WARM GETTING WARMER
Kia’s flagship 150kW Cerato has evolved into a satisfying sharp hatchback
Talk about delight being in the detail. Kia’s Cerato GT has always been a compelling package on paper: a very warm (if not all the way to hot)
150kW from its turbo engine, nice chassis and generously practical interior. Not to mention a very sharp price.
It’s a matter of taste of course, but you could argue a lot of the above was undone by the Cerato looking a bit . . . funny. It’s ostensibly a five-door hatchback so should have looked perfectly normal, but the stretched roofline and droopy front/rear styling also made it look a bit awkward.
Now get a load of the facelifted model, which is exactly the same body shape but has gained some of Kia’s new-gen Blade Runnertype detailing at the front including LED headlights, alloy wheels with a design that seems to push the spokes right out into the wheel arches and suddenly . . . it looks kinda cool.
It’s still a good drive, too. The
1.6-litre turbo sounds pretty gruff but comes on strong, and the dualclutch gearbox of our test vehicle seemed to work a whole lot better than that in the last Hyundai Kona N Line we drove (which has a very similar mechanical package).
Interesting to note that the turbo is actually more economical than the naturally aspirated 2.0-litre used in the more mainstream models (6.8l/100km versus 7/4l); so don’t feel too guilty, although also remember it asks for 95-octane fuel. It’s in the “zero band” for the Clean Car Discount, so no fine. But no rebate either.
The chassis of the GT is very different to your average Cerato thanks not just to firmer tune, but the addition of multi-link rear suspension in place of the torsion beam used on lesser variants. Seems extravagant, but it’s a platform-specific Kia-Hyundai thing: models with this 1.6-litre turbo powerplant (Kona N Line and i30 N Line among them) get the fancy rear underpinnings.
It’s a good day-to-day car, although you have to accept a pretty firm ride on bumpy urban roads. It’s a sporty car, but not that sporty; we wouldn’t mind if Kia dialled it back a bit.
Brakes have also had a boost in the new model to 305mm front and 284mm rear discs.
Cerato is technically a small (like, Corolla-class) hatch, but the cabin and rear seat in particular are vast. Four adults, easy. The boot has a pretty decent appetite at 428 litres as well.
The cabin has gained a new driver information display and a very swish 10.25in infotainment screen. It’s generally very well kitted out anyway, with the GT getting a D-shaped steering wheel, full leather if that’s your thing (other Ceratos have synthetic trim), eight-way power adjustment for the driver’s seat with two memory settings and heating/ventilation for the front chairs.
One thing hasn’t changed from the old car: it’s still too easy to overlook the GT as a dress-up, or mildly fluffed family Cerato. But the quantity of engineering advance over the rest of the family (power, dual-clutch gearbox, suspension) makes it a worthwhile flagship. At $42,990 it’s also something of a warm-hatch bargain.