Rental Car Review - KIA Rio

[FanBoy]

Guys,

Did not know where else to post this. This is not a desi car and this is not a ownership review. So, here goes:

ABS, Power - everything, Automatic Climate control, Blue & me, Built in GPS......these are the features this car does not have!!!!

Now for the real review:

There are three basic ways you can build a low-priced automobile. You can use lower-cost materials (and workforce). You can limit the standard features. Or you can keep variations to a minimum. When making the Rio, one of the lowest priced cars sold in America, KIA employed all three strategies. Is that a good thing? It depends entirely on where you draw the line between “cheap” and “inexpensive.”

In terms of looks, let’s go with inexpensive. As you might expect, the Rio is a blend of every styling cue known to man; from a Ford front grill with Honda Fit-style supersized headlights, to an Audi-esque rear pillar, to a vaguely Volksy rear. Strangely, it works. The only external indication that the car costs chump change is its Gallic “ass in the air” stance and the fact that the 14” wheels fail to fill up the wheel arches. It’s not what you’d call a compelling design, but neither does it scream blue rinse brigade like the Toyota Corolla– which the Rio also sort of maybe kinda resembles.

Inside, you’re greeted by a surprisingly handsome two-tone color scheme, which is especially not completely unattractive in beige. The best and only important thing you can say about the switchgear and controls is that they’re all present and accounted for, positioned exactly where you’d expect them to be, doing precisely what they should be doing. The jumbo-sized, sprocket-shaped seat control knobs are a nice touch in a cabin otherwise (and unsurprisingly) devoid of nice touches. But the best news is that there’s plenty of room in driver’s throne.

The rear seat, however, is a different story altogether. With the front seat adjusted to accommodate anyone taller than Tom Cruise, rear leg room is literally nonexistent. Compounding matters, the rear seat squab is made from Nerf balls; the seat immediately collapses along the edge when you put weight on it. Despite the two-seaterness of the thing, the Rio’s interior is fairly nice for a car in this price class.

The Rio is somewhat motivated by a 1.6-liter 110hp four-banger. Obviously, the car’s target audience only needs to know two things: mileage (28/30 mpg) and reliability (a five year, 60k mile bumper-to-bumper warranty says relax). Rio intenders may also be interested to hear that the Rio’s engine at full throttle makes it just about impossible to hear. Think of it as a fuel economy measure; penny pinchers will keep their foot off the throttle just to reduce the noise levels below that of a Cessna during take off. At least the Rio’s engine roar helps drown out some of the road noise from the skinny tires.

The zero to sixty amble takes forever. The handling is… what are you nuts? It doesn’t fall over, and anyone who manages to generate enough speed to make the Rio’s tires squeal gets what they deserve. OK? Let’s stay focused here.

Rio buyers choose between two trim levels. The base Rio clocks in at a little above $11K. You get a manual transmission, no radio or AC and manual windows (remember them?). For roughly $2K more, you get a chiller and tunes, power steering, tilting steering column and fold-down rear seats that add capacity to the spacious trunk. Add the $600 “power package” and you get power windows, locks and mirrors. An autobox’ll run you another $850.

Bloody hell, I am going back to the rental agency to get a different car.

FanBoy

[Ripper]

lovely review. I'm glad i read this first thing in the morning

[Steeroid]

Kia Rio = Hyundai Accent = Hyundai Verna in India. Decent enough car for the cheap rental market. You obviously can get a lot more if you're willing to pay more.

[tadukuttan]

Kia Rio = Hyundai Accent = Hyundai Verna in India. Decent enough car for the cheap rental market. You obviously can get a lot more if you're willing to pay more.

oh wow! Never realized he was talking about the verna! Our "high end" car is their cheapest car. Sad!

[FanBoy]

Guys,

Lessons learnt from this post:

1. We will comment about anything and everything, whether we know about it or not.
2. We are very happy to pass judgement on Indian Cars, which we have never driven, just because we trust the posting member.
3. From personal experience, my FIAT Palio is a much better car. Agreed it is not as powerful, but then it was never claimed to be.
4. For 4.25 L on road, I got power windows, engine immoblizer, rear defogger and a car that is solid and stable at speeds upto 130 kmph.
5. The KIA Rio (Hyundai Verna) for the American market sucks big time. 1.6, 110 BHP takes a long time to hit 60 mph (96 kmph) - on roads where you also have minimum speed limits
6. At 11 K US$ it does not have even power windows.

BTW, I am swapping it for a Toyota Yaris today.

Thanks,

FanBoy

[Steeroid]

Ummm - put things in perspective. A 1.6 with 100bhp may feel powerful in India where traffic is slow and the roads are not conducive to fast driving.

The same 1.6 will fell miserably slow in fast traffic where the roads are smooth and you can do more speeds easily.

Drive an Altis in India where it does feel very responsive, drive the Corolla in for instance a highway in the UAE and you will feel that its very sluggish.

Similarly with specs - every market gets specs at a price which is competitive for that market. Comparing vehicles in different markets means that you're comparing basic, entry-level transportation in one market to a premium sedan in another. The second market will obviously get more bells and whistles because of the positioning.

To use this experience to justify your purchase decision though is quite ridiculous and very far-fetched. If that were the case, I could've bought a Mitsubishi Pajero V6 here for the retail price I paid for my 3 litre diesel Safari in India - I should be cribbing too, big time!

Smaller cars and sub-compacts are cheaper in our markets and as the size increases the price differential reverses with bigger sedans being cheaper in those markets than they are in ours.

[FanBoy]

Ummm - put things in perspective. A 1.6 with 100bhp may feel powerful in India where traffic is slow and the roads are not conducive to fast driving.

The same 1.6 will fell miserably slow in fast traffic where the roads are smooth and you can easily do more speeds easily.

Exactly my point Steer. I am not very concerned about the lack of power. I am more ****ed with the lack of power windows and the absence of central locking. But I am very sure that a first time visitor to the US, if given this car, will be all praises. That is because of our mentality, I guess.

Also, I am limited to a set of cars, which fall in the range of $850 to $900 rental per month, as the company pays for it.

But rear seat legroom is waaaaaay better in my Palio.

FanBoy

[Steeroid]

ERROR - Clicked on 'Quote' instead of 'Edit' by mistake!

[mclaren1885]

1. We will comment about anything and everything, whether we know about it or not.
2. We are very happy to pass judgement on Indian Cars, which we have never driven, just because we trust the posting member.

I agree with you completely.

BTW, I am swapping it for a Toyota Yaris today.

Looking forward for the review soon

[Lukeskywalker]

Hmm, Rajan, nice review, so when are we taking your Verna to nandi hills?