City cars with sporting pretensions are nothing new, but recent new additions like the Renault Twingo GT and forthcoming Volkswagen up! GTI, appear to offer extra performance to match their visual aggression.
Unfortunately, Kia’s sporty-looking new Picanto GT-Line isn’t one of those cars. In this guise it makes do with an 83bhp naturally aspirated petrol engine – and until the turbocharged 1.0-litre arrives later this year it’s the most powerful Picanto on sale.
Kia argues that there’s a market for cars (small ones in particular) that offer a sporty design but don’t saddle owners with crippling insurance premiums and additional fuel costs. To that end, the Picanto GT-Line comes adorned with chunky front and rear bumpers, red detailing, a faux rear diffuser, 16-inch alloys and, unnecessarily given the performance on offer, twin exhaust pipes.
The overall effect is smart and surprisingly tasteful, with the menacing face and purposeful stance lifting what is otherwise a fairly anonymous looking city car. You’ll find a selection of updates inside, too, including a set of stainless steel pedals, black and red artificial leather and extra chrome and gloss black details throughout. Again, Kia hasn’t gone overboard, simply adding some extra class to the 2017 Picanto’s already logically ordered, attractive and solidly built cabin.
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Granted, most of the trim on the doors and dash is hard and shiny rather than soft and plush, but the same can be said for similarly-priced rivals. Our only criticism is the relative lack of colour – sister company Hyundai manages a brighter and airier feel in the i10.
Nevertheless, this is the most upmarket city car Kia has ever built. Visibility is good, and despite a lack of height adjustment on the seats the driving position is comfortable even for taller passengers. It’s also more practical than before, with enough room in the back for two adults to brave longer journeys – and a class-leading 255-litre boot.
You’d be forgiven for taking one look at the GT-Line’s big wheels and assuming ride and handling suffers in the pursuit of outright style. However, this third-generation Picanto has a body that’s 32 per cent stiffer than the old car, which combined with extra insulation, means a notable reduction in noise and vibrations.
The suspension is stiffer without harming comfort, meaning the Kia feels nicely taut and agile in the bends – and even sharper in GT-Line form thanks to subtle changes to the setup. There’s a firmer edge than the regular car thanks to the lower profile tyres, but it’s not uncomfortable and is composed enough by class standards. If you want the ultimate bump absorption, we’d recommend going for a regular ‘2’ or ‘3’ spec car with less style-focused wheels and tyres.
Some of the surfaces we encountered in central Italy were even worse than you’ll find in the UK, and over really rough tarmac the Picanto does hop and skip about a bit, but that’s unsurprising given the low kerbweight and short wheelbase. The steering is a big improvement on the slow and gloopy rack of the old car, however, appearing positive and direct without any nervousness at speed. It even has standard-fit torque vectoring, which brakes an inside wheel to help keep the car on its intended line through a corner.
The only letdown in the package is the 1.25-litre four-cylinder engine, carried over largely unaltered from the old car. It’s a bit less laboured out of town than the base 66bhp three-cylinder, but doesn’t rev as sweetly and lacks the thrummy soundtrack. It also misses the low-down punch and smoothness of turbocharged rivals. It’s perfectly adequate given the city car brief, but those who plan regular jaunts out of town should hold on for the upcoming 98bhp 1.0-litre turbo.
That version will command a fair premium over this car, however. Interestingly, GT-Line spec is actually a more stylish version of a mid-range ‘2’ trim level rather than building on the flagship ‘3’. Top-spec GT Line S models come more generously equipped, but are visually nearly identical and cost around £2,000 more. The £1,200 Kia asks over a ‘2’ spec for the GT Line isn’t too rich when spread out across monthly payments, while standard kit includes LED daytime running lights, electric windows, autonomous emergency braking and Bluetooth.
It’s a shame that you can’t spec the seven-inch touchscreen sat-nav as an option on this model, though, and as a result we’d be tempted to stump up the extra £200 for the 3 spec car and forgo the styling add-ons instead.
- Model: Kia Picanto 1.25 GT Line
- Price: £12,450
- Engine: 1.25-litre 4cyl petrol
- Power/torque: 83bhp/122Nm
- Transmission: Five-speed manual, front-wheel drive
- 0-62mph: 11.6 seconds
- Top speed: 107mph
- Economy/CO2: 61.4mpg/106g/km
- On sale: May
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