Kia Cerato Video Reviews

Small cars may be falling out of favour as the SUV wave continues to flood the local new car market. But there are still plenty of worthy contenders, and Kia has just upped the ante with a revised version of its Cerato hatch and sedan.

The Kia Cerato is the car that keeps the Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30 and Ford Focus awake at night. Here's why.

The all-new Kia Cerato sedan range has hit Aussie showrooms, and James Lisle spent a weekend in the mid-spec Sport model to see what it was like to live with.

Richard Berry road tests and reviews the 2016 Kia Cerato S hatch with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

The turbocharged version of Kia’s second-generation Cerato Koup promises a healthy dose of performance substance to match its undeniable style.You can also get the Cerato Koup as a naturally aspirated 2.0-litre, but the 1.6-litre Turbo is the one to get your tongue wagging.The Koup Turbo represents pretty impressive value, and even with the automatic transmission on this one, it’s $30,190 price tag is within a whisker of the cheapest $29,990 Toyota 86 GT. It also costs about the same as the little hot hatches like the Clio RS, Fiesta ST, and 208 GTi, but the Koup Turbo promises similar thrills in a more mature package.It’s also $5100 cheaper than the $35,290 Veloster Turbo auto, so it’s a bit of a style and performance bargain.The Koup Turbo comes with cloth sports seats, a 4.3-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth phone and audio, reversing camera with front and rear parking sensors, proximity keys, heated folding wing mirrors, LEDs at the front and rear, and 18-inch alloys.An optional Touring Pack is also available, which adds leather trim, climate control and a 7-inch screen with satnav.The Koup Turbo shares its driveline and underpinnings with the Hyundai Veloster Turbo and the new Pro_cee’d GT, but the Koup is wrapped in a slightly-longer, more suave coupe body.On the inside, it’s a lot like the Cerato sedan and hatch, and there’s an impressive amount of room in the back and seating for three, plus a surprisingly large 433L boot and split-fold, and a full-size spare wheel. The Koup Turbo’s 1.6-litre engine pumps out the same 150kW/265Nm as the Veloster Turbo and the new Pro_cee’d GT, and carries an 8.0L/100km combined fuel consumption figure with the six-speed auto. Significant to the Koup Turbo’s ownership experience is the fact that it is happy running on Regular 91RON unleaded fuel, and comes with Kia’s capped price servicing plan and five year warranty.Like all current Ceratos, the Koup Turbo comes with a five star ANCAP rating, with dual front, side and curtain airbags, ABS, EBD and stability control.The Cerato Koup Turbo is a bit of a surprise out on the road, with a great balance of performance and refinement.The 1.6-litre turbo engine helps it complete the 0-100km/h sprint in 7.4 seconds, but this is only half the story. There’s fantastic urge available just off idle, with max torque from 1750rpm giving the “fast car” sensation at every flex of your right ankle.The six-speed auto is a great match even without using the paddle shifters, and it makes a nice muted rort from the twin exhausts.The Koup’s handling is nice and composed through corners, and with a torsion beam rear end it will rear-steer like a like a hot hatch when you’re really pushing it.The official fuel figures are tough to match when you’re enjoying the performance, and the steering can be a bit dull when twirled enthusiastically.Despite this finesse through the bends and its low profile 18-inch tyres, the Koup Turbo is surprisingly comfortable over bumps, and it’s nice and quiet at highway speeds.If you’re after a great blend of value, style, performance and comfort, the Kia Cerato Koup Turbo is an excellent option, and it’s easier to live with than a hot hatch. 

Kia has shifted its assault on the fiercely competitive small car class into second gear with the arrival of the new Cerato hatch, four months after the sedan made its local debut.Building on the already celebrated sedan, the new hatch matches its four-door brethren on price and spec levels, and Australia’s preference for five-door practicality fuels Kia’s expectation that the hatch will attract 70 per cent of mainstream Cerato sales.The niche-market Cerato Koup and Veloster-rivalling Pro cee’d GT will arrive by early next year to complete Kia’s small car artillery, but the Cerato hatch will likely be Australia’s small-car Kia of choice.The third-generation YD Cerato hatch replaces the TD generation hatch that has continued to be available alongside the new sedan, and brings fresh design, impressive specs and visual appeal to help it continue the Korean brand’s recent run of winners.The Cerato hatch’s sedan-mirroring price and spec levels mean the entry S kicks off at $19,990 (drive-away at launch), before moving up to the $23,990 Si and $27,990 SLi range-topper.All Cerato hatch models come equipped with air conditioning, cruise control, flex-steer adjustable power steering, front and rear parking sensors, six-speaker audio with Bluetooth audio and telephone. Also across the board is Kia’s five-year unlimited kilometre warranty, capped price servicing plan, and one year roadside assistance to help make a compelling ownership proposition.The Si adds a premium steering wheel and gearknob, 4.3 inch colour multimedia touchscreen with reversing camera, extra chrome exterior detailing, auto headlamps, folding door mirrors with puddle lamps, proximity keys, and 16 inch alloy wheels.The top-spec SLi gains leather trim with front seat heaters and power memory driver’s seat adjustment, dual-zone climate control, power sunroof, HID headlamps, LED daytime running lamps and taillamps, auto-dimming rear view mirror, chilled glovebox, and 17 inch alloy wheels. Satellite navigation is only available as a $1000 option on the top-spec SLi models, which also brings a seven inch multimedia screen.Matching the Cerato sedan from the B-pillars forward, the hatch rides on the same 2700mm (50mm longer) wheelbase as the sedan improving rear seat legroom by a similar margin. The back seat is a genuine adult-carrier, with plenty of space for legs and heads beyond the six-foot barrier.Overall length is 210mm less than the sedan due to a shorter rear overhang, which also sees seats-up cargo capacity drop by 97 litres to 385L (VDA), which should easily be balanced by the real-world practicality of the hatch’s huge opening. Impressively, all models are fitted with a full-size spare wheel that is surrounded by under-floor storage cavities.The body’s increased use of high-strength steel compared with the previous hatch has resulted in a body that is 37 per cent stronger, yet 44-61kg lighter depending on spec. The hatch is not simply a bobtail sedan though, with a cohesive overall aesthetic that complements Kia’s existing designs, and even the basic S grade looks quite muscular from a rear three-quarter view.The hatch also matches the sedan’s engine lineup, with the S equipped with a 110kW/178Nm 1.8 litre petrol four, and the Si and SLi grades moving up to a 129kW/209Nm 2.0 litre direct injected petrol four.A six-speed manual is standard on all Cerato hatch models, with a six-speed auto available for a further $2000. The Cerato hatch’s combined fuel consumption figures are equal with the sedan, despite weighing 20kg more. This means 6.6l/100km (manual) and 7.1l/100km (auto) for the 1.8 litre S, and 7.4l/100km for the 2.0 Si and SLi variants with either transmission.Like the sedan, the Cerato hatch has achieved a five star ANCAP safety rating, with six-airbags, stability and traction control, and hill-start assist.The Cerato hatch is barely discernible from the sedan to drive, which is no bad thing. Significantly quieter and smoother than the previous hatch, the new Cerato’s construction has an air of quality that easily rivals the segment-leading Toyota Corolla, Mazda3 and the mechanically similar Hyundai i30.We had the chance to drive both 1.8L and 2.0L Cerato hatches, paired with the six-speed automatic transmission over a good mix of sealed road conditions, ranging from urban stop-start to high-speed bumpy rural ribbons of road.The 1.8 litre drivetrain proved adequate for hauling the circa-1300kg hatch over much of our route, but its meagre 110kW/178Nm made uphill acceleration and overtaking a chore. The 129kW/209Nm 2.0 litre offers far more relaxed progress over the same terrain, and would be a wise choice if you intend to use the hatch’s five seats with any regularity. The six-speed auto attached to either engine shifted smoothly and responsively, with none of the pronounced tendency to hold taller gears for fuel efficiency of some contemporaries.Like other recent Kia models, the Cerato hatch benefits from local suspension tuning, which is immediately apparent when the road turns rough. Carefully chosen damper rates help to maintain comfort and control in these conditions – a situation no doubt also aided by the hatch’s ‘wheel at each corner’ wide-track stance.The Kia Cerato hatch is certain to win many hearts on the Australian market. Like the Cerato sedan, the hatch is a value package that also boasts refinement, practicality and quality, with design appeal from all angles.

The popularity of the five-door Cerato hatch is growing yearly and now leads from the Rio to claim top sales for Kia. Interest in the Cerato should keep expanding with the release of 2013 Cerato teaser images, which give a glimpse of the new car that arrives in Australia around the middle of next year.  In the