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As rivals fall by the wayside, Kia’s popular city car gets a makeover

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The Kia Picanto will, we suspect, turn out to be the slowest car Autocar tests during 2024, notwithstanding the subject of Matt Prior’s Christmas road test. Then again, based on previous candidates, that machine could well possess not a chassis but a hull.

But forget about performance, because this 3.6m-long supermini is still one of the more unusual and interesting cars new money can buy – more unusual as a type of car than even plug-in hybrid supercars, which now outnumber truly small, and very affordable, hatchbacks.

It will be news to nobody that city cars are an endangered species. Low margins, the cost of advanced safety features and a shift in market demands have all played a part in the thinning out of their ranks, yet diminutive, highly affordable, economical cars still have a role to play – and rather a noble one, if you ask us.

That’s what this £15k Kia offers: easily accessible, trusty motoring. And perhaps a little fun? Let’s find out.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Kia Picanto review 2024 02 side panning

This Picanto looks fresh, what with its hammerhead-style headlights, which ape those of the monolithic new EV9 SUV, Kia’s largest model.

However, underneath the tweaked exterior sits the same platform that arrived in 2018. The JA generation of Picanto is thus fundamentally unchanged, with MacPherson struts ahead of a torsion beam. This means it remains remarkably narrow, easily slipping through gaps that even a Volkswagen Up would need to slow for.

The only notable change concerns the powertrain. Gone is the old 99bhp 1.0-litre turbo triple that gave this supermini a certain hot-rod appeal.

You can still have the same unit in naturally aspirated form, although output has dropped from 66bhp to 62bhp, with Kia claiming that improved exhaust gas recirculation has lowered NOx emissions and that intake valve timing has been “optimised”.

In lieu of the turbo motor, the car’s old 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol unit, which disappeared from the line-up in 2020, has returned to the fold, though it too is fractionally less powerful than before, and now makes a modest 77bhp. Predictably, CO2 fleet averages are to blame for the blanket drop in horsepower.

INTERIOR

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Kia Picanto review 2024 07 dash

Kia, if you didn’t know, does good interiors. They tend to feel solid and logically laid out. What’s more, they are spacious, especially where Kia’s fine electric models are concerned.

The Picanto is no different. This is a surprisingly mature cabin; not as playful as that of the Toyota Aygo X or as elegant as that of the recently retired VW Up, but neatly wrought and more premium than expected given the asking price of our entry-level 2 test car.

‘Premium’ is, of course, a relative concept. The Picanto still sports plenty of fairly cheap-feeling plastic, though it is sturdy to the touch, and the artificial leather used to upholster the gearknob and steering wheel contributes to the sense that, yes, you’re driving an economically built car, but not one that has been relentlessly pared back to forcibly drive down costs.

The switchgear for the HVAC is manifestly old-fashioned but is all the better for it. Want cooler air? Twist the big dial. Want a stronger flow of air? Twist another big dial.

There’s also a row of shortcuts beneath the central touchscreen, and a phone call button on the steering wheel – something that even VW, once masters of the rationally laid-out cabin, has now dispensed with. This is a small but very intuitive cockpit, with plenty of light allowed to enter in.

Alas, it’s not an enormously comfortable cockpit. The seats are firm, not especially adjustable or supportive, and that supermini-typical lack of reach adjustment in the steering column forces taller drivers to adopt a long-of-leg, long-of-arm posture that becomes tiring. We’re also not so keen on Kia’s decision to ditch the pre-facelift car’s analogue instruments for a fairly nondescript digital display.

The Picanto does at least maximise what space the floorpan permits, both in terms of physical space and the perception of it. The dashboard is bookended by vertical vents that make the cabin feel wider than it is, while the large glasshouse and glut of head room ensure the Picanto isn’t remotely claustrophobic inside.

Admittedly, leg room is tight for adults and those up front should expect some knee-powered lumbar support. There’s no shortage of head room, mind.

The 255-litre boot is usefully deep, but the Aygo X and Dacia Sandero have longer seats-down load bays.

Infotainment and multimedia

A touchscreen used to be fitted on only higher trims, with cheaper versions getting a fairly simple radio head unit with a few buttons and a segmented display. From 2024, all Picantos feature an 8.0in touchscreen. It runs an older version of Kia’s software yet works logically enough and even includes built-in navigation.

The standard audio system is nothing special but better than you might expect in an entry-level car. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto both require a USB-A connection.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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18 Kia Picanto 2024 review 1 0 litre engine

There is a line to be drawn where just enough power becomes too little.

With the 1.0-litre MPI triple sending our test car to 60mph in 13.4sec, and the 30-70mph dash in fourth gear extending to a Wagnerian 25.9sec, it’s fair to say that the Picanto’s performance straddles that line.

Pin the throttle in a low gear, right in the sweet spot of the engine’s 6600rpm scope, and you’ll still need to exercise some patience, as evidenced by the 5.2sec it takes to run from 30-50mph in second gear.

That said, the equivalent Aygo X is even slower than the Kia in all these metrics, and the Sandero only a mite quicker. The Kia is therefore competitive, and there is some pleasure to be taken in stoking a pint-sized petrol motor, and keeping it on the boil (so above 3500rpm), using the five-speed manual gearbox.

‘Thrummy’ is a clichéd adjective, but that’s exactly what is motor is. Thrummy, happy to take a bit of punishment and quite characterful in tone, especially if you drop the rear seatbacks to let more exhaust burble permeate the cabin. Shift quality itself is spongy, a bit languid and no synaptic delight, but there’s a purity that makes driving the Picanto simple fun.

As for stopping power, the Picanto is impressively resistant to fade, even after repeated stops from 80mph – a fact surely achieved in part as a result of the 895kg kerb weight. The car does, however, take longer to come to halt than its chief rivals from Dacia and Toyota. Just under 50m from 70mph, in the dry, is none too smart in 2024.

RIDE & HANDLING

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Kia Picanto review 2024 26 rear cornering

So the Picanto is a long way from being fast, or particularly exciting to drive, but here’s the thing: it can be driven more or less flat out on any road you care to point its stubby nose down, and without troubling the speed limit. In a world where 500bhp is the new 300bhp, and the lens of cameras is increasingly present, this is an asset.

That said, the Picanto doesn’t do much to delight the driver, as many a French supermini has over the decades. The steering is rather light and a mite remote, though it does weight up a touch as suspension loads increase. Neither will the Picanto alter its line solely on the throttle. It remains inert in the face of a well-timed lift on the way into a bend, and if that sounds OTT for such a car, it is precisely what makes the VW Up and French superminis of yesteryear such a joy to drive.

What fun exists here – and there absolutely is some to be had – comes simply from how small and light the thing is. It means you have plenty of road to play with, and the sense of diving into corners with very little inertia is always entertaining.

Ride quality is also a mixed bag. The Picanto uses a relatively rudimentary suspension set-up, yet with so little unsprung mass in the case of our test car (shod with diddy 14in wheels), the long-wave gait is actually quite smooth.

We would recommend that owners don’t use their car to routinely cover long distances, but on occasions when it is necessary, the Picanto flows along with the composure to match some cars in the class above. Note, however, the 71dBA we recorded at 70mph. The Picanto is not uncouth for its class, but you would expect a notable uplift in isolation from cars but one segment above – Clio et al.

At low speeds, those 14in wheels don’t make life especially easy for the Picanto, or its passengers. They are simply too small to traverse ruts and corrugations without labouring them. You might opt for the 16in wheels, but the low-profile tyres bring other complications. 

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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Kia Picanto review 2024 01 front tracking

The car tested here is the most basic Picanto you can buy – a 1.0-litre car with the manual gearbox, costing just a little over £15,000.

When you consider that cars such as the Renault Clio and VW Polo now require you to spend £20,000 or more, it’s clear the Kia offers good value for money. You can option the automated manual for an extra £700, but in our experience that is an inferior ’box, and dim-witted.

This is also an economical car, as shown by our ‘everyday’ fuel efficiency test, during which the Picanto returned 57.6mpg. It means the 35-litre fuel tank, which looks small on paper, is generally adequate for the day-to-day tasks these cars will undertake.

In terms of specification, there’s actually quite a bit of choice. Above the 2 seen here sits GT-Line (16in wheels, racier exterior styling, LED headlights, privacy glass, artificial-leather upholstery), then 3 (automatic air-con, heated front seats and steering wheel), before you reach Shadow (wireless phone charging, green upholstery) and finally GT-Line S (sunroof, front light bar, some additional ADAS functions).

Even the top-rung GT-Line S comes in at less than £18,500, however, if you stick with the manual gearbox, as you should.

You should also, of course, consider rivals, and the Kia has one in particular that has always impressed us: the Dacia Sandero. That hatchback has a larger footprint than the Picanto, which may rule it out for some people, but that does come with an uplift in practicality. The Dacia also has stronger performance, more grown-up dynamics and certain elements – a reach-adjustable steering column being one – that make it easier company.

Remarkably, for roughly the same price as the Picanto 2, you can also have not the base-spec Sandero, or even mid-range trim, but the top-of-the-line Journey, with its 16in wheels. We make no secret of our fondness of the Sandero, and it’s probably the better buy in this case.

VERDICT

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21 Kia Picanto 2024 review front static

With less power and a slightly higher price than before, it cannot be said that the updated Picanto is a better car than the one it replaces. But the point here is that the little Kia exists, when so many of its peers – the Volkswagen Up and Renault Twingo among them – have fallen by the wayside.

This is also a rather charming car that’s enjoyable to punt down a half-decent road and it has a grown-up, well-equipped cabin – unnatural driving position notwithstanding. Our choice would still be Dacia’s Sandero, but if you need a truly diminutive car, the Kia is a fine, rounded option.

Richard Lane

Richard Lane, Autocar
Title: Deputy road test editor

Richard joined Autocar in 2017 and like all road testers is typically found either behind a keyboard or steering wheel (or, these days, a yoke).

As deputy road test editor he delivers in-depth road tests and performance benchmarking, plus feature-length comparison stories between rival cars. He can also be found presenting on Autocar's YouTube channel.

Mostly interested in how cars feel on the road – the sensations and emotions they can evoke – Richard drives around 150 newly launched makes and models every year. His job is then to put the reader firmly in the driver's seat. 

Kia Picanto First drives