Kia Picanto X-Line straddles the crossover line
DRIVING in and around Pretoria at the launch of the Kia Picanto X-Line my thoughts turned to my father teaching me to drive in my mother’s old VW Beetle all those years ago. Given how many Kia Picantos we see on the roads today, years from now there’s going to be a whole lot of people recounting tales of their first time on the road in one of these Korean hatches.
The Picanto is a whole lot better looking, so much safer and the 61kW 1.2 litre engine substantially more powerful than a 1.3 litre 1970s air-cooled one.
New to the range is an X-Line derivative that gains SUV-inspired exterior add-ons and a range of funky colours. It’s a fresh update inside as well with partial leather upholstery, aluminium pedals, and a high-gloss central fascia with an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system that’s Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible. The X-Line also gets a sunroof, multi-function steering wheel and rear park distance control with rear-view camera.
We drove the manual version at its launch in Pretoria and the day’s route was a combination of suburban and highway driving. Even though the
cars had only a few 100km on them, I found the 1.2 litre engine pleasantly free-revving and on the leafy Waterkloof hills it easily maintained its momentum, although with kids and school kit loaded you’ll probably do a few more gear changes.
The suspension is well set up for bumps of different sizes and driving the twisty roads up to Fort Klapperkop showed its nimbleness around sharp corners. At highway speeds there’s little road or wind noise and the car feels solidly planted, and so I wouldn’t hesitate to throw some luggage in the 255 litre boot and head out of the city.
The Kia Picanto X-Line manual retails for R237 995 and the four-speed auto for R251 995, with both backed up by a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty and a two-year/30 000km service plan.