the opinion is valid. The warranty is poor in terms of what the competitors offer (and Ford ain't great in my experience, not saying all dealers but just in my experience), the car is ugly, it's getting very bloated and seems to of lost Focus* on what it started out as back in 1998.

*no pun intended

Your view is absolutely valid of course. Goes without saying.

I agree btw Korean cars have come on in leaps and bounds in recent times, but you should thank your lucky stars you weren't subject to our recent Rio road trip. It was pretty grim. I just couldn't believe how low the (UK) spec. was. True poverty motoring - cheap and really nasty. The car was almost new too. The driver tried to brake it - tells you all you need to know.

JoeA3

colm_mcm wrote: »

Saw a saloon focus, it looked daycent. The fuel flap on the hatch is messy looking.
It's all a bit dull.

Agreed yes, that's the bit I wasn't sure about either, that fuel flap looks wrong!

Saloon is definitely a much better effort than the previous Focus saloons, but I'm not a fan of small saloons like that or the Corrolla or the Renault Fluence (?)... they scream sunday mass driver :pac:

johnos1984

Henry Ford III wrote: »

I agree btw Korean cars have come on in leaps and bounds in recent times, but you should thank your lucky stars you weren't subject to our recent Rio road trip. It was pretty grim. I just couldn't believe how low the (UK) spec. was. True poverty motoring - cheap and really nasty. The car was almost new too. The driver tried to brake it - tells you all you need to know.

The current model is horrible but the thread is about the newer model so I don't see how or why you are talking about the old one (which was cheap and nasty and bought by people who smelled of sweat and moth balls and who considered a TIIDA too sporty)

Leonard Hofstadter

I'm not really sure why people are comparing a Focus to a Rio, the Rio is a competitor to the Fiesta ffs!

I must agree with the others and say that the old one (which is almost certainly what HFIII was in considering that the new one is only on the way) is a total crock of the brown stuff by the way.

The stuff Hyundai and Kia have been coming out with over the past few years looks much more impressive, and by the way Hyundai are soon going to start testing their cars in the UK, and giving UK cars different suspension settings to that of the rest of Europe, hopefully we will get the UK settings once Hyundai actually starts marketing it and that way we should have Hyundais that will be good to drive as well !

Monty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd9HVgifKD4

In this sector it's about A-B transport in a clean new unsoiled and abused vehicle with the right price, reliability, motor tax, mpg, warranty and resale value.

As for low spec. and tech. a lot of people see that as a distinct advantage these days, as there is so much less to go wrong over the life of the vehicle etc., and what does go wrong will be fairly easy to fix without having to fork out an arm an a leg and the need of special dealer only tools and tech etc.

Granted this is not everyone's cup of tea, but if this car can tick all the sector boxes, it will do very well, and since most Jap cars are no longer made in Japan and have become over teched, the reliability has nosedived. Like them or loath them Korean motors that used to be a joke are now on the up. Don't forget Toyota, Honda etc. were a joke the 70's, and Skoda were until the mid 90's.

colm_mcm

Weird picture ^

The guy driving it appears to have fallen asleep and parked on the other guys foot.

Raskolnikov

Some people are missing the point completely on this.

Firstly, why are people comparing the Kia Rio with the Ford Focus? The review clearly talks about the Rio going up against the Fiesta. Secondly, the whole point of the discussion is that Kia are very quickly moving up the quality chain. Yes, they released some atrocities years ago, but the quality of the new output is definitely improving. That Kia Rio looks as good as the new Fiesta in terms of both the interior and exterior (if the pictures are anything to go by). Anyway, at the £10k price range, anything you buy is going to have cheap plastics and poor enough spec.

If you want to compare a Kia car to a similar competitor, look at the Proceed against something like a VW Golf.

Kia Proceed



VW Golf



Having been in both cars, I can honestly say that I found no discernable difference in the quality of finish between the Proceed and Golf, I did prefer the exterior of the Proceed, simply in terms of aesthetics. The big difference between the two cars is that the Kia sells for €19k, whereas a similar specced Golf sells for €23k. The Kia slightly shades the Golf too with a 6 speed gearbox and slightly more go.

Of course, Irish people couldn't care less about getting a better specced car for cheaper. Much more safe to buy a poverty spec Focus or Golf, because "de neighbour has one, and shur doesn't it start every morning and don't dem slanty-eyed Korean feckers ate der own pets" :rolleyes:

captainspeed

captainspeed wrote: »

............

Thank feck you edited that

JoeA3

The VW interior shot you posted there also has about 6 grand's worth of optional extras (Leather, Nav, Climate) :pac:

Raskolnikov

Google images only seems to have higher specced interiors, anyway, you've all been in a Golf, you'll know that there is nothing remotely special about the basic interior.

Henry Ford III

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Firstly, why are people comparing the Kia Rio with the Ford Focus? ....

Ask Brian D3

si_guru

Had a Kia Sportage in the UK for a weeks hols about 1 month ago.

1.7 Diesel - 2WD... it was the bottom model - but had bluetooth, cruise, aircon, voice control, Alcantara seats, leather wheel, alloys etc..

I loved it..

Quite like the new Rio and new Picanto - I think any spec can have air for €450 or so.

What's not to like (in the real world)?

Edit - 50mpg over the week

Raskolnikov

si_guru wrote: »

What's not to like (in the real world)?

The lack of comforting brand recognition that you get with a Ford, Toyota or VW.

si_guru

Raskolnikov wrote: »

The lack of comforting brand recognition that you get with a Ford, Toyota or VW.

Remember Skoda?

Raskolnikov

testicle wrote: »

The only way to drive the current Rio is to go to a special school of How to Drive like a Cúnt!

I do give you that. Although it does seem that anyone who drives a car younger than a year old that's selling for €10k or less will do their utmost to make your motoring life a misery.

Raskolnikov

si_guru wrote: »

Remember Skoda?

I own a Skoda. The first thing the mother said when I bought it was "I thought you had more sense than that".

Monty.

What happened the Irish anyways ?

Since when did we start turning our nose up at new cars, unless they have a certain German plastic badge stuck on the front, like we're some spoilt wealthy groupthink British public school boys with too much money ?

I treat every car on its own merits, for the sector/job it's aimed at.
Make is nothing to rely on these days, model is all you can go by.

pburns

BrianD3 wrote: »

Good contribution :rolleyes: You were in the old one, the new one isn't out yet.

Kia is improving all the time unlike, eh, Ford which has made the Focus uglier with each generation and still persists with a sh*t warranty. And according to Autocar the new Rio "interior quality is ahead of a Fiesta". I'd say that stung.

I agree with you and think that all this Kia-bashing has to be a certain degree of ignorance. A friend has a C'eed since 07, it's a cracking little car. Probably more like an Auris than a Focus but I'd recommend it to anyone after something in that sector (and have). Everything they've built since the C'eed is class-competitive (at least).

I wouldn't say Henry is 'stung' in fairness - I don't thing he's as touchy about Ford criticism as you are about Renault !

VolvoMan

I think it's simply astonishing how far Kia have come in literally ten years (I know they existed here previously selling the Pride and Sportage in small numbers). They relaunched themselves with a range that consisted of horrible sh1t like the Shuma and only a decade down the line they are producing some genuinely competitive products that are even class leading in some ways.

It proves how fast these guys can move while other established manfacturers fall asleep on the job.

CompleteCarGuy

We've driven it.....

http://www.completecar.ie/testdrives/article/Kia/null/Rio/159/1231

Stevie Dakota

VolvoMan wrote: »

It proves how fast these guys can move while other established manfacturers fall asleep on the job.

Not so sure about this, Kia have come off a very, very low base, they are now class competitive with car makers who have been producing good cars for years, still is a remarkable achievement though. They won't make quantum leaps from now on, but will improve incrementally like all the others.

What they have done has exposed the lousy warranties offered by most other companies, and for that alone they deserve great praise.

si_guru

CompleteCarGuy wrote: »

We've driven it.....

http://www.completecar.ie/testdrives/article/Kia/null/Rio/159/1231

Did you proof read it???

Just two engines will be offered in Ireland initially. The biggest seller is likely to be the 1.25-litre petrol engine. Somewhat surprisingly, this segment is still dominated by petrol engines...

..the 1.25-litre petrol-fuelled Rio will start somewhere below €15,500, with the 1.4-litre diesel version a little over €2,000 more.

Where is the "surprise"???

BrianD3

CompleteCarGuy wrote: »

We've driven it.....

http://www.completecar.ie/testdrives/article/Kia/null/Rio/159/1231

I notice that you say
"Due to the vagaries of our tax system Irish buyers are being denied a 1.1-litre turbodiesel version of the Kia Rio. Its three-cylinder engine emits just 85g/km of CO2"

It's a pity that we are not getting the 1.1d - has this been stated by an official source? VW sell the Polo 1.2 TDi Bluemotion here so why can't Kia sell the Rio 1.1d.

The 1.1d has just been reviewed by Autocar. For some reason they are now giving the 0-62 time as 14.9 secs instead of 16.4 secs.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Kia-Rio-1.1D-EcoDynamics-1/258838/

I don't buy into this common complaint as repeated in the Autocar review that the official mpg figures of modern cars are not realistic. Maybe the extra urban figure is difficult to match but depending on the types of driving the average should be achievable.

Just because many journalists are rubbish drivers doesn't mean the rest of us are. I read a while ago in autoexpress that they averaged 38.4 mpg from a Megane 1.5 DCi 90. Now given that I regularly drive that car (actually a slightly less economical version) and get 67 mpg for a week's driving and a relative gets over 70 mpg from the same car in mostly town driving, I find the pessimistic economy figures from car magazines to be laughable.