2011 Kia Rio Reviews

Graham Smith reviews the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Kia Rio as a used buy.

Ewan Kennedy reviews the first generation, second generation and third generation Kia Rio, from 2001, 2007 and 2012, as a used buy.

Ewan Kennedy road tests and reviews the used 2000-2013 Kia Rio.

NEW The Rio was the car that kicked Kia's Australian sales into gear in 2000. Before that the cars from the Korean carmaker were best known for their for the cheap-and-cheerful pricing and not much more. Beyond the pricing the build quality was average at best, and the reliability wasn't that great either. But like

Kia Rio is a small-medium South Korean car that has picked up significantly in Australia since the launch of the all-new model of September 2011. After two generations of Rios with conservative shapes, the 2011 Rio came with stunning styling that pushes it ahead of many competitors from Japan and Europe from a visual point of view. Build quality wasn’t too bad on the first generation Rios, sold from July 2000, improved significantly in the gen-two cars from August 2005 and is impressive from 2011 onwards. The bodies of the older models were generally better assembled than their interiors, though we do see the occasional rough one inside and out.Tip: Don’t forget that professional inspection.The Kia Rio is sold as either a four-door sedan or a five-door hatchback and has good interior space that can seat four adults, though two grownups and two or three kids is a more practical load.On-road dynamics and build quality have improved over the years and the latest models provide a fair degree of enjoyment for the keen driver. However, some may find the ride a little too firm on rough roads. Try it for yourself during your private road test.A good set of tyres can work wonders for the handling and steering feel of older Kia Rios.Kia Rio is powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine in the pre-2005 series. If worked moderately it will sound and feel fine, but drive it hard and it gets noisy and can be harsh. Engine performance is generally fine as this is a relatively light car. But it can struggle a bit on hills, so it's smart to find a hilly area to do some of your pre-purchase road testing.The newer, from 2005, Rios have a more modern 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine that’s significantly more powerful, smoother and significantly better in the refinement stakes. The engine was further improved in the 2011 series Rios.A lower cost 1.4-litre engine was added to the range in March 2007, its performance is OK if you’re willing to work at getting the best from the car.Transmission options are five-speed manual and four-speed automatic in the first two Rio ranges. Six-speed units, both manual and automatic were a big feature of the all-new model that arrived in 2011, putting the car ahead of many of its rivals.The four-speed auto takes the edge of what performance the older engines do deliver. It’s smooth enough and obviously makes life simpler in the suburbs, the natural habitat of a vehicle like this.The experienced home mechanic can do a fair bit on a Kia Rio. Underbonnet access is good and these cars have old and tried technology. A workshop manual is a low-cost investment that can save you lots of hassles. Don’t do any safety-related work yourself, leave that to the professionals.Insurance is normally towards the lower area of mid-range, but seems to vary more than usual from one company to another. So it pays to shop around, as always make sure you understand what you get, and don’t get, for your premium.Poorly repaired crash damage will show as paint which doesn’t match from panel to panel; and/or a ripply finish in a panel. Check for tiny specks of paint on non-painted parts such as glass and badges. Look at the interior and boot for signs of general wear and tear.The engine should fire up within a second or so of the key being turned, even when it’s cold. As soon as it starts it should settle into a steady idle. There should be no smoke from the exhaust pipe even if the engine is worked hard. Letting it idle for about a minute, then flooring the throttle in a quick takeoff will aggravate the problem.A manual gearbox should be moderately light in its action and not crunch on any of the downchanges, no matter how fast they are made. The third-to-second gearchange is usually the first to give trouble. If the automatic transmission is slow at picking up a drive gear from Park or Neutral it may be because it’s due for a major overhaul.Check the brakes pull the Rio up squarely and that ABS, if fitted, operates when you push the pedal hard.Cars that have spent all their lives in the open air are far less desirable than those that have generally been kept under cover. Faded paint and dried out dashtops are the easiest way to pick ‘outdoor’ cars.

The Rio was the car that really carved Kia a place in the Australian market in 2000. A cheap but not always cheerful bargain box, the Rio staked its claim on decent fuel economy and great drive-away prices. However the styling and fit-out were undesirable, build quality was questionable, and the driving experience almost unbearable.A decade on, and all that has changed - except for the fuel economy. It's still decent, but now so is the car. And while Kia is trying to move out of the bargain basement, the Rio is still well-priced for what you get.The Kia Rio's top spec GDI SLi is priced from $21,990 - a considerable jump over the previous model, which topped out about $3000 below that.Part of that extra is an equipment list that includes daytime running lights, 17-in alloy wheels with full-size alloy spare, larger disc brakes, projector headlights with 'cornering' front lamps, cruise control, heated mirrors, hill holder and touches of leather.Suzuki's Swift GLX beats the Rio's price by $1300 and is a solid choice for the budget, but has considerably less power and torque with no economy benefit, outdated auto, and styling that needs another update to take it beyond the once-over-lightly from earlier this year.The popular Toyota Yaris YRX hatch undercuts the Rio by $600, and while it's got a good features list, it suffers the same woes as the Swift: less oomph, less style and getting out of date.The sales topper is the Mazda2, which in Genki spec is just $155 more than the Rio, still looks sharp and is well kitted-out. While it can't match the Kia's usable space, outputs and economy, it's still a great little driver and a great buy.The class benchmark is still last year's Carsguide COTY, the Volkswagen Polo 77TSI, which looks dull but for $360 more gives you a spicy and frugal little turbo engine, 7-speed twin-clutch and the kind of dynamics that always leave a smile on your face.The Rio's family rival is the (also newly arrived) Hyundai Accent hatch whose platform it shares, and while costing $1000 more it misses out on a little of the Rio's spec and is down two gears, 12kW and 11Nm -- and a bit thirstier too.Also $1000 more and with less power and torque is the Ford Fiesta, but with a great twin-clutch auto, matching economy and a fun drive.The signature 'tiger face' penned for Kia by design chief Peter Schreyer (who moved across from Audi) looks great on the little Rio, giving it a bold entry point. It backs that up with proportions that make the most of a longer and wider mark-up, with a lower sloping roofline reducing the 'tall box' impression that plagues the light car class.The interior is fantastic above base level, with excellent upholstery on well-shaped seats, quality dash and door finishes, a steering wheel that feels good in the hand, and a feeling of light and space - helped by folding rear seats that more than triple the 288-litre cargo space.The new arrival hasn't yet been given an ANCAP rating, but will hopefully do better than the previous model's three stars. To help it in the safety stakes, it comes with six airbags (the old one had two), hill-start assist, stability and traction controls, anti-lock brakes with brake-force distribution that calculates what's needed at each wheel for uneven weight loading, and brake assist for panic stops.The SLi carries a direct-injection 1.6-litre petrol engine that develops103kW of power and 167Nm of torque - an improvement on the 82kW and 145Nm of the previous model. It gets that to the front wheels via a six-speed sports automatic that helps deliver official fuel economy of 6.1L/100km on a combined cycle (although we were getting closer to 7.1 through most of our mixed driving and shot up above 8 when it was just city circuits).Like the rest of the Kia range, the Rio's underpinnings have been localised for the Aussie market. The works gives tweaked dampers to the MacPherson sturt front/ torsion beam rear suspension and a heftier stabiliser bar up front, while the power-assisted rack and pinion steering is sharper than the previous hydraulic set-up.We put the little Rio through something of a torture test, demanding it cart a full load of five grain-fed Aussie adults around. And it came through with a decent mark, especially for shoulder space.While none of the labrats wanted to spend the rest of their life in the back seat, everybody agreed it was comfortably snug, rather than outright cramped. It's wider than most of its rivals by just a couple of centimetres - but they're important ones.The engine coped relatively well with the job, except when we needed to head uphill or try to grab a gap in the traffic. That demanded a firm slap down with the gearshift to try and get more torque, and even then it felt a bit begrudging.This is also when things got a bit noisier, but otherwise the cabin was adequately quiet except when the tyres hit rough-chip surfaces.Handling is surprisingly agile, helped by the splayed stance, firm-ish ride and grippy tyres, but the choppy bumps and cracks make themselves felt more than they would on smaller wheels. But that aside, the Rio is a car you can actually enjoy driving.It's far from perfect, but it's also far from the exiting model in every important way. The more time you spend with the Rio, the more you appreciate the progress it's made in quality, style and equipment.

Not so long ago it was all about the price. People who bought a Kia did so because they wanted a new car but had a limited amount of money to spend. Fast forward and it's still very much about value for money, the difference is that you wouldn't mind owning one - we wouldn't anyway (and we should know). The all-new Rio hatch is a case in point. Like other recent releases from Kia it looks fantastic, and the ride and handling are impressive.Kia is yet to release its 1.4-litre model or its three and four-door variants which don't arrive until next year. The 1.4 will be cheaper but the better specified 1.6 is the pick, priced from $18,990. All models come with Bluetooth and a four-speaker sound system, complete with AUX, iPod and USB connections - all controlled remotely from the steering wheel. Si and SLi models add an extra pair of high range tweeter speakers. There's also two 12 volt power oulets in the centre console. Electric heated side mirrors are also standard.1.6-litre GDi direct injection four cylinder petrol engine produces a healthy 103kW of power and 167Nm of torque at 4850 revs. Claimed fuel consumption ranges from 5.6 to 6.1 litres/100km depending on whether its the manual or auto. The six-speed auto feels like a better match for the engine and allows the driver to change gears manually anyway. It feels quicker off the mark too, with a sporty note under hard acceleration.The latest offering from Kia's design guru Peter Schreyer. It's larger than the Yaris or Mazda2 and is even a few mills longer than the new Barina with a significantly longer wheelbase and load capacity that is almost line ball. The Barina is cheaper and is offered with a six-speed auto too, but it's 1.6 is no match for Rio's new direct injection engine.For those in the know Kia is owned by Hyundai and the two share architecture and models. In this case the Hyundai equivalent is the Accent and while it looks pretty hot, it misses out on some advantages - chief among them the 1.6-litre direct injection engine and six-speed automatic. The i20 is a smaller car that sits on a new platform and is being marketed as a successor to Getz.Designed to get five stars but it's yet to be crash tested. Comes with a full safety package including six airbags and electronic stability control are standard along with anti-lock brakes, brake assist and electronic brake force distribution. Vehicle Stability Management (VSM) program seamlessly integrates the operation of all the safety systems.We drove the mid range Si auto and top of the line SLi manual. Only $1000 separates them in price. The Si has 16 inch alloys while the SLi has larger 17s. The Rio benefits from local suspension tuning and it shows, with a firm confortable ride over a variety of road surfaces. Undulations induced the occiasional bounce but nothing to really worry about.You can punt this car hard and it won't bite back, but the stability control shuts down too soon. In terms of fuel economy we got 6.7 from the manual and 7.1 litres/100km from the automatic.Love it. Looks the goods and can't wait to see one that has been really blinged.

THE new Kia Rio is light years ahead of its predecessor of the same name in design, build, specification and appeal. In fact the name badge is the only thing common to both models. Kia Australia's chief operating officer Tony Barlow described the new Rio as a revolution, not an evolution, which would profoundly alter customers' perceptions of Kia and its vehicles. On the evidence presented at the car's media launch and test drives it will do just that.The revolution begins with the look of the entry-level S, higher spec Si and top-of the-range SLi models for which California-based design manager Massimo Frascella said he sought a modern, sporty and dynamic look that stood out from the crowd. On test drives the car certainly drew admiring glances. In addition, the new Rio has a ground-hugging profile that with a longer wheel base is larger than its predecessor and gives more head and leg room and large luggage space.The car comes in a choice of 10 striking colours, but it is its ``green' credentials that stand out. Target CO2 emissions start at 133g/km, which make the new Rio a top-15 contender in the Green Vehicle Guide. In addition, 85 per cent of the car is recyclable. For example, its tyre well liners are made from recycled bumpers.By early next year the new Rio will come in five-door and three-door hatch and four-door sedan configurations. With the price for the entry model S starting at $16,290 and rising to $21,990 for the top-of the range SLi the car will certainly make Kia's rival manufacturers sit up and worry and should put a smile on the faces of Kia dealers when they reach their showrooms.For the driver in the transformed interior there is a clear instrument cluster, precise instrument graphics that are scanned with only a slight dip of the eyes, wide windscreen and fine side and rear visibility. There are also easily reached central toggle-style switches. Standard on all models are Bluetooth, radio CD player with MP3 compatibility plus AUX, iPod and USB connections all controlled from the steering wheel controls.At the heart of the performance are a choice of 1.4 or 1.6 litre Gamma engines matched to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic with manumatic shift gate in the S and SLi models, and six-speed manual or four-speed manumatic in the S. The 1.6 has gasoline direct injection (GDi) technology while the 1.4 litre has MPi. Both are smooth, quiet yet eager engines providing oodles of power and acceleration on demand.Nevertheless neither of them is a fuel guzzler. The 1.6 returns figures of 5.6l/100kms for the manual and 6.1l/100kms for the auto, while the 1.4 gives 5.7l/100kms for the manual and 6.3l/100kms for the automatic.The new Rio also scores high marks for safety with a body shell of high-strength steel and boasting a five-star crash integrity rating. The car has a reassuringly solid feel, plus other standard safety features include six airbags, electric stability control, projection headlamps and new front ``cornering'' lamps, ABS anti-lock brakes and emergency brake assist (EBA).For the Kia engineers the focus was on drive, handling and ride characteristics and they have done a wonderful job. The car is a delight to drive with the electric power steering and 15, 16 or 17-inch low-profile tyres combining for precise and nimble handling on twisting, wet hill roads that recalled happy memories of driving my Mini Cooper.There is great stability under braking and when accelerating, plus the tuned suspension ensures a smooth ride on surfaces ranging from wet, pot-holed gravel tracks to unevenly surfaced country lanes. The overall drive comfort is greatly enhanced by superbly supportive sports-type seats.

The final piece in the puzzle of Kia's design-led transformation is in place, as the new 2011 Kia Rio goes on sale. As turnarounds go, Kia's has been swift, going from unappealing styling and - at best - serviceable vehicles to far more stylish and effective machines and (not surprisingly) sales increases, backed by locally-tuned steering and suspension.VALUEKia has only announced five-door pricing - the rest of the range arrives early next year. The entry-level S has the 1.4-litre petrol engine and six-speed manual for $16,290 - up from $14,990 for the out-going entry-level model; the Si gets the 1.6-litre direct-injection engine at $18,990 for the manual, increased from the $16,840 pricetag on the out-going model. The range-topper SLi starts from $19,990 for the manual; automatic buyers will pay an extra $2000 - the S gets a four-speed auto but the Si and SLi run the in-house six speed auto transmission.Standard Rio fare includes Bluetooth phone and audio link, USB and auxiliary plug jacks, steering wheel controls for phone and audio, power-adjustable exterior mirrors, a trip computer, air conditioning, power windows and reach'n'rake adjustable steering.The Si gets 6 speakers, a leather steering wheel, cruise control and 16in alloy wheels; the SLi sits on 17in alloys, LED running lights and tail-lights, automatic headlights, cornering lamps and bigger brakes.TECHNOLOGYThe 1.6-litre petrol engine gets direct fuel injection and variable-valve system to give the Si and SLi 103kW and 167Nm (up from 82kW and 145Nm); the entry-S model gets the 1.4-litrefuel-injected four-cylinder engine offering 79kW and 135Nm - up 9kW and 10Nm.DESIGNThe light car's debut marks the completion of the brand's design makeover under design chief Peter Schreyer, with the new Kia face, a strong stance and good proportions. The Rio's footprint has grown by 20mm in length, 25mm in width but with a 15mm lower roofline and a wheelbase extension of 70mm.SAFETYThe Rio range gets six airbags, anti-lock brakes with brakeforce distribution, stability control, a hillstart assistant and emergency brake-assist all as standard - Kia says its expecting a five-star NCAP rating.DRIVINGRain marred our first stint in the five-door Rio Si six-speed manual, which sits on 16in alloy wheels with Kuhmo tyres (and a full size spare), the Rio coped well with the wet and rough hills roads. The first leg (on city and country roads) returned 8l/100km on the short hop from Adelaide to Tanunda.The little five-door is well-planted, with acceptable body control and a ride that's perhaps just a little too firm - but there's just enough compliance to deal with nastier bumps. The 44 per cent stiffer front 22mm-diameter stabiliser bar and the unique damper for Australia has done the job nicely when it comes to composure and turning into corners, but some driving it daily in the suburbs might like a touch more comfort.The boot is a good-size for the class and doesn't suffer for the proper spare tyre. The cabin space is similarly good, allowing me to sit behind myself (so to speak. The six-speed manual is not without its charms, while the six-speed automatic is tuned for economy and needs a big prod to kick down - it finished the return drive showing 9.1 l/100km. The SLi's ride quality suffered with the step up to the 17in alloy wheels - equipped with 45-profile Continental tyres - which transmitted more of the smaller choppy bumps than would be ideal.VERDICTThe Australian light-car buyer is no longer punished by a bleak field of bland and lacklustre hatchbacks.The segment is now offering better-equipped and more entertaining machines - Kia has added its Rio to that list.2011 KIA RIO FIVE-DOOR HATCHPrice: from $16,290Warranty: 5-years/unlimited kilometresResale: 46% (based on outgoing model) Source: Glass's GuideService Interval: 15,000km/12 monthsSafety: 5-star NCAP (estimated)Engine: 1.4-litre 79kW/135Nm four-cylinder; 1.6-litre direct-injection 103kW/167Nm four-cylinderBody: 3 & 5-door hatch, 4-door sedanWeight: 1143-1215kgTransmission: 6-speed manual or 4-speed auto (S), six-speed auto (Si and SLi), front driveThirst: 5.7-6.3L/100km, tank 43 litres, 91RON, CO2 135-150g/km"A light car with good road manners, decent cabin space and ample attitude''