Test drive Kia Picanto
Spoiler, side skirts, 16-inch wheels with low-profile tires and massive bumpers - the new Picanto looks brighter than all its classmates. Here are just a version with a turbocharged engine in Russia has not yet been delivered
More recently, urban A-class kids were predicted a wonderful future in the environment of modern metropolises, but it did not work out: a pragmatic consumer increasingly turns to city transport to move to work, and prefers a practical and, preferably, inexpensive car. For example, automakers around the world are reducing their presence in the subcompact class, preferring to practice creating, for example, budget sedans of the B segment. However, Kia did not follow this fashion and brought the third generation Picanto hatchbacks to Russia.
The new Kia Picanto has changed the most noticeably from the outside. Continuing and developing the ideas of the second generation, which, by the way, was awarded for the appearance of the prestigious Red Dot award, the designers made the baby even brighter and more expressive. The radiator grille has narrowed, the air intake in the bumper, on the contrary, has grown in size, air ducts have appeared, which help to reduce aerodynamic turbulence in the area of the front wheel arches. The shape of the window line has changed, and the rear bumper now looks more powerful and solid due to the transverse insert.
The theme of horizontal lines continues in the interior: here they are designed to visually make the car more spacious. Increasing space, however, is not visibility. Despite the fact that the length of the car remained the same, due to the denser layout of the engine compartment, the front overhang became shorter, and the rear overhang, on the contrary, increased. Together with the wheelbase increased by 15 mm, this made it possible to free up additional space both for passengers (+15 mm in the legs) and for luggage (+50 liters). In addition, the Picanto is 5 mm higher, which means more headroom.
The Picanto's interior is best characterized by the marketing favorite phrase “brand new”. It is useless to list the changes, because the list will include everything that is in the interior decoration - it is almost impossible to recognize the predecessor in a new car. At the same time, the interior of the top versions is stuffed with options that you expect to see last in cars of this class.
There is a huge by the standards of the class, a seven-inch multimedia system with a touch screen and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto protocols, a heated steering wheel (all around), and induction charging for smartphones, and a huge makeup mirror in the driver's visor with LED backlighting.
To say that the sitikar is only 3,5 m long inside is huge, of course, it is impossible, but there is enough space in it even for tall passengers, and in both rows, and on a long journey they will not feel discomfort. The chairs have a nice profile, excellent filling. There is even such an outlandish option for the class as an adjustable center armrest. But at the steering wheel, on the contrary, only the tilt is regulated.
It may seem that launching a new model in a segment that is losing popularity is a risky move. But the Koreans seem to have caught the trend and approached the development of the car from the right side. The creators of the car directly say that the Kia Picanto is a car that is chosen by the heart. In their opinion, this is not a means of transportation or economy, but a bright accessory.
Bright colors are designed to emphasize this purpose (none of them will be charged extra) and the GT-Line package. Despite the sporty name, this is a set of purely design options. No intervention in the operation of the power unit, transmission, or suspension is provided. But there is a new bumper, other foglights, a radiator grill with a scarlet insert inside, door sills, a massive spoiler and 16-inch wheels.
It fell to me to start a test drive with this particular version. On the very first "speed bump" I slightly overdid it with speed and received a hard blow from the front suspension. The tires are installed here with a dimension of 195/45 R16 - it seems that the profile is not the smallest, but tough.
Once on the winding country roads, I immediately forget about the rigidity of the suspension - the Picanto is perfectly controlled. Firstly, the new car now has a noticeably sharper steering wheel (2,8 turns versus 3,4). Secondly, it is equipped with such a rare system for citycars as thrust vector control in corners. The ability to quickly take turns helps to put up with not the most powerful engine: the top-end 1,2-liter naturally aspirated engine produces 84 hp at the moment. and paired with a four-speed automatic, Picanto accelerates to 100 km / h in 13,7 seconds (for a base 1,0-liter engine with “mechanics”, this figure is 14,3 seconds).
Somewhere ahead, the potential for the emergence of Picanto hatchbacks with a 1,0 T-GDI turbo engine producing 100 hp looms in Russia. and taking off almost four seconds at a time from the acceleration time. With it, the car should be very fun, but now you have to amuse yourself - a very decently working audio system helps in this. Regardless of the presence of a large touch screen, it understands USB sticks and iPods, and also works via Bluetooth. In the past, the Picanto sound was so-so, but here the music, on the contrary, does not play well.
But it is periodically interrupted by noises - unfortunately, the noise insulation here is exactly the same as one would expect from the cheapest car of the brand, that is, frankly weak. On the other hand, the engineers can be understood - they threw off kilograms wherever they could: high-strength steel in the body and adhesive joints removed 23 kg, and a new U-shaped torsion beam helped to lighten the structure. It would be wrong to spend the pounds won back with such difficulty on soundproofing.
In particular, thanks to this, the Picanto confidently and predictably slows down. In addition, disc brakes are installed on the hatchback not only in the front, but also in the back. In addition, the machine is equipped with a brake overheating compensation system that automatically increases the pressure in the brake system when its efficiency decreases.
I change to a simpler version of the Picanto to make sure that the fabric upholstery of the seats is quite good, the dynamics are identical, and the comfort on tires with a higher profile is slightly more. With handling, there are almost no changes, only the reactions to the steering wheel are slightly more stretched in time due to the more pliable rubber. The armrest here, by the way, is only for the driver. But in general, the car does not give the impression of poorly equipped, and the interior itself does not cause a sense of dissonance when compared with the bright appearance.
Prices for the new Picanto start at $ 7 for the Classic version with a liter engine. Such a car will not have an audio system, heated seats and a steering wheel, as well as electrically adjustable mirrors and side airbags. The average Luxe grade is priced at $ 100 and, in addition to the 8-liter engine and automatic transmission, the equipment will be noticeably richer. However, to get at all everything that the third generation Picanto has to offer, you will have to shell out already $ 700.
Kia predicts that roughly 10% of sales will come from the GT-Line version, and if the public is really interested in the design package, Koreans promise to continue such experiments in the future. At the same time, the company says that the prospect of Picanto rivalry with the larger Rio model does not bother them. In addition to the fact that the latter is still chosen by more pragmatic buyers, the sitikar in comparable trim levels remains 10-15% cheaper than the Rio.
The Kia Picanto has practically no competitors on the market - in the same class we have only the revised Chevrolet Spark under the name Ravon R2 and Smart ForFour. The first is much simpler, the second is much more expensive. Koreans say they will be completely satisfied if they buy 150-200 cars a month.
| Body type | Hatchback | Hatchback |
| dimensions (length / width / height), mm | 3595/1595/1495 | 3595/1595/1495 |
| Wheelbase, mm | 2400 | 2400 |
| Curb weight, kg | 952 | 980 |
| engine's type | Gasoline, R3 | Gasoline, R4 |
| Working volume, cubic meters cm | 998 | 1248 |
| Power, hp from. at rpm | 67 at 5500 | 84 at 6000 |
| Max. cool. moment, Nm at rpm | 95,2 at 3750 | 121,6 at 4000 |
| Transmission, drive | MKP5, front | AKP4, front |
| Maximum speed km / h | 161 | 161 |
| Acceleration to 100 km / h, s | 14,3 | 13,7 |
| Fuel consumption (horizontal / highway / mixed), l | 5,6/3,7/4,4 | 7,0/4,5/5,4 |
| Cargo space, l | 255 | 255 |
| Price from, USD | 7 100 | 8 400 |
