Test drive Kia Rio hatchback 2005 - 2008 hatchback

Face west

On a global scale, Korean Kia Motors is not a too large manufacturer. Over the past year, 905 thousand cars were manufactured. It is important that most of them were exported.
Moreover, if 326 thousand cars were sold in foreign markets for the first half of last year, then for half this already 435 thousand 41% of all made. The pace is impressive even in the blowing European market for sales by 28%, in Russia, where 18 thousand cars were sold, 50%, in general by 45%! Kia Napoleonic plans in 2006 export a million (!) Cars in 2006. So, new models are needed. The premiere of this summer Kia Rio.
Made for Europe
Kia opened in Frankfurt the European headquarters and even a design center. By the end of next year, the Kia plant for 300 thousand cars per year will appear in Slovakia. Its construction will cost more than a billion euros. All this is necessary for the company to develop success in the markets of the Old World. What car does the European need?
According to KIA marketers, firstly, with a bright and memorable design. Secondly, with a sports and gambling character. Thirdly, practical, comfortable and spacious. Safety and environmental friendliness are understood. Euro IV please; At the tests of EURONCAP, Rio should receive four stars for the front and lateral strikes and three for careful attitude to pedestrians. Whether the newcomer will achieve such results, we will see soon. In the meantime, let's start choosing Rio.
Better more and better!
So, sedan or hatchback? They used to be the same length. Now the hatchback, as expected in Europe, is almost deprived of the rear history and 250 mm shorter than the sedan.
In general, the former Rio was not cramped, but the successor is clearly more spacious. According to KIA engineers, all significant sizes of the cabin are more than a minimum of 2, a maximum of 83 mm. It sounds, maybe not very convincing, but in fact the difference is even 20 mm is clearly visible. They assure that Kia Rio is more spacious of Volkswagen-Polo, Ford-Phieste, Opel-Kors and Skoda-Fabia behind a 190 cm tall driver comfortably fit 185-centimeter passenger. The driver’s seat with height adjustment and tilt is convenient for people of different growth and complexion. The back supports the body well in the turns, the pillow does not interfere with the landing, although the tall complained: they are short. The steering wheel, unlike many competitors, is regulated only by inclination, but you do not feel inconvenience very well. You do not have to reach for the switches or behind the lever of the gearbox. Unless the cigarette lighter, but it is customary to fight bad habits today, next to him an additional nutrition nest, you never know what to connect.
A tour of the trunk pleased under the floor a full -size reserve, and even on a cast disk. No tubes with glue, more reliable than the extra wheel have not yet come up with anything. The list of tire dimensions for Rio is impressive: from modest 175/70R14 to spectacular 205/45R16. By the way, test machines are shod in moderate tires 185/65R14 and 195/55R15. It is easy to feel the difference: on tires with a higher profile, it is much more comfortable to roll even along the smooth paths of Parisian suburbs.
The next stop under the hood. Three options are possible here: gasoline engines 1.4 and 1.6 liters (senior with variable phases of gas distribution) and a 1.5-liter turbodiesel with an adjustable turbine. The latter differs in very impressive indicators: 110 hp. and 235 N.M. But it’s enough to walk around and around.
By ear and to the touch
The Kia Rio Test Drive is northeast of Paris, in the province with the name Shampan does not have a driving. We will taste the products of local workers in the village later. In the meantime, a sip of Rio: a blue hatchback with a gasoline engine of 1.6 liters and a mechanical gearbox.
When the seat adjustments are not enough, getting settled for long. I drive the steering wheel and mirrors: I did not have to look for buttons and keys. A richly finished salon in the EX configuration is not only two -tone design, but also with a leather steering wheel. You can find fault with it in the inner seam is rude. But not Bentley!
Clutch pedal with great stroke, low effort and low information content. The drive, by the way, is hydraulic. Perhaps with such a good training driving. But those who learned to switch the programs 20 years ago want less movements and a clear touch. However, it is not easy to get used to getting used to you just do not rush. Moreover, the motor pulls well from the bottom and easily lucky at a speed of 50 km/h in the fifth gear. By the way, the programs are short: at 100 km/h on the fifth already 3000 rpm. And above 3500 the engine awakens a loud voice. At high speed, it sinks in a common noise background, but with intense acceleration, the engine does not allow itself to be forgotten. But in comparison with the previous Rio, it is still better: ready to believe in the promised 5 dB of decreased internal noise.
Narrow winding paths do not embarrass. To moderately, the sharp steering wheel (three turns from the stop to the stop) pleases with a little effort, while providing a good connection with the road. On the free circular interchanges, we are a little fuck: the speed limited by the rules is clearly higher than the one on which you can describe the circle. But here it is clearly visible: the playfulness of Kia Rio applies only to the standard traffic modes. An attempt to drag it into a too close turn, adding to gas, leads to hanging the inner wheel. The thrust on the wheels, of course, disappears, the machine begins to slide evenly, quickly losing speed. Safe, but not at all gambling. A hard short -flowing suspension does not allow Rio to swing and think about each driver of the driver, but allows you to realize the high coupling qualities of low -profile tires.
The next sedan with the same engine. It differs slightly by behavior on the road, except that it transfers small irregularities much more calmly. However, in many ways it is the merit of tires. The hope that the sedan is quieter than the hatchback did not justify everything about the same.
And now a deficit engine on a test drive is 1.4 liters. At first glance, Rio almost did not lose the speakers with him. The gear rates of the box and the main gear are the same, this is confirmed by the indications of the speedometer and tachometer. A successful motor almost does not lose to the senior at low speeds, more noticeably inferior only in acceleration after 4500 rpm. However, it is not so simple to notice if you do not immediately transfer from one car to another.
For a sweet turbodiesel. By the way, for an active driver, he is much more interesting than gasoline, and his efficiency is a good bonus. The engine fully justifies expectations and offers an acceleration unusual in small -leafs in the range from 1700 to 4000 rpm. At the same time, even the cast -iron right legs of journalists could not drive the average fuel consumption above 8 l/100 km. Noise and vibrations are suppressed as an uprising on Senate Square. Alas, in Russia, Kia Rio and Diesel, probably, will not appear high.
There is no doubt: in the European market, the new Kia Rio is waiting for a successful future, and plans to sell in Europe in Europe in the first year 40 thousand cars look even modest. The fate of Kia Rio in Russia is not seen so rainbow for the Korean is clearly a little expensive. The preliminary price of the basic configuration of LX with a 1.4 liter engine and a mechanical gearbox is approached by 14 thousand dollars. They do not plan to assemble a car at Russian enterprises, adapt the suspension, by the way, too. The fact, however, is that the new Kia Rio is a big step forward compared to the fact that it winds kilometers in the editorial park. By the way, the assembly of the previous model in Kaliningrad has already been stopped

For the best indicators in the class!
In an inexpensive car, the cost of the engine is significant, because in the European V-class few allow themselves to introduce new motors. Kia Rio acquired two thoroughly modernized gasoline engines.
1.4-liter unit with a capacity of 97 liters. With. It has nothing to do with the motors of the former Rio. Rather, he is a relative to a 16-valve Hyunde aggregate emphasis with a reduced piston course. The new recirculation system allowed him to fit into the standards of Euro IV and at the same time, according to Kia Motors, to be 17.5% more powerful than classmates.
The 1.6-liter engine also has a unified Hyunde ancestor, but is equipped with a gas distribution phase regulation, due to which it can boast not only with high power (110 l.), But also very convenient for the driver by the distribution of torque by turnover.
Both engines with an ordinary throttle flap without electric drive are distinguished by a living character.
 

Anatoly Fomin

Source: The magazine "Driving"