The 2021 Kia Picanto S is one of the cheapest cars on sale in Australia. But, does cheap mean...cheap? Paul Maric tests out the Kia Picanto S to see whether it's one you should buy or avoid if you're looking for a basic city runabout.
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2021-kia-picanto-s-review/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=single-car-review
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:43
Interior 02:25
Infotainment 03:44
Safety Tech 05:14
Practicality 05:50
On the road 08:34
Verdict 12:35
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#kia #picanto #review
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2021-kia-picanto-s-review/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=single-car-review
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:43
Interior 02:25
Infotainment 03:44
Safety Tech 05:14
Practicality 05:50
On the road 08:34
Verdict 12:35
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#kia #picanto #review
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.
00:00 So if you're looking for bargain basement,
00:03 you cannot get much more bargain basement
00:05 than the Kia Picanto.
00:07 It is one of the cheapest cars on sale in Australia.
00:09 Even the name sounds small.
00:11 It sounds like Piccolo, which is a small coffee.
00:13 But yeah, this thing here,
00:14 priced at just over $15,000 in its base trim,
00:17 it competes with things like the Mitsubishi Mirage,
00:21 the MG3, and it kind of competes with the Honda City.
00:24 Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this.
00:26 If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review,
00:28 you can use the time codes up on the screen there.
00:31 Or if you're on YouTube,
00:32 just scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:34 And if you haven't done so already,
00:35 make sure you hit subscribe and press the bell icon
00:38 so you can find out every single time we drive cars
00:40 that sound like small coffees.
00:42 Let's talk about the exterior.
00:44 You have eight exterior colors to choose from.
00:46 All but white is an additional $520.
00:49 Now, what about the design?
00:51 Look, this, like I said,
00:52 is one of the cheapest cars in Australia,
00:54 but it kind of doesn't look all that cheap.
00:56 You know what I mean?
00:57 You'd expect it to look a bit nasty,
00:58 but I think it looks good.
00:59 It looks nice and cute,
01:01 and it looks like it could get in and around the city
01:02 fairly easily.
01:03 So here with the black, you can see,
01:05 you've got this blocked off grille
01:06 because it doesn't really need any air inside here.
01:09 I'll run through the engine a little later on.
01:11 But then it's offset with like this brushed
01:13 aluminum style material up the front here.
01:15 And then the rest sort of all blends in
01:17 because of the black.
01:18 But you can imagine if you had a lighter color here,
01:20 all of this stuff would sort of stand out nicely.
01:23 Now, this is interesting.
01:23 Part of the, I guess, the appeal of this car
01:26 is all standard safety equipment.
01:27 So this is part of that safety module.
01:30 In terms of headlights, you have pretty basic setup.
01:32 It is just halogen headlights.
01:34 Got another little light under there.
01:35 And then this is your daytime running light
01:37 that comes on when the car is running.
01:39 And then we'll whip around to the side.
01:41 Now around here, you can see the back of a vent
01:43 at the front there, which is pretty cool.
01:44 So the air comes through there
01:46 and then it pops out over here for aero.
01:48 But I haven't seen this in a while.
01:50 Hubcaps.
01:51 So 14 inch steel wheels with hubcaps.
01:52 Don't look overly offensive.
01:54 They are tiny tires though, 175 wide.
01:57 Hs look really cute.
01:58 Indicator over here instead of in that wing mirror.
02:00 Now what about the side profile?
02:01 It's a fairly short car,
02:03 but for the most part, it's all pretty straightforward.
02:05 You get these body colored door handles.
02:07 And then if we whip around to the back,
02:09 it's a fairly straightforward setup here as well.
02:11 You just have standard incandescent tail lights,
02:14 reflectors down the bottom, and then that's about it.
02:16 Really not much more to say.
02:17 Let me know what you think in the comment section below
02:19 about the design.
02:20 Do you think it looks good
02:21 for being one of the cheapest cars on sale?
02:23 Do you reckon they could have done a bit more with it?
02:25 Let me know your thoughts.
02:25 We are inside the Kia Picanto,
02:28 and we'll start with the key.
02:29 Yeah.
02:32 Here it is here.
02:33 So it's a traditional old school key.
02:34 It flips out to put into the steering column.
02:37 You have lock, unlock, and then boot.
02:40 Then on the back you have Kia,
02:42 and then it slides into here.
02:44 Everything fires up.
02:47 Now let's talk styling.
02:49 So I think it looks okay.
02:50 It's really quite nice.
02:52 They updated it here with this big
02:53 eight inch infotainment system.
02:55 You'd have got these parts here
02:57 that sort of contrast the black material,
02:59 and that continues down the lower part
03:01 of that stack as well.
03:03 In terms of the materials they use,
03:04 you can see here with the steering wheel,
03:05 it's like entirely made out of plastic,
03:07 and that dashboard is pretty scratchy stuff.
03:11 There's no center armrest,
03:12 so all the touch points are actually quite hard.
03:15 But that's okay.
03:15 It just goes to show
03:17 this is how you make a car on a budget.
03:20 Now in terms of touch points,
03:20 we measured exactly how hard they are with our gyrometer.
03:23 If you want to see how this compares
03:25 to other cars that we've tested,
03:26 scroll down to the description below.
03:28 Now in terms of build quality,
03:30 just because it's cheap,
03:31 it doesn't mean it's nasty.
03:33 Everything feels really well put together.
03:35 So it kind of makes you wonder
03:36 how they can make a cheaper car like this
03:39 feel so robust and put together,
03:41 where some more expensive cars don't carry the same trait.
03:44 Okay, what about infotainment?
03:46 So you'd expect a cheap car like this
03:47 to have a pretty cheap infotainment system,
03:49 but it's actually the opposite.
03:50 This is a really good unit,
03:52 and it comes with some tech
03:53 that's really new to the market in that sense.
03:56 So eight inch infotainment system.
03:58 We do have a detailed review of this
04:00 that you can watch by clicking up here.
04:01 So today it's just going to be a brief overview.
04:04 Color touchscreen,
04:04 it takes up virtually that entire space there.
04:07 In terms of radio,
04:08 you have AM and FM radio and a six speaker stereo,
04:12 but it's smartphone mirroring
04:13 that is the intelligent part to this system
04:15 because it has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto,
04:18 but they're both wireless.
04:19 So you don't need a cable to hook them up.
04:21 So I'll show you what Android Auto looks like.
04:23 Give that another click.
04:25 Here it is there.
04:26 Takes up the entire screen,
04:27 nice integration and fairly quick as well
04:31 with the way that it responds.
04:32 And this is what Apple CarPlay looks like.
04:35 Now the full screen integration,
04:37 really nice and smooth there.
04:39 With both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto,
04:40 you can use the built-in phone voice recognition system.
04:44 It means that it can forward commands
04:45 to the cloud for clarification.
04:47 It's just a far more reliable system.
04:49 Also because this doesn't actually have voice recognition
04:52 built into the native infotainment system.
04:54 You have to use it through smartphone mirroring.
04:55 It's also a small color LCD display ahead of the driver.
04:58 Gives you information such as warnings, digital speedo,
05:01 and allows you to transition
05:02 between the cruise control settings
05:04 and also some of your trip computer settings,
05:07 and then also change the car settings,
05:09 so how long the lights stay on, that kind of thing.
05:11 So nice to see that integrated into this latest update.
05:14 Okay, over to safety technology.
05:16 So despite this being cheap and cheerful,
05:18 it does have autonomous emergency braking,
05:21 which is great news.
05:22 It's the radar type system,
05:23 and it will stop the car if you don't.
05:25 And in addition to that, you have rear parking sensors.
05:28 Unfortunately, you don't get blind spot monitoring
05:30 or a lane keeping assistant or anything like that.
05:32 That's not included, but you do get a reverse camera
05:35 to match those rear parking sensors as well.
05:37 Speaking of which, let's have a look
05:39 at what that looks like.
05:40 And into reverse.
05:41 A fairly basic setup, but you've got your guidelines there
05:45 that move with the steering wheel,
05:46 and then the quality is okay.
05:48 You can see exactly what's going on behind the car.
05:50 Okay, practicality, and we'll start with connectivity.
05:53 So you've got one USB port up the front here,
05:55 which can be used for your smartphone mirroring
05:57 or to charge your device,
05:58 and then a 12 volt outlet as well.
06:00 In terms of storage, where are you gonna put your phone?
06:03 Well, basically anywhere.
06:05 There's stacks of room here.
06:06 You've got a little tray up the top there,
06:08 and a tray down the bottom as well.
06:10 You can pop it down here.
06:11 It's surprising how much storage room
06:12 there actually is in this.
06:14 Coffees, if you are a coffee drinker.
06:16 Oh, by the way, if you keep hearing beeps
06:18 whenever we're reviewing a Hyundai or a Kia,
06:21 it's because it comes up with a battery discharge warning,
06:23 like literally within 20 seconds
06:25 of you switching the car off,
06:27 and it just keeps prompting you for it.
06:28 So it's a little bit annoying,
06:29 but that's what the beeping is.
06:30 Yeah, coffee cup.
06:31 So it sits down the front here really nicely,
06:33 easy to grab and remove.
06:36 Bottles, same story, that sits into there.
06:38 You can also convert this space
06:40 by moving these out of the way,
06:42 and then they pop back into position like that.
06:45 You have bottle storage inside the door as well.
06:48 And then there's also a glove box too.
06:50 World's biggest glove box,
06:51 but big enough to fit a bottle plus the manual
06:53 and a lot of other odds and ends.
06:54 What about comfort?
06:55 Well, you have single zone manual air conditioning.
06:58 So you just set your fan speed, your temperature,
07:00 and then you manually adjust it,
07:01 just like in the old days.
07:03 The seats, they are a cloth trim,
07:05 but they actually look pretty good.
07:06 So it's not just one basic flat design.
07:08 You've got this white stitching breaking up the back,
07:10 and then this sort of cool looking material in the center.
07:13 And in terms of comfort,
07:14 really nice to sit in, full manual adjustment.
07:16 String wheel sits nicely in the hand too.
07:18 And then all of your controls are easy to reach
07:21 from the driver's seat.
07:22 Okay, second row.
07:23 Look, I wasn't expecting this to be massively cavernous,
07:26 and it's kind of met that expectation.
07:28 My knees are very much into the seat in front of me.
07:30 Keep in mind, this seat's quite far back
07:32 in my standard driving position,
07:35 but you can sort of side saddle if you want to.
07:37 Headroom is okay.
07:39 Toe room's fine.
07:40 You've got a matte pocket back here.
07:41 There's no center armrest,
07:42 but you do get ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats,
07:45 and the cup holder here.
07:47 Nothing in the door.
07:48 Pretty straightforward.
07:49 Let's talk cargo space.
07:50 So it is a small car, so don't expect massive amounts,
07:53 but it's pretty impressive for what it is.
07:55 Here you have 255 liters of cargo space available.
07:59 Pretty basic layout.
08:00 Under the floor there, you have a space saver spare tire
08:03 plus the jack as well.
08:05 Show you what it looks like with the bags in there.
08:08 My top bag tucks off to the side.
08:11 And then the suitcase fits in there.
08:15 I wonder if we can close that.
08:15 I think we should be able to.
08:17 Look at that, piece of cake.
08:18 So if you do want to expand the space,
08:20 you can get rid of the parcel shelf fairly easily.
08:23 That just pops out of position,
08:25 and then you can drop the second row.
08:28 That gives you a little over a thousand liters of space,
08:31 but just keep in mind that there's a step up
08:33 from the floor there.
08:34 We've just hit the road in the Kia Picanto.
08:38 Now, powering this entry-level model
08:40 is a 1.2 liter naturally aspirated
08:44 four cylinder petrol engine.
08:45 Makes 62 kilowatts of power and 122 newton meters of torque.
08:50 So very small engine for a very small car.
08:53 And that's all mated to either a five speed manual
08:56 or in this case, a four speed automatic transmission.
08:59 Yes, I know, haven't heard of something like that
09:01 for quite some time.
09:02 Now that means a combined fuel economy
09:04 of five liters per 100 kilometers.
09:07 We're currently averaging 7.0 liters per 100 Ks.
09:12 So a little bit over that,
09:14 but we have been doing a lot of idling
09:16 'cause it's bloody hot today
09:17 and also a lot of highway driving,
09:19 which this car doesn't really love.
09:21 Now, what does all this feel like behind the wheels?
09:22 So let's give it a little kick.
09:24 Now I've pinned the board there.
09:27 Look, it is fairly leisurely,
09:29 but in and around the city, this is going to do just fine.
09:32 Generally, it's gonna be one person in the car.
09:34 You'll be parking, doing all that kind of stuff.
09:36 The gearbox isn't the fastest gearbox
09:38 in the world to respond.
09:39 Another punch.
09:41 Even then it doesn't really,
09:42 the ratios aren't quite there to rev it out.
09:44 So,
09:45 look, it's fine.
09:48 It does the job.
09:49 So you're not gonna find any drive modes here.
09:51 There's not even really the ability
09:52 to shift back through gears.
09:54 You can use the sort of gates here,
09:56 but it's not like a traditional Tiptronic style system,
09:59 but a couple of corners coming up here.
10:02 Oh, let's go.
10:05 This is actually pretty fun to drive.
10:07 Okay, I'm just curious to see what it's like
10:08 if we punt it into a corner.
10:12 It's actually not too bad.
10:12 It's like a little go-kart, just with a small engine.
10:15 So yeah, a little bit surprising, I think,
10:17 for such a small city runabout, but good surprising.
10:20 The steering's actually surprisingly good as well.
10:22 It's got a bit of weight to it.
10:24 It is a tiny bit numb,
10:26 but it communicates enough of what's going on.
10:28 And if you pick up enough speed through a corner,
10:31 it's actually somewhat entertaining.
10:33 Now keep in mind as well,
10:34 that if you do want a few more thrills
10:36 out of your entry-level Kia,
10:37 you can actually opt for the GT model,
10:39 which has a turbocharged one litre petrol engine.
10:42 And I think that would give you a little bit more pep
10:44 and be slightly fun behind the wheel.
10:46 We don't have an official zero to 100 k an hour time
10:49 for the Picanto, but I thought we'd time it anyway.
10:51 So this is how it went against the stopwatch.
10:55 (car engine roaring)
10:58 Okay, we're on a country road here doing 100 k's an hour.
11:11 It's a course chip road.
11:12 Yeah, look, there is a bit of noise coming into the cabin.
11:15 It sits at like 3000 RPM at 100 k's an hour.
11:19 So the engine's revving a fair bit just to keep it moving.
11:22 And as a result of that,
11:23 you're also getting engine noise into the cabin
11:25 plus tyre noise too.
11:26 There isn't a great deal of insulation.
11:28 Now, what about the ride?
11:29 So this is probably the most impressive part,
11:32 a little speed hump here.
11:34 They've really just managed to give it fantastic ride quality
11:37 in and around the city.
11:38 Even out on country roads, it just soaks up everything nicely.
11:41 It doesn't have a massive amount of tyre coverage
11:43 on the road, but it kind of doesn't need it.
11:45 And that means that you're getting a nice,
11:47 soft and cushy ride,
11:48 regardless of whether you're driving over speed humps
11:50 in the city or whether you're doing a country dash
11:52 to see the folks or something like that.
11:54 So they've really managed to dial in enough compliance
11:57 in the suspension to make it comfortable to sit in.
11:59 Yeah, as you'd imagine,
12:00 the turning circle is comically small, 9.4 metres.
12:04 That means that it literally just turns on a dime.
12:08 That is incredible.
12:09 I don't think I've ever driven a car
12:10 with such a tight turning circle.
12:11 That is impressive.
12:12 Now, in terms of visibility,
12:13 you won't be surprised to find that it's excellent.
12:17 I mean, it's such a small car
12:18 that you don't have front parking sensors,
12:20 but you can clearly see where the front ends.
12:22 The wing mirrors are big enough
12:23 to catch anything down the side.
12:24 Visibility out the rear is okay.
12:26 It's a very narrow envelope.
12:27 If you do have any friends in the car,
12:29 it's gonna be tricky to see past their heads.
12:31 But for the most part,
12:33 this is going to be very easy to park in the city.
12:35 So Kia Picanto.
12:37 Yeah, sure, it's the cheapest car
12:39 or one of the cheapest cars in the country,
12:41 but it doesn't feel like a cheap car, which is important.
12:44 It has all the latest technology.
12:45 It's got safety features.
12:47 Best of all, it's easy to drive, easy to park.
12:49 All the types of things that you associate
12:51 with a car that's predominantly going to be
12:53 in and around the city.
12:53 Yes, it's not built for chewing up highway miles,
12:56 but if you buy this with the knowledge
12:58 that it is built for the city,
13:00 I think you're going to be pretty happy with it.
13:01 And with a seven-year warranty,
13:03 at least in Australia, 10 years in some other countries,
13:05 it just really impresses me that you can buy a car like this
13:08 for the price that it is.
13:09 So let me know in the comments section below,
13:11 have you bought a Kia Picanto?
13:13 What's it like to live with day to day?
13:15 And have you found some interesting quirks
13:16 that we need to know about?
13:17 Let me know in the comments section below.
13:18 Thank you for watching.
13:19 If you did enjoy this video,
13:20 make sure you hit like,
13:21 don't forget to share it,
13:22 and also subscribe to our channel
13:23 and press the bell icon.
13:25 But until next time, take it easy.