Kia Picanto 2011 Review

The Kia name derives from two Chinese characters ‘ki’ meaning rising up and ‘a’ meaning Asia – rising up from Asia. The success of Kia was such that Ford took Kia’s Pride small car to the USA and re-branded it the Ford Festiva with KIAs Avella becoming the Ford Aspire some years later. Kia has revealed the first official interior image of the all-new 2011 Kia Picanto light car ahead of its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March

The improvement in Kia quality is such that it can now offer its unique 7 year, 100,000 mile warranty across the range, something that European manufacturers may not be confident enough to copy.Longer than the previous model, and with an extended wheelbase, new Kia Picanto promises more passenger comfort and increased cargo space. Our new Picanto is now a small car, grown-up, comments Benny Oeyen, Vice President Marketing and Product Planning, Kia Motors Europe. It is such a complete car, such a high quality package, offering numerous premium features and multiple trim choices, that it will raise the fundamental perception of A-segment models to a higher level.

New Picanto will also maintain Kia’s reputation for delivering great value. In Europe, Kia Picanto sales have reached more than 300,000 – including 47,800 units last year. Kia customers will benefit from the next generation Picanto greatly reduced CO2 emissions, improved fuel economy and reduced ownership costs when the company’s latest A-segment hatchback goes on sale across Europe a little later this year.

The graphic composition of the 3-door Kia Picanto front face has been subtly moulded to increase the sporty character of the vehicle. Likewise from the rear, the contrasting bumper insert emphasizes the car’s width and strength. It’s all finely tuned to create a car with a distinctly different character to the 5-door model.
While becoming more stylish, the new 3.6-metre long Kia Picanto will also remain an extremely practical car. Attention to small details of the exterior design have improved the new Picanto’s aerodynamics, reducing its drag figure to just Cd 0.31 – better than the vast majority of A-segment cars.

Kia expects the new 3-door model to account for 33% of Kia Picanto sales. Raising the benchmark with ‘big car’ comforts.Picanto’s new found maturity is also reflected in the interior design, which sets a new benchmark in its class for material quality and trim choices.

New Picanto’s sophisticated interior will offer buyers numerous ‘big car’ comfort and convenience features – many of them fitted for the first time on a car in this segment. An unusual innovation which new Kia Picanto brings to the A-segment is an attractive choice of interior trim options. The gasoline engine produces 69 ps and 95 Nm of torque. Standard transmission for all engines in new Picanto will be a 5-speed manual, while a 4-speed automatic gearbox will be available as an option on the 1.2-litre 85 ps engine. New Picanto’s suspension and running gear has been developed from the previous model to retain that car’s responsive handling while improving ride quality and refinement.

The McPherson strut front suspension features an increased castor angle (now 4.1 degrees), for enhanced straight-line driving stability, 12% softer springs and longer wheel travel with shorter (by 20 mm) bump-stops.

The Kia Picanto standard braking system, which features 241mm ventilated front discs and 180 mm drums at the rear, is backed up with ABS anti-lock, EBD electronic brake force distribution, BAS emergency ‘brake assist’ and ESS emergency stop signal systems – in the majority of European countries.