Kia Picanto Review 2024

We would encourage anyone in the market for a city car to take a look at the Kia Picanto. It's small, easy but fun to drive, just about spacious enough, and looks and feels really good inside and out in the higher trim levels.

If you need an automatic gearbox then the Picanto is one of only a handful of city cars still offering one, but choosing this transmission does mean sacrificing both driveability and fuel economy, so it's a difficult toss up.

Kia is not especially well known for building exciting cars to drive, but the Picanto is brilliant fun to weave through city traffic or country lanes, with tidy handling, direct steering and lots of grip despite its skinny tyres.

A market-leading warranty that provides seven years of cover for major mechanical parts also makes the Kia Picanto a superb ownership prospect, so it's a car that will please both keener drivers and risk-averse sensible types.

Recently it has started to look as if city cars were becoming an endangered species, soon to be replaced by all-electric models. We're not quite there yet though, and budget-conscious buyers still have a lot of choice.

Unsurprisingly, the closely-related Hyundai i10 displays all the same impressive qualities as the Kia Picanto, but the Picanto is an older design, and the latest generation i10 feels even more comfortable and grown-up to drive.

The Volkswagen Up delivers a more refined driving experience, especially on the motorway, where it lets in less road and wind noise, but it's not available with the same level of infotainment equipment as the Picanto.

With a raised ride height, spacious boot and hybrid petrol powertrain, the Suzuki Ignis beats the Kia for fuel economy, and is better suited to those who live out in the countryside and need to deal with muddy lanes.

For sheer space on a shoestring, the Dacia Sandero is hard to beat, but it doesn't look or feel as nice inside.

No one expects city cars like the Picanto to feature lavish materials and luxury kit, but the Kia manages to do a lot with a little. Most of the dash surfaces are made from hard, durable plastic, but it looks and feels solid.

More than that, it's all neatly presented, and as long as you avoid the cheapest model, you'll find lots of small touches that help it avoid feeling dreary. The door handles for example, are finished in chrome, and attractive silver highlights are sprinkled on areas you'll touch often, such as the air vents, media and heating controls.

Most Kia Picantos come with a leather steering wheel, the switches are all nicely damped. Pricier versions get some coloured inserts, sporty aluminium pedals and even faux leather seats help brighten up the basic cabin.

Of course, there are scratchier areas, especially lower down, but it feels more robust than, say, a Fiat Panda or Vauxhall Viva, and its seven-year warranty only serves to underline the feeling it has been built to last.

It all raises the level of expectation buyers should have from cars in this class, especially the top-spec cars with seat heaters and a heated steering wheel - which used to be unheard of outside of swanky big saloons.

The Kia Picanto can be one of the best connected and modern runabouts on sale, or one of the most basic. It all depends on the trim you decide to go for. Entry-level cars get a dated radio with a 3.8-inch monochrome display, and the only way you can listen to anything other than the cricket scores is via the USB or Aux ports.

The sparsely equipped Kia Picanto 1 only has two speakers, with tin-pot sound reproduction and bass. Yet only a couple of steps higher up the range, you'll get all the features demanded by any tech-savvy car buyer.

From the 3 trim upwards, every Kia Picanto features an 8.0-inch colour touchscreen (7.0-inches on cars made up to late 2020) that is one of the brightest and most responsive on the market. This system includes sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so you can use the display to access your favourite phone apps, with messaging, music streaming and mapping options.

With this system you get six speakers (plenty in a car this size), DAB digital radio, voice control so you can talk to Siri or Google and a parking camera.

Upgrade to the Kia Picanto X-Line S and you'll get a wireless phone charger but, with a 12v and USB socket, we're not sure it's worth the extra for the sake of tidying up a few unsightly wires on the dashboard.

Take one look at the tiny dimensions of the Picanto (just under 3.6m long and 1.6m wide) and you might assume it would be hopelessly cramped. However thanks to some clever interior packaging it's actually one of the roomiest city cars on the market.

Those in the front are well catered for, and despite being narrow, you don't get the unpleasant sensation of sitting huddled together with your passenger in a little bubble, as you do in say, a Citroen C1 or Toyota Aygo.

It's simple enough to empty your pockets into the various cubbies on board the Kia Picanto. You'll find a handy place for your wallet, phone and keys, with a deep tray in front of the gear stick, two large cupholders and a wide glovebox.

The dashboard on the Kia Picanto is quite slim, and raised to create the sensation of space around your knees, and headroom is good too. The good news continues for anyone travelling in the back. It's not quite as adept at carrying big adults as the Dacia Sandero, though, and larger passengers will find things cramped behind a tall driver.

Since all Picantos come with five doors as standard, at least getting into the back is easy, but the rear doors could open a bit wider, so you'll have to manoeuvre yourself carefully when stepping in or fitting a child seat.

There are ISOFIX mounting points on both outer spots. Still, to get a large rear-facing seat in you're forced to slide the front passenger seat as far forward as it'll go - rendering that space totally useless for passengers.

The Kia Picanto has a decent boot to make up for that though, with a standard 255-litre capacity that's bigger than all but a handful of rivals. The back seats fold down 60:40, and while they don't sit obediently flush with the boot floor, in such a tiny car it's no hardship to lug suitcases over the hump and push them against the front seats.

With them folded, you can cram over 1000 litres of luggage into the load bay, very impressive given its small footprint. Still, only the top trims get a useful variable height boot floor, whereas in a Volkswagen Up it comes as standard.

For a city car, the Picanto passes the practicality test with flying colours. Bear in mind though that if you need even more space, the Dacia Duster and Suzuki Ignis are quite a bit bigger, but cost roughly the same.

Some brands have replaced their smallest city cars with pure-electric models, including Skoda, Smart, and Honda, while others such as Vauxhall and Suzuki have dropped their cheapest town runabouts altogether.

As a budget-friendly option though, the Picanto is sticking to its guns, and comes with a range of three small petrol engines depending on whether you are buying new or used that should still be fairly cheap to run, and perfect for nipping around on short urban journeys.

Things kick off with a 1.0-litre with 67PS, which is your only option now for a new model. It's a three-cylinder, so it sounds chirpy and feels eager to rev, and while pretty slow, it's no major chore to keep it spinning away. This engine is fine for short trips, but can feel asthmatic as it struggles up steep inclines or on the motorway.

If you want to venture out on faster roads often, the 1.25-litre four-cylinder is a better option. It only has an extra 18PS to play with, but that makes a big difference to how fast it feels in such a light, compact city car. 

However, the larger engine sounds (and feels) a bit flat compared to the 1.0-litre, especially at higher revs. Still, it does give buyers the option of a four-speed automatic instead of the standard five-speed manual 'box. We like the light clutch and positive shift of the manual, but the auto is one of the smoothest in any city car.

By far the quickest option is the 1.0-litre T-GDi turbo with 100PS. It feels like a junior hot hatch, with keen performance, and a lot more grunt in-gear, and it feels at home dicing with larger traffic on flowing roads.

Unfortunately, this engine is rather expensive, and was only available on the highest GT-Line trim level. For most buyers, the much cheaper, zesty 1.0-litre will be sufficient, and it's the lightest on fuel too; every little helps.

Generally speaking, the Kia Picanto is well-mannered for a city car. Still, because you need to work its engines hard to make decent progress, and it only has five gear ratios, it does become noisy at motorway speeds.

For this type of driving, the 1.25-litre engine sounds coarser than the smaller three-cylinder, which makes a zingy thrumming noise that gives it character, but also sends a buzz of vibration through the seat and pedals.

Obviously, the outside lane of dual-carriageways is not the natural habitat of small cars. The Kia is typical of the class at it creates a fair bit of wind and tyre noise; you'll need to raise your voice to make yourself heard.

A Hyundai i10 or Skoda Citigo will isolate you better from the world outside, but the PIcanto won't tire you out like a Fiat Panda or Toyota Aygo on a 100-mile journey. The suspension makes the occasional nasty 'thud' but nothing too untoward.

Stay in town, and you'll notice much less engine noise except when tackling steep hills, and controls like the brakes and clutch are light and respond consistently, making it easier to drive the car smoothly in city traffic.

If you think that most safety gizmos don't really make any difference, this Kia Picanto is here to prove you wrong. As standard, the entry-level trims come without auto-emergency braking (AEB) to help prevent small mishaps.

When crash tested by independent body Euro NCAP it got a three-star rating, but if you added the optional Advanced Driver Assistance Pack it gained an extra star, and higher adult protection scores. In late 2020, this pack became standard on all but the base 1 trim, and now all new Picantos have it included as standard.

With the safety pack, the Picanto has better overall crash performance than a Volkswagen Up or the Toyota Aygo, although the former still does better for child protection, getting 81% versus 64% in the Picanto.

The system works by using a camera in the windscreen to scan the road ahead for traffic, pedestrians, and other potential obstacles. If the car senses a potential crash, it'll warn the driver, but if they don't react in time it can apply the brakes for you, performing an emergency stop. From '3' trim onward this kit comes as standard.

Every model has a decent baseline of active and passive equipment, including a hill-start assistance perfect for getting away from steep junctions, electronic stability control, and a set of tyre pressure monitors. Unlike some rivals (this means you Fiat Panda) it comes with six airbags as standard, plus a reminder to buckle up.

All but the basic Kia Picanto 1 and 2 models come with rear parking sensors, and every model fitted with the larger infotainment touchscreen also features a colour reversing camera, even though the Picanto is already quite easy to park.

You get a tyre repair kit in the boot, rather than a more useful space saver spare wheel, like the Hyundai i10.

The odd rattle aside, we've heard of very few reliability issues with the Kia Picanto. It's an incredibly dependable small car, while Kia's seven-year warranty should also help put your mind at rest.

As a brand, Kia performed very well in the 2023 HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index. It scored an impressive eighth overall out of 29 car makes scored.

For whatever reason, the Kia is not the cheapest city car to get comprehensive cover for. Younger drivers, or those with zero no-claims bonus might be shocked to learn that even the slowest, most basic car is Group 5.

All is not lost, however, as higher grade trims with better safety equipment as standard are in lower insurance brackets, so your premium for a 2 model is based on a group 1 rating. Even the top spec X-Line S sits in group 3.

All Picantos registered after April 2017 (which should be pretty much all of the current shape cars) will pay a standard set rate of VED, which is currently pegged at £180 per year for petrol cars, regardless of efficiency.

Used buyers should remember this means some of its older rivals (registered before that date) will be much kinder to your wallet, since they'll either be tax exempt, or cost about £30, under the old CO2-based system.

New buyers need to pay a first-year fee that is based on efficiency, but this will only be between £185 and £210 depending on the engine and trim, and is usually rolled into the on-the-road purchase price at a dealer.

With seven different trim levels to pick from, it's easy to get confused when choosing your Picanto. The most basic Picanto 1 is plain, with steel wheels, black plastic wing mirrors, and fewer paint options. It's also barer than a student's fridge inside, with no air-conditioning, a dot-matrix radio, no Bluetooth, and wind down rear windows.

Things rapidly improve as you move up the range. The Kia Picanto 2 adds alloy wheels, air-con, four speakers, electric windows, Bluetooth, a leather multi-function steering wheel, and driver's seat height adjustment. Stretch to the Picanto 3 and things start feeling very posh, with climate control, a 7.0-inch touchscreen and reversing camera.

This model also comes with Apple and Android smartphone mirroring, cruise control, rear parking sensors, sat-nav and six speakers. Fully-loaded, basically. It should be all the car most buyers need, but you can get some of its best features for a bit less cash if you choose one of the keenly-priced Picando Titanium or Zest editions.

If you want rugged looks, the Kia Picanto X-Line mimicked the styling of SUVs, combining chunkier bumpers and a raised ride height to make the Picanto look like a diddy off-roader, or, on the other hand, a bit naff, depending on your viewpoint.

The Kia Picanto 3 does without the sporty styling, but it benefits from much of the GT-Line’s extra equipment. It also comes with climate control air-con, chrome exterior door handles, rear parking sensors and cruise control. Satellite navigation is added to the infotainment, along with seven years of Kia Connect online services.

The Picanto GT-Line trim is the sportiest looking, with a similar approach, so it has unique bumpers and a twin exit exhaust. The 'S' versions of both these last two trims add really luxurious kit that you're unlikely to find on any other city car; heated seats and steering wheel, a wireless phone charger, and faux leather upholstery.