Still woefully lacking oomph.
Despite the growing market for small crossovers, Kia’s smallest offering, the Picanto, has done surprisingly well in the sales charts. As a result of that, they’ve decided to bring in a more head-turning variant to the local Picanto range that’ll set your heart aflutter, only to have it calmed back down by the performance on offer.
We’re talking about this, the new Picanto GT-Line, which looks really bloody smart no matter how you cut it. The boggo Picanto S was already an agreeable-looking motor, but the GT-Line addresses some of the less-than-desirable visual bits like the wheels and bumpers on either end.
In that regard, the Picanto GT-Line sees fitment of more aggressive bumpers front and rear, snazzy 16-inch alloy wheels, projector headlights, LED daytime running lights, and a bodykit with contrasting body accents, with the whole thing topped off by a set of twin exhaust tips.
Inside, you’ll find “premium” faux-leather seats, a six-speaker audio system, and alloy sports pedals. You will at least get ‘GT-Line’ badging all over the place, in case you forget you’re in the sharper-looking model. The Picanto GT-Line is available in four colours, with white as standard (and solid), whereas Aurora Black, Signal Red, and Titanium Silver all cost an additional $520.
Now before you race off to a Kia dealerships in the hopes that this tidy little handler now has a properly meaty engine under the bonnet, be warned. Kia has not made any changes to the mechanicals underneath, so you’ll still find the same 1.25-litre atmospheric petrol four-cylinder, which puts out a whopping 62kW and 122Nm, mated to a cutting-edge four-speed automatic.
And the price of all that delicious performance? Just $17,490 drive-away, representing a $1800 walk-up from the Picanto S automatic. At least there’s a 7-year/unlimited mileage warranty and capped-price servicing.
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