Updated: Thursday, August 31, 2006

KIA Picanto 1.1

Kia Picanto is a South Korean city car and under three years in Nigeria. Designers of Picanto got it right for our markets with four doors and ground clearance of 145 that is higher than that of BMW X5 SUV 3.0-4.8 litres engine, of just 120 mm. It can be sighted in most urban centres. Its penetration into the brand new car turfs have been impressive and has received supports from GSM service providers among others. Now the 1.1 litre version has arrived. We would quickly review it for you because today’s write-up is twinned.

Picanto comes with 1.0 and 1.09 litre engines yielding 60 and 64 horsepower. Its dimension is only 3495 x 1595 x 1480 millimetre lower lengthwise than the MINI at 3650 x 1688 x 1415 and New Beetle’s 4082xl724x1498 mm.. There are many things the Koreans got right at the first instance. The first is that the versions coming to us are with four doors (not two as it is in Mini and Beetle) secondly, it is well packaged with most luxury items that include electric windows, keyless entry, three speed wipers, vanity mirrors, passive and active safety components and excellent fuel economy. Its top speed is 150 kilometres per hour. That is why it is afour-star city car in threw league of Citroen CI, Fiat Panda and co, Headroom at 1003 and legroom of 966 also compares favourably and at par with those of Mini and Beetle. Luggage space is of course bigger than theirs at 220/882 compares favourably with 670/670 and 2091709 litres of Mini’s and Beetle’s. It is on per litre basis heavy at 935 kilograms when you consider the New Beetle tips the scale at 1230 kilograms. Picanto doubles the range of fuel consumption of the New Beetle as 7.4/5.8/4.8 litres to 100 kilometres travelled at city, highway and combined (average) are what you should expect fram diesel engines. The Picanto retails at slightly over a million Naira with discounts. In present day contexts that is expensive and vis-a-vis utility or functionality, that amount can procure a used car of below seven years and 1.6 litres engine capacity. But to those who prefer brand new cars and have the wherewithal, the Picanto cannot be viewed as a bad buy. It is a good choice for its performance, economy and importantly, that it is four doors configured.

In the case of Japanese SUVs, you can determine the engine and seating capacities of their SUVs from the badges behind. It is not exactly so for the German ones where same body could have different engines. BMW is responding to functional­utilitarian requirements as in its New X5, the length has been extended by 19 millimetres taking it to 4696 x 1688 x 1707 millimetres. This allows for third row seats to be included and now can seat comfortably, seven passengers. Engines remain the same with six cylinders going for the X5/3.01l82 horsepower and 4.4i and 4.8 at 268 and 293 horsepower respectively, It is hoped that the Touareg too with similar disparities in engine but same body, such as the six cylinders for 3.2 and eight 4.2 litres respectively. Touareg is just six millimetres shorter than the New BMW X5 SUVs but we do not think that is why it does not come with three seating rows. After all, from the same parent company, the Audi Q7 comes with three rows seats. Current gearboxes are now six speeds from five and it is so in these SUVs, while Mercedes Benz goes higher in some models to seven forward speeds. We have checked the literature and found that range of engine quietness, fuel consumption and performance are not significantly different from five speed - that is not to say that there are no marginal differences.

Our twin write-up today highlights the need to get it right from the beginning and that is what KIA Picanto is saying. Bavarian Motor Works or BMW have realized it and have corrected it, or, it is a case of better late than never.