Day 1 | Day 2
For under $20,000 the interior of the Kia Rio is a nice looking place to be. The design is visually appealing, yet simple and ergonomically well laid out. The materials used are par for the course in the sub-compact class of vehicle and in this price range but they are mostly hard plastics.
At the very least they could provide a soft place to rest one’s elbow on the door panel. That said there is a centre armrest with some padding: an option that many competitors in this price range omit all together. There is also storage in said arm rest to hide or store smaller items.
This is a small car but it is impressively large inside. Front seat space is as expected and I wouldn’t see anyone but friendly giants complaining about lack of space, but what is really surprising is the amount of headroom in the rear. Even leg room in the backseats seemed reasonable to me, I did not feel squashed at all, considering the total size of the car it is impressive.
That theme continues to the trunk, the hatch floor is extremely low, when I opened that hatch for the first time I was blown away with the available storage space. Add in the fact that the hatch is a large opening and the back seats fold 60/40 nearly flat the amount of space really is incredible.
Back up front in the driver’s seat which is adjustable fore-aft, height and tilt makes for a comfortable driving position. The tilt/telescopic wheel adds even more adjust-ability and the steering wheel offers radio and cruise control settings at the driver’s finger tips.
Day 1 | Day 2
It’s been awhile since I’ve test driven a Kia. This is a good thing since they are one of those manufacturers that are constantly improving their vehicles, so here is a chance for me to get a good sense of how they have improved over the last few years since I’ve been behind the wheel of one.
My tester is a Kia Rio 5-Door, the Rio5 name is no more, although they still use it oddly on their website in one spot. That brings me to Kia’s website, if you don’t know what you want I don’t understand how you learn anything on their website, just a bunch of pictures with no info, but I’ll digress.
The 2016 Rio comes with a 1.6-litre “GDI” (gasoline direct injection) engine that produces 137 hp and 123 lb-ft of torque which is decently powered for a small platform such as this. The SX model I’m driving starts at just over $19,000 and currently has $2,500 on the hood if you pay cash, not bad.
My tester is a manual transmission (six-speed) which is most likely not the volume seller as most will opt for the automatic, but the features are plentiful for the price range. The SX is equipped with leather seats, a heated steering wheel, back-up camera, cruise control, automatic climate control, proximity key and push button start and 17-inch alloy wheels.
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