KIA K2900 2008 Review

Put a tonne in the back and it's plain sailing.

We were interested to drive the new Kia K2900 CRDi, which replaces the underpowered K2700.

The earlier model struggled with a full load aboard and used more fuel than it should have.

With the DOHC, turbo, four-cylinder diesel engine from Hyundai's Terracan 4x4, K2900 has plenty of power and torque to run with the pack.

Good for 92kW/245Nm, the K2900 easily maintains a fast highway clip loaded or unloaded and consumes less fuel doing it.

The average on test wasn't as good as Kia's claimed 10.2 litres/100km but the truck had only 200km on the clock.

With the factory steel tray, the K2900 retails at $30,490 a tempting price for a tradie on a tight budget.

The tray is bigger than other vehicles in this class and lower making it easier to load. That's partly down to the 12-inch rear dual wheels but also the low slung ladder chassis.

Obviously, the K2900 can be configured into several variants based on the cab/chassis. We have seen a pantech and a flatbed tray back as well as the test vehicle with folding sides.

We reckon you could even get one made up as a tipper.

It carries a maximum 1.5 tonnes with the long factory steel tray back.

We had a good crack at the K2900 and, apart from a few gripes, think it's a good worker.

Access is easy through large doors and the seats have plenty of adjustment, although a bit hard.

The wheel is fairly flat but can be rake adjusted and the pedals are well positioned.

Tight manoeuvres are easy thanks to the tight turning circle. It scores a couple of airbags and three seats but the centre fold down pew only has a lap belt.

We like the rubber floor mats and power windows and remote central locking, but would probably prefer electric mirror adjust.

The five-speed manual transmission has a good action but a six-speeder would take better advantage of the extra torque.

Kia backs the K2900 with a five-year/130,000km warranty.