YOUR WEEKLY MOTORING SECTION Rio goes upmarket

Kia’s hatch grows up with mature styling and upscale cabin

South African media in Johannesburg last week.

The first thing you’ll notice is that Kia’s design team has played it rather safe with the styling. You could certainly accuse it of being conservative, but in my opinion it’s a pleasing kind of conservative, the dignified, easy-on-the-eye, not-a-line-out-of-place kind that also seems to work well for carmakers like Volkswagen.

That newfound maturity continues inside the cabin, where high-quality materials and a sculpted design create a more upscale, even slightly sporty vibe, and the top half of the range gets an 18cm touchscreen infotainment system that’s compatible with Apple CarPlay and (subject to it becoming available in SA) Android Auto. The new Rio is 5mm lower than its predecessor but has grown 15mm in length, 10mm of that having gone into the wheelbase. Rear legroom is fairly ample and boot space has increased by 37 litres to what Kia calls a class-leading 325 litres.