Kia Rio News

Kids aren’t usually a factor in Car of the Year judging.  But child friendliness rates highly with women buying cars – and with women judging cars.The countdown has been kicked off to decide the Women’s World Car of the Year, and the kid factor is one the judges pay a lot of attention to.“Statistics show that women drive children in cars significantly more often than men – and that means women need to take that into account, both when buying and as judges of cars,” WCOTY president Sandy Myhre said from New Zealand.“Any woman who has grappled constantly with child seats and belts and children considers those things when looking at buying a car.  Men might too but the fact is, women drive children in cars more than men.“Women would not consider that aspect in a Porsche 911 more than a bloke. The point is, it can be considered in these awards - and that is one of the points of difference in these awards.”Myhre points out that significant research into buying habits show that in addition to buying for themselves, women have a major influence in household purchase decisions for big ticket items.Ford Australia, for example, says their research shows that women are behind the majority of purchases of the Territory SUV – either as single women buying one, or in influencing the joint decision with their partner. “A report from Mattingly & Associates in Australia concluded, in part, that businesses that didn't understand this influence would be hard-pressed to stay in business.  That report was aptly called 'When I've Made Up Our Minds',” Myhre says.However, the kid factor is just one of the criteria by which the 2012 Women’s World Car of the Year will be judged.There are four categories in the Women's World Car of the Year – Family Car, Luxury Car, Sports Car and Economy Car. Points are allocated to each of ten criteria: driveability, engineering, comfort, child friendliness, style, interior, storage, dashboard efficiency, carbon footprint and colour range.The 20 judges from eleven countries have submitted their own personal short list and more than 300 cars were suggested. These individual choices were then whittled down to form a master list of 32 in terms of popularity. Judges will now allocate points for these cars from a criteria list.The announcement of the winning cars in each category and the supreme winner will be made before the end of March. The supreme award trophy and category certificates will be presented to the car companies concerned at the Mondial de l’Automobile 2012 – the Paris Motor Show – in September. The supreme trophy will this year be made in The Netherlands. Category-winner certificates will be designed at Peartree Studios in Colerne, UK.The first winner of the Women's World Car of the Year was the Jaguar XF in 2010 and the trophy made in South Africa was presented at the Jaguar boutique showroom in Knightsbridge, London. In 2011 there was a dead-heat between the Citroen DS3 and the BMW 5 Series. The two trophies made in India were presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2011. 

Within the next month, satnav will be standard in all Platinum trim Sorentos and Sportages and by mid-year in the Optima.  The Korean-made LG satnav system will also be available as an option in the SLi trim level of Sportage and Sorento.  Kia Australia spokesman Kevin Hepworth says the touch-screen sat nav will integrate features such as Bluetooth, audio and rearview camera.  "There is a price associated that we can't reveal as yet, but it will be less than you'd think," he says. Kia has been without a satnav system because the company did not have the hardware or "intellectual property for local mapping", Hepworth says.  "The last 12 months we've been working on the system that has been tested and tuned here," he says.  There will be no option for retro fitting, but Hepworth says the system should eventually flow down to other models.  "It's not as simple as just whacking a unit in. You have to totally change the wiring loom," he says.

Highs and lows of 2011

The newly-crowned Carsguide COTY, the Kia Rio, leads the latest group of five-star safety cars in Australia.A dozen safety standouts have joined the fives, from the Audi A1 to the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet, but the rules will change radically in 2012 as ANCAP demands more protection for new-car buyers."The hurdle to get into the five-star game will be higher, although the crash tests will probably be the same," says Lauchlan McIntosh, ANCAP chair. "Next year, when we start adding whiplash and some of the other 'roadmap' features, it won't be as easy to get a five-star. I think we'll see some new cars not getting five stars."In the end, the car companies will have to lift their game. We're ramping up the safety-assist technologies to get five stars. In 2008 we said you have to have ESC to get in the game. Now they'll need to have some of safety assist technologies. The manufacturers have moved. They have spent hundreds of millions."Those technologies include everything from Mercedes-Benz's Pre-Safe system which pre-primes airbags and moves seats to City Safety at Volvo and the Subaru EyeSight system that includes lane-departure warnings and active cruise control. Some brands will have individual items and others will package a suite of safety stuff."We're going to say you need a certain number," says McIntosh. He predicts a rapid uptake of new technology as well as improving results from brands which are currently failing to make the five-star grade."At the bottom end of the game there are still a few struggling. But I think the Chinese will lift their game pretty quickly, and Mahindra too. Now governments and fleets are only buying five-star cars the game is over. The ADRs are almost irrelevant. It's that purchasing that makes a difference."McIntosh says there should be another final burst of ANCAP results before the end of 2011and, without revealing any detail, predicts a couple of surprises."There will be some new results that will come out with four stars, which is a bit different to Euro NCAP. We're a bit tougher in the aggregation of the numbers. But four stars is still a good result.""We're being a bit overwhelmed by the number of five-star cars and the interest from buyers. And that's a good thing. The latest five-star winners combine the results from European NCAP testing and local results in Australia.“With the holiday period looming your choice of new car may well be a life-saver," says McIntosh.ANCAP FIVE-STAR RATINGSBMW 1 SeriesCitroen C4Citroen DS3Ford Falcon FG MkII sedan and uteHolden Captiva Series IIKia OptimaKia RioMazda BT-50Mercedes-Benz BT-50Mercedes-Benz M-ClassVW JettaVW Golf Cabriolet

And it produced a surprise winner for 2011. It's the Kia Rio. The Korean compact claims the crown by just one vote over the impressive Volvo S60, with the funky Ford Focus rounding out the top three at the end of a year that is setting all sorts of records. More than one million cars will again find new homes in 2011, it's increasingly likely that the Holden Commodore's 15-year reign as Australia's favourite car will end, and new brands from China - Geely and Chery - have taken the count in showrooms to more than 60 individual nameplates. On the COTY front, the Rio becomes the second baby-class member and only the second Korean car to claim the crown, as well as the first from the junior member of the Hyundai-Kia conglomerate. The Rio scores its success off the back of impressive design and packaging, tweaking by an Australian suspension expert, topped by smart pricing starting from $16,290. Surprisingly, it was top choice with six of the 10 COTY judges in 2011, as the Volvo and Ford split the others. At the end of two intensive and tiring days of back-to-back running, the Rio did best when measured against the COTY judging criteria of value, design, technology and safety. "It's a nice, light, easy car to drive. It's got a feisty engine and some nice little touches like the hill-start system and an upshift indicator light," says chief judge, Ged Bulmer. The safety-first Volvo S60 is also a hit with judges, apart from one obvious shortcoming in Australia. "The only thing I don't like is the spare tyre. It doesn't have one," says Neil Dowling. "For what it is, it drives well. Inside, the design is kinda the anti-Focus." The baby Ford is a driving favourite but loses out for its ergonomics and a higher price point than the Rio. "It's good value, has a good sound system, and is good value. But the dash layout is ordinary - it looks like someone threw the buttons at the dash," says Mark Hinchliffe. The COTY contest in 2011 follows a familiar pattern of recent times, with 10 judges, 10 cars and two days of tough driving on a variety of surfaces to check everything from freeway noise levels and fuel economy to dust sealing and cornering grip. There is also an intensive pre-drive briefing and quality check on all 10 contenders, which range in price from the Nissan Micra at $14,990 as an ST automatic to the heavily-loaded Range Rover Evoque at nearly $100,000. Action starts at the Ford Proving Group at You Yangs when all the contenders come together for the first time, with the good looking Evoque and the homeground hero - the diesel-powered Ford Territory diesel - sharing the spotlight. Everyone wants to know how they will compare, which strengths and weaknesses will be revealed, and how the eventual contenders will stack up against the reigning COTY champion, the Volkswagen Polo. One change for 2011 is an early cull which takes out five hopefuls. At then end of a rugged first day, with many laps of the right-and-handling course at You Yangs, a gravel-road circuit and road time in and around Geelong, there are a few surprises. The Evoque is out early because it is poor value, quality and driving failings let the Micra down, while the Volkswagen Scirocco is way too sports focussed - one judge asks for a kidney belt because the ride is almost rock hard - and the Hyundai i40 is nothing special for design or driving. The Territory also goes out because of its basic age, despite the updated front-end styling and diesel for 2011, and shortcomings in a variety of areas. So day two starts early with five cars - with the Holden Cruze hatch as the only local - and two judges aboard each for a series of real-world road loops and plenty of swapping and changing. Then it's time for a sit-down, talk-through and the final voting. Each judge lists their cars from top to bottom and the one with the lowest score wins. The Cruze looks good but has plenty of shortcomings, from lacklustre rear suspension to reflections on the instruments. "Back-to-back it with the Focus and you have to go with the Ford," says Stuart Martin. The BMW is a driving favourite, but it has a cramped cabin and falls down on value. "It's not what you expect for that sort of money. The packaging is compromised," says Neil Dowling. So the final three emerge, at the end of a tight contest with no truly standout car. The Toyota Camry might have been The One, and Ford also has the four-cylinder Falcon coming soon, but both arrived too late for the COTY cutoff. Eventually, the Rio emerges as the judges' choice and a surprising favourite despite its compact size and value-first pricing. It's definitely helped by the suspension work by Graeme Gambold, as well as a six-speed gearbox and feisty engine. "It looks good and it's value for money. All the audio stuff is there.  It's got cruise control and a spare," says Karla Pincott. "Is it better than the best cars in the class? Yes." And there it is, the Carsguide Car of the Year for 2011. FINISHING ORDER 1. Kia Rio 2. Volvo S60 3. Ford Focus 4. BMW 118 5. Holden Cruze 6. Range Rover Evoque 7. Ford Territory 8. Volkwagen Scirocco 9. Hyundai i40 10. Nissan Micra.

It was the closest ever vote in Carsguide Car of the Year history. And it produced a surprise winner for 2011. It's the Kia Rio. The Korean compact claims the crown by just one vote over the impressive Volvo S60, with the funky Ford Focus rounding out the top three at the end of a year that is setting all sorts of records. More than one million cars will again find new homes in 2011, it's increasingly likely that the Holden Commodore's 15-year reign as Australia's favourite car will end, and new brands from China - Geely and Chery - have taken the count in showrooms to more than 60 individual nameplates. On the COTY front, the Rio becomes the second baby-class member and only the second Korean car to claim the crown, as well as the first from the junior member of the Hyundai-Kia conglomerate. The Rio scores its success off the back of impressive design and packaging, tweaking by an Australian suspension expert, topped by smart pricing starting from $16,290. Surprisingly, it was top choice with six of the 10 COTY judges in 2011, as the Volvo and Ford split the others. At the end of two intensive and tiring days of back-to-back running, the Rio did best when measured against the COTY judging criteria of value, design, technology and safety. "It's a nice, light, easy car to drive. It's got a feisty engine and some nice little touches like the hill-start system and an upshift indicator light," says chief judge, Ged Bulmer. The safety-first Volvo S60 is also a hit with judges, apart from one obvious shortcoming in Australia. "The only thing I don't like is the spare tyre. It doesn't have one," says Neil Dowling. "For what it is, it drives well. Inside, the design is kinda the anti-Focus." The baby Ford is a driving favourite but loses out for its ergonomics and a higher price point than the Rio. "It's good value, has a good sound system, and is good value. But the dash layout is ordinary - it looks like someone threw the buttons at the dash," says Mark Hinchliffe. The COTY contest in 2011 follows a familiar pattern of recent times, with 10 judges, 10 cars and two days of tough driving on a variety of surfaces to check everything from freeway noise levels and fuel economy to dust sealing and cornering grip. There is also an intensive pre-drive briefing and quality check on all 10 contenders, which range in price from the Nissan Micra at $14,990 as an ST automatic to the heavily-loaded Range Rover Evoque at nearly $100,000. Action starts at the Ford Proving Group at You Yangs when all the contenders come together for the first time, with the good looking Evoque and the homeground hero - the diesel-powered Ford Territory diesel - sharing the spotlight. Everyone wants to know how they will compare, which strengths and weaknesses will be revealed, and how the eventual contenders will stack up against the reigning COTY champion, the Volkswagen Polo. One change for 2011 is an early cull which takes out five hopefuls. At then end of a rugged first day, with many laps of the right-and-handling course at You Yangs, a gravel-road circuit and road time in and around Geelong, there are a few surprises. The Evoque is out early because it is poor value, quality and driving failings let the Micra down, while the Volkswagen Scirocco is way too sports focussed - one judge asks for a kidney belt because the ride is almost rock hard - and the Hyundai i40 is nothing special for design or driving. The Territory also goes out because of its basic age, despite the updated front-end styling and diesel for 2011, and shortcomings in a variety of areas. So day two starts early with five cars - with the Holden Cruze hatch as the only local - and two judges aboard each for a series of real-world road loops and plenty of swapping and changing. Then it's time for a sit-down, talk-through and the final voting. Each judge lists their cars from top to bottom and the one with the lowest score wins. The Cruze looks good but has plenty of shortcomings, from lacklustre rear suspension to reflections on the instruments. "Back-to-back it with the Focus and you have to go with the Ford," says Stuart Martin. The BMW is a driving favourite, but it has a cramped cabin and falls down on value. "It's not what you expect for that sort of money. The packaging is compromised," says Neil Dowling. So the final three emerge, at the end of a tight contest with no truly standout car. The Toyota Camry might have been The One, and Ford also has the four-cylinder Falcon coming soon, but both arrived too late for the COTY cutoff. Eventually, the Rio emerges as the judges' choice and a surprising favourite despite its compact size and value-first pricing. It's definitely helped by the suspension work by Graeme Gambold, as well as a six-speed gearbox and feisty engine. "It looks good and it's value for money. All the audio stuff is there.  It's got cruise control and a spare," says Karla Pincott. "Is it better than the best cars in the class? Yes." And there it is, the Carsguide Car of the Year for 2011. FINISHING ORDER 1. Kia Rio 2. Volvo S60 3. Ford Focus 4. BMW 118 5. Holden Cruze 6. Range Rover Evoque 7. Ford Territory 8. Volkwagen Scirocco 9. Hyundai i40 10. Nissan Micra.

Hundreds of new and updated cars arrive in Australia each year but only one is good enough to make the honour role for Carsguide COTY.This time around the prize fight is tougher than ever, with new arrivals for 2011 covering every size and price class, from the ordinary Chery J1 from China to the exotic Ferrari 458 Italia from Italy. Neither of them makes the COTY cut, but that's another story ...The reach for COTY 2011 contenders actually stretches back to the final months of last year, to include a couple of cars that just missed the 2011 cutoff, and this time around the newcomers must have hit showrooms by December 1.So, unfortunately, the all-new Toyota Camry is a non-starter. It's the same for the make-or-break four-cylinder Falcon.But the class of 2011 covers all the bases, from affordable mini cars through family and prestige cars to a hot new coupe. The hopefuls come from Europe, Asia and Japan, as well as right home in Australia.Setting the field for 2011 was not easy, particularly with the outgoing champion - the Volkswagen Polo - still casting a considerable shadow.But each of the COTY judges, who cover the Carsguide contenders and drive them in all conditions from coast to coast, has called up their personal favourites from Alfa Romeo through to Volkswagen to help guide the selection process.Then it is the final cull by the COTY veterans to produce the top 10 for a gruelling two-day shootout to consider everything from design and safety through to value and their driving ability on a wide range of roads from Ford's You Yangs proving ground to freeways, suburban streets and gravel roads on the outskirts of Melbourne.The field is set, the race is about to be run, but we cannot get ahead of ourselves.So here are the 10 COTY contenders ... now it's over to the judges: 

Kia Rio, from $16,290 Kia has done a brilliant job in tweaking its cars for Australia from local suspension guru Graeme Gambold, and that has given it the edge in many cases over Hyundai models with the same mechanical basics. The new Rio lifts the badge away from the rock-bottom basics of the baby-car class and it also delivers more for people paying more. Gover says: Nearly twenty grand is a lot to pay for a Korean compact, even with local input to make it a better drive.

The Kia concept was one of four outrageous models hown at the Las Vegas 2011 SEMA show. The vehicles were conceived and built in-partnership with the popular lifestyle magazine, Antenna. It's outfitted with everything the modern-day surfer needs for a perfect day and night at the beach, including an authentic Grain wood surfboard mounted on the roof. The Rio 5-door has been lowered with a modified suspension for more aggressive handling, and the aggressive exterior design is accentuated by eye-grabbing 17-inch three-piece gold wheels, a stunning sunset-metallic golden-brown paint scheme, a custom body kit with a front splitter made of wood to match the surfboard on the roof and a redesigned rear fascia with center-mount dual exhaust.

Big-engined family cars are marking time as carmakers find new ways to make tiny engines do the same work. Even engineers say the change over the past 10 years has caught them out. Few would have bet on a 2-litre, four-cylinder Falcon. Kia’s powertrain manager in Europe, Dr Joachim Hahn, says the move to downsize engines wasn’t predicted a decade ago but clearly makes sense. He is planning a 1.1-litre diesel engine for the Rio small car that will achieve a fuel economy of about 3.5 litres/100km - about half the current average for the small car class. “Downsizing is a strategy we see as being the future,’‘ he says. Even the GT (Kia’s new large-car concept) will work well and lose little of its sporty nature when fitted with a 2-litre, four-cylinder engine.’’ The 1.1-litre three-cylinder diesel claims 85 grams/km of CO2 emissions - a figure that Dr Hahn says was “unachievable’’ 10 years ago. “For us in Europe, getting small car emissions down gives us the freedom to make bigger cars - so maybe the GT can have a V8.’’ Kia experimented with its Optima when it entered the US market last year by dropping the V6 engine in its predecessor and offering only four-cylinder engines. “We held our breath,’‘ he says. But no one complained. We replaced the V6 with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine and we had better than expected sales and customer feedback.’’ But Dr Hahn cautiond about taking the downsizing to far. “There are many variables,’‘ he says. Some markets expect performance from the car and a small engine will have to work so hard to meet expectations that any fuel economy benefit will be lost. “For example, we could put the 1-litre, three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine into the Cerato. But it may not suit al customers in all markets.”