Kia Picanto Review
Published: 25th April 2005
Kia Picanto
Comfort and Refinement
The Picanto 1.1 SE sets new standards with high levels of standard equipment in a budget car. Standard equipment includes remote central door locking with electric windows all round, electric mirrors, height adjustable seat belts and steering wheel, dual airbags and even a sunglasses holder above the driver’s door.
When it all gets too hot or you wish to demist the windows, you can switch on the air conditioning - standard on the 1.1 SE.
Head and leg room is good in the front and rear and lateral cabin space is good for a vehicle of this size - you don't feel cramped inside.
Going back ten years, you would only have found this level of equipment on a top of the range Mercedes-Benz and now we have it on one of the cheapest cars on road. At the moment we are testing a Mercedes-Benz A-Class Classic SE which doesn't even have alloys wheels as standard. The Picanto 1.1 SE is equipped with 14" alloy wheels as standard.
The level of refinement is good and includes 2 x vanity mirrors, height adjustable headlights, 2 x cupholders in the front, 1 x cupholder in the rear, mobile phone pocket, front door bins, glove box with shelf (not lit), cigarette lighter, removeable ashtray and storage compartment under the stereo.
How It Looks - Exterior
Only the grille lets this cheeky chappie down, we didn't like it, but we are sure that many people will consider it cute. One of our team was interested to hear that a friend of their sister-in-law bought a Picanto purely based on the cartoon Television advertisements - but maybe the price also had some influence. This is an excellent case of Kia’s marketing gurus hitting the right target, a 26-year-old female. We liked the exterior of the car; everything else was to our taste. It was nice to see alloy wheels on a car of this price and even a set of front fog lights (SE Models only).
