Kia Rio 1.5crdi domino : First Update 6th July 2011

As mentioned in my first article, which can be found at:

http://athingforcars.com/autos/kia-rio-1-5crdi-domino/

I was looking for a car that was better than the old petrol Citroen C3 petrol, that, despite being (in my opinion) a very small car, with a small 1.4 litre engine, was only achieving 33.648mpg during my almost completely urban driving.  I can honestly say that after 5 weeks, and only 400 odd miles, the Kia is a million percent better than the Citroen, and whilst only having gone through one (rather small) tank full of diesel it has achieved 47.437mpg, and that is pure urban driving, air-conditioning on and rush hour travelling!

Is the car perfect, erm…. no, it is an inexpensive car and has many of the failings thereof, including some aesthetic and design flaws that will hopefully be rectified in the new model when it is launched this autumn.

The handbrake is poorly located as when the drivers armrest is down you need to be a contortionist to pull the brake on!  Hopefully the new version will have the handbrake nearer to the passenger seat or at an angle so it can be reached whilst still using the armrest.

The other flaws are really specification problems, the car was the highest spec available when I bought it and it has some glaring omissions, such as no warning tone on leaving the headlights on – which should be standard on every car surely, there are electric windows on all windows, but the drivers window only has an auto-down feature not up again, so going through toll booths is awkward. Finally, the car doesn’t even have electrical wing mirror adjustment.  But, lets be honest, I am being particularly pedantic to find flaws in such a good, inexpensive car.

Now the good, firstly, the fuel economy for a new car and brand new engine is, taking into account the type of driving I do, is much better than anticipated.  I was expecting around 40mpg, but to get over 47mpg is superb.  Given that this was my highest priority, I am extremely happy with this aspect.

Other positives, are a very comfortable driving position, even with a six foot four, seventeen stone driver, a perky engine (maybe not totally refined, but it zippy and with the small size of the car it feels rather sharp), the CD music system and radio is very good and the speakers are marvellous and the air-conditioning has been fantastic with these last hot summer days.

So, after 400 miles I still rate this car very highly, particularly considering the price of the car, so far I would rate the car 8 out of 10.

Have a look at Kia online at www.kia.co.uk