Kia Picanto ready to show why its not a garden variety hatchback

While sedans have been falling by the wayside amid the rising demand for SUVs, hatchbacks have shown more resilience in the body style battle.

Traditional hatchbacks offer the gateway to most badges, coming in more cost-effective than crossovers and compact SUVs they share showroom floor with. One of these stables are Kia, with the Picanto establishing itself as a long-standing institution for the Korean carmaker.

While the introduction of the Sonet compact SUV and Pegas compact sedan along with the canning of the Rio medium-sized hatch have seen plenty of action at the budget end of the Kia portfolio over the last few years, the venerable Picanto has firmly stood its ground. In fact, the third-generation recently underwent its second update, serving as an indication that Kia is not done with the little hatch yet.

Welcome Kia Picanto EX

One of these facelifted models in mid-spec EX 1.2 manual guise which retails for R284 995 joined The Citizen Motoring‘s test fleet this month. We will put our Picanto to work in the concrete jungle over the next six months while providing regular updates on the practicality, fuel consumption and features that have made the hatch such a popular choice over the years.

Kia prides themselves in the fact that the Picanto is no garden variety entry-level hatch. According to the manufacturer, it is bought mostly by buyers upgrading from their car or middle-aged motorists looking for something smaller. In other words, people who have been around the block who can differentiate between cheap and nasty and something more elegant.

Classy interior finishing

We must confess straight off the bat that our Kia Picanto’s interior finishing is a cut above some cheaper alternatives. Designers have steered cleared of obvious hard plastics a cabin with a dash of personality. The leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear lever with contrast stitching, brushed aluminium inserts and black and grey upholstery seats combine well to create an elegant and simplistic cabin.

An eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a 4.2-inch digital instrument cluster comes standard on the EX. It also comes with 14-inch alloy wheels, height-adjustable driver’s seat and automatic headlights.

Safety comes in the form of ABS, two airbags, electronic stability control, hill-start assist control, Isofix child seat anchors and reverse camera with parking lines.

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Adequate space inside

Despite the Kia Picanto being classified as a compact hatch measuring less than 3.6 metres in length, legroom in the rear is surprisingly decent for adults. Boot space is 233 litres bit it does feel a bit cramped with the false bottom, intended to store valuables like laptops, are in place.

Exterior visual enhancements include a new headlight design, with the distinctive Kia Tiger Nose grille flattened along with the front bumper featuring tweaked lower air intakes.

A redesigned tailgate and bumper feature at the rear with the taillights now sporting vertical inserts. A horizontal light bar connecting the taillights also now features on the tailgate.

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Kia Picanto easy to operate

The Kia Picanto EX is powered by a 1.2-litre three-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine which sends 62kW of power and 122Nm of torque to the front wheels via five-speed manual box. This is an uptake of 13kW/27Nm over the 1.0-litre variants.

The 1.2 naturally feels livelier than the 1.0 up on the reef, with the torque on tap available sooner than small turbo mills. The clutch is light and easy and the steering direct.

The Kia Picanto 1.2 manual has a claimed fuel consumption of five litres per 100km and we look forward to see how our tester fairs in this department.

The Kia Picanto comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty and two-year/30 000km service plan.