Kia Pegas a great little sedan at the right price

The new Kia Pegas has me thinking how people often misconstrue true fame. Take Karl Marx, for instance. He was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary.

As such, he is often quoted when really clever people lecture other really clever people about socialist economics or similar stuff this writer does not understand.

That apart, career criminals in politics quote Karl Marx when they dream about “appropriation without compensation” ie the blatant theft of things like farms.

But, Karl is by no means the best remembered Marx family member. His sister Onya is. To this day – up to and including the just finished 2021 Olympic Games – athletes literally kneel down when an official says ”Onya Marx”. This custom is followed anywhere people run competitively throughout the English-speaking world – now, THAT is lasting fame.

Rio gets a sibling

Which brings us to the Kia Pegas 1.4 EX, recently added to the South African Kia model line-up. This small sedan is, under the skin, a close brother to the Kia Rio, which is so famous that the Brazilians named one of their cities, plus a huge carnival, after it.

Now, we do not think the Kia Pegas will reach such lofty heights, but a week with the vehicle as house guest gave us various reasons to remember it fondly. Basically, the Pegas is a Kia Rio with a boot – not a bad thing, considering that the Rio is a very capable hatchback.

So they put a traditional three-box design on the same platform, bringing the vehicle’s boot capacity to a claimed 475 litres.

ALSO READ: Kia commits to sedans by pricing new Pegas

Mechanically, the Kia Pegas comes with the same normally aspirated, four-cylinder, 1 368 cc petrol engine as that of the Rio. It produces 69 kW of power at 6 000 rpm and 132 Nm of torque at 4 000 rpm. The above goes to the front wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox.

We did not concentrate on saving fuel during the test period, and reckon that more measured driving would produce a better figure than our eventual overall 6.4 L/100 km.

Sturdy looks

The Kia Pegas, to our mind, somehow manages to look more sturdy that its famous brother. The test vehicle came in bright red, with a large black front air scoop, spoked alloy wheel rims in 175/70 R14 rubber, sculpted sides and colour-coded bumpers fore and aft adding to its looks.

Inside, the vehicle boasts a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, artificial leather upholstery, a leather-wrapped multi-function steering wheel and cruise control, plus all around electric windows and mirrors.

It will seat four adults in comfort, with air conditioning, an on-board computer, a six-speaker sound system; Bluetooth connectivity and remote central locking adding to their welfare.

That apart, the whole point of the exercise, the boot, will house a family’s luggage, and give you the security of locking said stuff away from thieves.

Active safety items include disc brakes all round with ABS and EBD, automatic headlights, front fog lamps and a reverse camera with rear parking sensors while passive safety stuff includes dual front airbags.

The Pegas is by no means a fast car – Kia reckons it will have a top speed of just over 170 km/h. But, it does not need massive performance to be fun to drive.

Easy to operate

The steering is direct, the manual gearbox is slick and precise, and the car reacts to driving inputs immediately. Eventually, you start thinking you are driving well – dangerous, for old people like myself.

The Kia Pegas is nippy in traffic and a turning circle of 10.2 metres, plus the above-mentioned rear parking sensors and camera makes it a cinch to manoeuvre into tiny spaces.

In fact, we had to start nit-picking to find fault with the Kia Pegas. Oh, yeah, there is something – it has one of those stupid space saver spare wheels – one of this writer’s absolute pet hates.

Conclusion

It’s a worthy addition to the local Kia range. It should be popular among old people who want a “real car, with a boot”. The Kia Pegas 1.4 EX will set you back R236 995 and comes with a five year/unlimited distance warranty, or the prepaid option of a four year/60 000 km service plan.

To read more about the Pegas range, click here.