Lerato Matebese
FIVE years ago, Kia turned a corner with its third generation Rio, which simply eclipsed its demure predecessors. It essentially took a number of design cues from the previous Sportage, which was one of Peter Schreyer’s most revered designs since taking the reins as head designer at the time.
The Rio outclassed the Volkswagen Polo on both styling and cabin appointments, not to mention the Korean’s lower pricing point, too.
It was, as you can imagine, popular among the trendy young sets, particularly in high specification Tec trim.
Now the marque has launched its fourth generation Rio in an attempt to pick up where the previous model left off.
To be frank, it has taken elements of the previous model, but instead made it less daring and youthful and more mature and generic.
While this is not a bad thing, it has not particularly moved the game forward.
That said, the exterior is clean in its execution with a wider tiger nose grille and swept back headlights with U-shaped LED daytime driving lights.
The cabin has been moved 110mm rearward compared with its predecessor, while the Cpillar is thinner to improve blind spot visibility.
At the rear, LED taillights are standard fare on the Tec models, so too are the 17-inch alloy wheels.
Moving inwards, the cabin has been improved thanks to a touchscreen infotainment system that now also incorporates both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, although the latter is not yet supported locally.
Overall, perceived quality is good but some materials, particularly those used on the door inserts, are of the shiny and hard variety and not quite at the levels of the now aged VW Polo. There is more legroom both front and rear, while the boot measures 325 litres, which is fair in this class.
Power comes in the form of a 1.2 litre engine with 62kW and 125Nm driving through a fivespeed
BEACON BAY BONZA BAY BORDER C’RADES GONUBIE CAMBRIDGE KIDD’S BEACH OLD SELBORNIAN TYPOS EAST LONDON GONUBIE DUNCAN VILLAGE FA 2017 EAST LONDON CENTRAL LFA