Kia is determined to stay ahead of the
pack. The South Korean automobile manufacturer recently set its rivals on their
backsides with the most comprehensive warranty around. The seven-year unlimited
kilometre warranty is bolstered by a seven-year capped-price service program
and seven year roadside assist.
Now Kia has taken to its most popular
model, the Cerato, to add even more appeal to an already well specified small
car. The MY15 Cerato S Premium sits between the S and the Si grades, and comes
in four-door sedan or five-door hatch guise.
The S
Premium adds satellite navigation, rear view camera, 7-inch touch screen,
16-inch alloy wheels, auto headlamp control, DVD player and more for a keenly
priced $24,590, only $2300 over the entry-level automatic.
The new
Cerato S Premium carries all
the advantages of the S model, including 1.8-litre GDi engine, six airbags, ABS
anti-skid brakes, Electronic Stability Control, tilt and telescopic steering
wheel, six-speaker audio system with remote control, Bluetooth streaming and
hands-free, cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, trip computer, air
conditioning, 60:40 split fold rear seat, power windows and keyless remote.
The
2015 Cerato
upgrades see satellite navigation as standard in S Premium, Si and SLi while
the six-speed manual transmission is available only on the S model. All other
grades have the six-speed automatic as standard. Si and SLi models in sedan and
hatch continue to offer the 2.0-litre GDi engine.
STYLING
Not
much has changed. And why should it, the Cerato looks as fresh these days as it
was when the present model hit our shores two years ago. Created at Kia's Seoul design
centre under the direction of Kia's
Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer, Kia says its European lines are
designed to portray 'dynamic muscularity' and provoke an emotional response.
A wide,
low stance and distinctive concave door contours promote a no-nonsense sense of
a sporty vehicle, while the addition of front and rear quarter glass panels
gives the car a sense of spaciousness and improves visibility by eliminating
blind spots. The MY15 S Premium adds new 16-inch wheels.
Inside,
the new model accommodates a dash-mounted 7-inch touch screen among
driver-focused instruments and controls within easy reach. However, such is the
angle of the screen it is susceptible to reflection in bright sunlight and
annoyingly loses clarity.
INFOTAINMENT
The
addition of satellite navigation, rear view camera and DVD player, all accessed
via the 7-inch touch screen, puts the Cerato S Premium ahead of
the small-car field.
The
computer itself goes to great depths to deliver an amazing array of information
including fuel economy, temperatures (in Celsius and Fahrenheit), distances (in
miles / kilometres and their shorter measures).
However,
it is with speed that the electronic brain begins to show off, going beyond
metric and imperial measure, with equivalents in knots (US), knots (UK) and for
the frustrated fighter pilot among us, a Mach figure, which as you can imagine
at Cerato speeds, forms a long line of zeroes behind the decimal point.
There's
also a trip monitor, calculator and Help function, if the technology becomes
too much.
ENGINE / TRANSMISSION
The
100kW 1.8-litre Nu MPI engine in the S Premium is mated with a six-speed
automatic transmission with two modes – fully automatic or Sport. The selector
gate is a straight P-R-N-D arrangement, with Sport mode engaged by moving the
lever towards the driver when in D mode.
For
city driving, fully automatic mode is ideal, while Sport mode allows for
clutch-less sequential manual gear changes – one ratio at a time – for greater
driver involvement. Steering wheel-mounted paddles are not an option.
SAFETY
As well
as the use of high-strength steel in the body, active safety technology
includes Electronic Stability Control and Vehicle Stability Management that
works with the ESC to provide 'corrective' steering inputs in tricky road
conditions.
The new
S Premium comes standard with six airbags including dual front airbags, front
side airbags and side curtain airbags offering head protection to both front
seat and rear seat occupants.
DRIVING
Having
broken my right ankle 18 months ago, every car I drive becomes a measure of my
recovery and the Cerato S
Premium produced a pleasing result. The floor-mounted accelerator pedal was
fitted, says Kia, to follow
the natural movement of the ankle, providing stress-free operation. It did.
Indeed,
unduly heavy pedal pressure had the ultra-responsive engine firing the car off
the mark with surprising haste, which probably went some way to the 1.8-litre
motor returning a surprisingly high fuel consumption figure of 10 litres per
100 kilometres in city driving, while recording a much more satisfactory 4.8
L/100 km on the motorway.
VERDICT
Another
addition to a Kia
favourite can only help the South Korean company to further gains in the
increasingly tough worldwide automobile market. The maker appears to know what
the buyer wants.
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