No-frills value for money, a cheap and cheerful city runabout
I'm going away for a long weekend, with the boys, to do outdoorsy things. My job is to provide appropriate wheels. That shouldn't be hard; after all I am a distinguished motoring columnist for a national newspaper. The main thing is that it needs to be big enough to accommodate three large men, food for several days, and lots of kit for outdoor pursuits.
"Which one is it?" they ask, coming outside to load up. I nod at a large Mercedes 4x4 that by chance is parked in the street. "Brilliant, Sam, you haven't let us down for once," they say, opening up the boot, which turns out to be unlocked, the reason for which soon becomes clear...
Poor man. He's sitting in his car, probably waiting for his wife, when two big men open up the boot and start piling stuff into it. He thinks he's being carjacked, luckily he doesn't have a weapon. At least my so-called friends get a shock, too. And then another, when they see the extent to which I have, in fact, let them down. I don't have a 4x4 for the trip, I've got a Kia Picanto in lemon grass green.
I think it's a good way of testing a car, trying to get it to do things it's not really designed for. And I think it's cute, no? Maybe not Fiat 500 cute but better than a Hyundai i10. My companions are unimpressed.
Loading is certainly a challenge. It involves unpacking everything and essentially treating the car as a big (actually not so big) suitcase. The boot may look tiny but on the new model it's been increased to 200 litres and we use every single one of them. Every nook, cranny, pocket and compartment, too. Socks? Glove compartment. Cold meats and cheeses? Under the front passenger seat. When we're done and have squeezed ourselves in as well, the poor car is bursting at the seams and sagging in the middle. If it were an animal, the RSPCA would be here in seconds.
There's a lot of moaning but you know what, it's fine. It's not even too sluggish going uphill because this has the bigger 1.25 engine. I wouldn't bother with that though. Or with the higher trim level, which gives Bluetooth, air conditioning and the lovely metallic lemon grass paint but which brings the price up to a not inconsiderable £11,195. For that you may as well get a Polo. Nah, a Picanto is about no-frills value for money, a cheap and cheerful city runabout with a seven-year guarantee. The basic version, with a one-litre engine, costs £7,995 and does all that fine. It also farts out less than 100g of CO2 per kilometere so you'll save on tax and congestion charges, too. Brilliant. Now I just need to get better friends. Better and smaller.
Kia Picanto 1.25
Price £11,195
Top speed 106mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 11 seconds
Average consumption 60.1mpg
CO2 emissions 109g/km
Eco rating 7/10
In a word Fresh
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/sep/02/on-the-road-kia-picanto
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