Muscle inside and out.
Due to bow in at the Frankfurt motor show next week, Korean carmaker Kia has thought it prudent to jump on the ever-expanding crossover bandwagon with this, the Picanto X-Line. Essentially a hatch that’s been given a healthy dose of machismo and jacked up to suit, this tyke is expected to go on sale in Britain before the end of the year, before taking on other markets worldwide.
The Picanto X-Line is a lot more than just an aesthetic revision though. Aside from the chunky cladding and the faux bash plates on either end, the X-Line also sits a considerable 15mm higher than the standard car, getting it a little closer both appearance- and clearance-wise to the sort of cars it’s trying to compete with. The visual changes don’t stop there though, with contrasting colour packs offered to go along with the silver or lime-green accents found on the grille, the rear skid plate, and the fog lamp surrounds.
The revisions to the cabin are limited to some unique trim that adds more lime-green accents throughout the place, though the headlining update is to be found under the bonnet: Instead of the barely-adequate 1.25-litre atmo petrol engine we’re familiar with, the Picanto X-Line has instead a 1.0-litre turbo three, capable of 75kW and 172Nm.
Claimed to do less than 4L/100km, the characterful T-GDI mill is capable of hurtling this pseudo-crossover from rest to 100km/h in just 10.1-seconds, which will certainly leave plenty of drivers giggling at the wheel.
According to an AutoExpress report, Kia is keen to push this turbo-three mill to the GT-Line Picantos in the future too, though no concrete timeline has been offered to give us an idea of when we could hope to see one. A forced induction mill would be exactly what the Picanto needs, as the conclusion we drew from our review of the compact hatch was that it lacked the powerplant to support the looks. Guess that’s about to change.
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