KIA’S Picanto is currently celebrating 20 years in the UK market, and with the latest version of the Korean marque’s cute little city car having just scooped City/Small Car of The Year at the News UK Motor Awards, there could be no better time for Drive to try one out for ourselves.
Conveniently, I recently got to spend a little quality time with a Kia Picanto GT-Line, a mid-range variant of this diminutive hatchback. It combines appealingly sporty styling with a three-cylinder 1.0-litre petrol engine under its tiny little bonnet that’s rated at a throbbing 62hp and 68.6 lb-ft of torque.
Now, on paper/screen, those stats are not going to set any car fan’s pulse racing and they certainly mean the Picanto’s performance fails to live up to the promise of its name. However, hand on heart, the Picanto GT-Line was still one of the most entertaining cars I took for a spin during the recent SMMT Test Day event in Wetherby – almost on a par with the latest BMW Z4 roadster, in fact, and certainly better than the new MG Cyberster (more on both of those in future instalments of Drive).
The fact that the Picanto is now Kia’s fourth best-selling model in the UK market proves compact city cars specifically designed for urban commuting/parking are still very much in demand in the SUV-dominated era.
Priced from £16,745 on the road, the Picanto GT-Line is also pretty much the perfect ‘first car’: it’s cheap - though its 5A insurance rating may scare off teen drivers not lucky enough to be piggybacking on a parent’s policy – six airbags and forward collision avoidance assist as standard mean it’s safe, and it’s also slow enough that even pedal-mashing hooligans will struggle to do much damage while behind the wheel.
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Wannabe boy/girl/non-binary racers will be instantly tamed by the GT-Line’s glacial 0-62 mph time of 15.4 seconds: an automatic gearbox-equipped version is also available at a £700 premium, which adds an extra three seconds to that eternity.
The Picanto pretty much runs out of puff after 60mph, so eons may pass before you ever manage to achieve the vmax of 90mph. Of course, nobody will be buying this particular supermini for its performance, but that peppy three-cylinder lump offers a pleasingly ‘roarty’ (it’s a word, trust me) exhaust note that positively encourages drivers to wring its neck from first to fourth gear.
Throw in go-kart-esque handling thanks to its long, spread between its corners wheelbase and quick-rack steering, plus a kerb weight of just 985kg, and the GT-Line still somehow feels nippy enough to put a smile on your face when you’re on the move.
These eager yet underpowered characteristics also suit the look of the car, which wears a slightly angry looking ‘face’ courtesy of the new Picanto’s updated front grille configuration incorporating the vertical LED headlight design shared with its big sister, the EV9.
The GT-Line version also adds some ‘diffuser effect’ lower bulges, giving it a mildly aggressive, chubby-cheeked look reminiscent of one of those scrappy little dogs with squashy wee faces that seem to thrive on making ill-advised attempts to assert their authority over much bigger canines which could probably swallow them whole.
The phrase ‘more bark than bite’ definitely rings true with the Picanto GT-Line as you parp merrily along while fruitlessly attempting to gather speed. Still, an abundance of blacked-out trim, tinted front and rear windows and sporty 16-inch alloys add to its appealing exterior styling, helping to ensure you at least look good as other cars pass you by.
Regardless of speed, or lack thereof, I was certainly enjoying myself in this little car from the moment I turned the key – yes, you use an actual car key to start the Picanto. There’s also a ‘real’ handbrake lever, both very much rarities in modern motoring.
Comfortable leather seats and soft-touch everything in the cabin mean it’s a pleasant place to be, and while leg room is unsurprisingly at a premium for rear seat passengers, there’s a respectable boot capacity of 255-litres, expandable to 1,010-litres with the 60:40-split rear seats folded down.
Onboard tech is also really decent for such an inexpensive car: there’s an 8-inch central touchscreen with Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, and voice activated navigation, plus a multi-function steering wheel which allows you to navigate various features without lifting your hands from the wheel. Meanwhile, the centre console below is home to the easily operated physical buttons and dials for climate control that we should demand from every vehicle.
Would you want to tour across Europe in a Picanto GT-Line? No, although you probably could - as a front seat passenger at least - provided you weren’t in much of a hurry. However, for driving in built-up areas, this capable little car from Korea will definitely add a pinch of roarty, nippy fun to your daily commute.
As ever, it comes with Kia’s unbeatable seven-year/100,000 mile warranty, and if you like the look of the Picanto but need a bit more zip under your right foot, the similarly styled, better equipped and more powerful range-topping GT-Line S version (from £18,445 OTR) swaps that three-cylinder lump for a four-cylinder, 16-valve 1.2-litre petrol unit making 77bhp / 83.4lb-ft with a 0-62mph time of 13.1 seconds and a maximum speed of 98mph (come on Kia, 100mph was right there).
With such an appealing platform to build on now, let’s just hope that one day Kia decide to give us a properly spicy version of this long-serving supermini and deliver us a scorching hot hatch that finally lives up to the Picanto name.
AT A GLANCE: KIA PICANTO GT-LINE
- Price: £16,745 (OTR)
- Drivetrain: Three cylinder, 1.0-litre petrol engine, 5-speed manual gearbox, front-wheel-drive
- Power: 62 hp
- Max power: 46.2 hp @ 5,000 rpm
- Max torque: 68.6lb-ft @ 3,750 rpm
- Max speed: 90 mph
- 0-62mph: 15.4 secs
- Kerb weight: 985 kg
- Fuel consumption (WLTP combined): 52.3 mpg
- Co2 emissions: 121 g/km
- Insurance group: 5A