Slick Kia scores a winner for city

And you get that seven-year warranty

THE new Picanto city car, like all Kias, comes with a seven-year warranty.

It’s a great selling point but it would be an even stronger one if eight out of 10 new car purchases weren’t through personal contract purchase or hire schemes.

Typically you keep your new car for three years and then chop it in for a new one and thereby never need those extra four years of warranty.

It’s great for the next owner, who has four years of warranty to run, but the deal doesn’t have such a big effect on the buying decision for the first owner. How different it would

be if all cars were bought for cash like in the old days.

Kia built its first Picanto in 2004 when it didn’t have many European rivals. Today you’ve got the Vauxhall Viva, Volkswagen Up! and models from Skoda, Seat, Renault and Smart too.

This Kia Picanto is a completely new car with a stiffer yet lighter bodyshell with 21kg removed.

The car is the same length as before but has a longer wheelbase which gives an extra 25mm of legroom front and back and creates one of the largest luggage areas in its class. And, unlike most rivals, its rear seats split 60/40 not 50/50, which frees up more space.

Later in the year a new turbocharged petrol engine with 99bhp will be launched, but now the choice is between a 1.2-litre fourcylinder and our test car’s 66bhp three-cylinder 1.0-litre – both

petrol. Not surprisingly the Picanto is at its best in town and feels a bit out of puff on motorways and up hills. As do rivals like the Up! and Twingo.

Our test car is a mid-range 2 model which puts it one up from the entry level 1 and behind the 3, GT Line and GT Line S versions.

The price without options is £10,750 but I’d dig a bit deeper and go for the 3 which includes both sat-nav and DAB radio.

Kia has done a good job in upgrading the interior. There’s still a lot of hard plastic about but most of the controls such as indicator and wiper stalks feel more substantial and have more precise movements. There’s an overall feeling that this is a well made little car and that the seven-year warranty won’t be unduly troubled.

The little 1.0-litre engine needs to be revved but sounds quite nice at 4,000rpm. There’s an option of an automatic gearbox on 2 spec cars and upwards, but the fivespeed manual gearbox is slick and smooth with a light clutch.

The new Picanto drives better than the old car with more precise steering and less body roll. It’s comfortable, too, and doesn’t jar or crash over speedbumps.

These improvements bring it into line with its European-built rivals. So if you’re after a small city car then you should look at the new Picanto. If you’re paying cash and plan to keep it a long time, you’d be crazy not to.