Kia Cerato brings the sting
The Kia Cerato gets a new platform under it and some hints of Stinger on it. We take an early look, writes Damien O’Carroll.
The new 3rd generation Kia Cerato isn’t officially here until the first quarter of next year, but we snagged ourselves some seat time in a sedan for a week, just to see if it has picked up any tricks from its impressive cousin, the Hyundai i30.
So, it’s a small sedan. Should I care about that?
Well, yeah OK, no one really cares about small sedans in New Zealand, but that’s not really the point – the Cerato will come in hatch form, but it’s just a few sedans that have landed here early. So don’t think of this as a look at a small car that almost no one will be interested in – think of it as a test of a small car that quite a few people will be interested in when the proper body shape arrives. After all, the mechanicals are identical.
And it is those mechanicals that have brought about the biggest change to the Cerato – despite the outside bits looking quite different as well – just not the engine though, that remains carried over from the previous model and is a 2.0-litre fourcylinder petrol that produces 112kW of power and 192Nm of torque, hooked up to a six-speed automatic transmission, in our car’s case.
In the US market the Cerato is available with a new, more efficient second generation version of the direct injection engine in overseas markets, but only hooked up to a CVT. Apparently it is a very good CVT, but it is still a CVT, so we are probably happier Kia passed on that...
And that engine? Well, it’s perfectly good in a way that we have come to expect from small Kias – it does the trick, pulls nicely in the mid-range and never, ever threatens to get exciting.
Hang on, let’s get back to those differences – what are they?
Well, it sits on the newer HyundaiKia J6 platform for a start, which is a rather good thing, and Kia says the company’s Australian engineers have tuned the MacPherson strut front and torsion beam rear suspension for local conditions.
At a glance
TBA
2.0-litre petrol inline four, 112kW/
192Nm, 6-speed automatic, FWD, Combined economy 7.4 litres per
100km.
4640mm long,
1440mm high, 2700mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 502 litres.
Ride quality, high levels of equipment, just remarkably pleasant. Abrupt lane assist, flat seats, very dark cabin.
And while this sort of thing is generally marketing tosh that should be taken with a massive grain of salt, the Cerato certainly does feel pleasantly at home on our roads.
It has a slightly firmer ride than you might expect from a small sedan, but it brings a nicely tied down and responsive nature to its handling, without actually compromising ride comfort. The steering isn’t exactly the most communicative, but it is crisp and accurate.
Around town the ride is a pleasant surprise, particularly given its tied-down nature on the open road, and while it is neither a razorfocused corner carver, nor the last word in cosseting luxury, it is possibly one of the better
Kia Cerato Sedan
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