Kia Rio 1.5crdi Domino

http://athingforcars.com/autos/renault-megane-1-5dci-sports-tourer-dynamique-tom-tom/

On reviewing my own car, a 2008 Citroën C3 1.4 Rhythm (petrol) it was found that taking into account my urban driving and the stop, start and queuing rush hour traffic the miles per gallon of the Citroën was only 33.65mpg.  This was a great disappointment as I had downsized from a 2.0 litre diesel Mondeo and given the Citroën’s diminutive stature and small engine it seemed particularly poor.

 Thinking that changing to a diesel may prove cost effective, I began the process of research.  I looked initially at both small engine petrol and mid-engine diesel cars of a similar age to my own and with similar mileage.  On reviewing various dealers near my home in Westhoughton, Bolton it transpires that to kind a comparable car with an economic engine would cost a couple of thousand pounds more than the deemed trade-in value of my Citroen.

Given this large potential cost to change, I widened the search to include both new and nearly new vehicles, which had to have five doors as I need to be able to take my little one in the car.  In reviewing these vehicles a great many more options became available to me, for a few thousand pounds more than swapping to a 2008 car.  On this list were the Ford Fiesta, Hyundai I20, Vauxhall Corsa and Volkswagen Polo.

Further research, including reviewing the mighty What Car (www.whatcar.com), brought into view that the Kia Rio was due to be replaced by a completely new model in September 2011 and that large savings could be found on the out-going model.  Obviously, the out-going car would depreciate more swiftly than the new car, but as it is my intention to keep this car for a great many years that problem is less of a concern.

I went to the Kia dealership at the Reebok Centre in Bolton, the same dealership that I went to when I very nearly changed the family car to a Kia Cee’d Station Wagon (Estate – why so many names for an Estate?), before deciding on the Renault Megane.  The sales assistant showed me the details on the Rio (never mentioning that it was due to be replaced in September) and I took a test drive, along with my wife, daughter and mother-in-law.  The car drove well, its 1.5 diesel engine pulled smoothly and was quiet on the road.  Though it must be said having the indicators on the right stork rather than the left took some getting used to.

The car is stated as having a 62.8mpg combined cycle (with my standard drive a figure I’m unlikely to ever see) and over 50mpg on the urban cycle (which will be my target!).  It will be interesting to see how close I can get to these figures and will be keeping detailed mileage records and will let you know how the car fares.

There are currently two spec’s of the car available, the budget ‘1’ and the more generously equipped ‘Domino’.  The ‘1’ does not even have air-conditioning, electric windows or the total killer, no remote central locking – an essential item for any family, but was incredibly well priced.  The ‘Domino’ has the extras mentioned above, along with the frugal diesel engine, the seven year warranty, the years breakdown cover and the low tax band CO2 emissions it was a deal I couldn’t refuse.  

Negotiations began, and as always it is about as nice as going to the dentist, initial promises were forgotten by the sales staff and then denied ever having been said, but as always a little bit of hardball and the threat of walking away from a nice easy deal paid off.  As well as getting a good chunk knocked off the price of the, already discounted, car, an 8.4% APR finance deal (not too shoddy against Which best deals) on the three year PCP product and three years free servicing thrown in.  I walked away happy, no doubt the sales staff were also happy to sell another of the soon to be replaced car.

I picked up my shiny new black car on the 27th May 2011 and am still on my first tank of diesel.  I will post updates as to how I am getting on with the car, the service from Kia and the fuel economy achieved.  However, so far, so good!

Thanks for reading!

Updates:

http://gomestic.com/consumer-information/kia-rio-1-5crdi-domino-second-update-1st-september-2011/