Kia Picanto vs Hyundai I30

What's the difference?

If you're feeling the cost of living sting, there's a good chance you've scaled back your ambitions for your next new car. You may have even looked at some of Australia's most affordable brand-new vehicles and the Kia Picanto is one of them.

It's one of the few brand-new options left with a before-on-roads starting price of under $20,000 and it's one of the few non-performance models left which can still be chosen as a manual.

It's one thing to be affordable, though, and quite another to be good value - so does the freshly updated 2024 Picanto have what it takes to stack up against more expensive options? Let's take a look.

The Hyundai i30 sees an update for the 2025 model line and the base N Line variant gets the best of the new stuff, including a new mild-hybrid powertrain.

This might mean trouble for its nearest rivals, the Toyota Corolla, Mazda3 and Kia Cerato, because the update makes the N Line one of the better base-model hatches to come out in recent years for its segment.

In this review, we see how it also handles urban life!