By Sala Masindane (@salaontop)

Its 09:00 on a cold day in Cape Town at the roof of the Radison Blu Hotel, for a minute, I thought I was lost or at the wrong venue for the launch of the new Kia Picanto. The car before my eyes was a second generation Kia Picanto and not the all new Kia Picanto. We had to drive for about 36km to a secret location in Philadelphia, where the new Kia Picanto was patiently waiting for our arrival. Master stroke from the KIA crew. Reminding us about the proud Kia Picanto was a good start for what was about to come.

Start street style smart

The new Kia Picanto is available in four trims: Start, Street, Style and Smart. In the entry level Picanto Start you will find useful standard features such as Aux and USB ports, and Bluetooth connectivity. There is no screen 7″ colour infotainment system that is found in higher specs but the LCD audio system is mounted at the top of the dashboard, and doesn’t look bad at all. In the middle specs, you will find standard features such as power front windows, daytime running lights and auto light control. The top of the range Picanto 7″ colour infotainment system, Bluetooth with Voice Recognition, LED daytime running lights, LED rear combination lights, electrically-folding, heated side-mirrors, aluminium pedals, two-tone cloth and leather upholstery. With the level of spec in the Smart, all Kia has to do is to add a quicker turbo engine to the Smart and then they will have a Picanto Sport in their hands.

The Picanto Smart

For the launch, were treated to the 1.2 Smart Picanto and all the 11 youthful colours, which include the ‘Lime Light’, ‘Shiny Red’ and ‘Pop Orange’. The new daytime LED lights stood out from afar, calling you to come closer to experience stretched an extended new Kia Picanto compared to the previous generation. Some models of the new Picanto boasts a 7-inch LCD screen, multifunctional steering wheel controls, Bluetooth connectivity and ISOFIX child seat mountings on the rear of the car. The biggest party trick for me is the Apple CarPlay and Andriod Auto, this basically means you can connect your phone to the car and use it on the 7-inch LCD screen. So, imagine calling your besties without touching your phone or being interrupted while driving. Yep, you are correct now you can ‘SIRI’ or voice control your phone on the new Picanto. The top of the range Kia Picantos also comes with a rear reverse camera (with dynamic guidelines).

The 1.2 litre 61 kW naturally aspirated petrol engine drives impressively well in traffic and on open roads, however it does get a bit sluggish on the steeps but the odd change down to lower gears will solve those problems. This is a city car though and even the 1.0 49 kW naturally aspirated petrol should be okay for those purposes.

Prices

At R195,995 for the top spec it is a bit pricey but the kit that the car packs sort of justifies it. Word for the competition, I am reminded of the words of the great Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu warning the ruling party to stay out of trouble, watch out!

The prices of the new Picanto at the time of writing this piece were:
1.0 Start Manual         R134,995
1.0 Street Manual       R149,995
1.0 Style Manual         R159,995
1.0 Style Auto             R172,995
1.0 Smart Manual       R179,995
1.2 Start Manual         R150,995
1.2 Start Auto              R163,995
1.2 Street Manual       R165,995
1.2 Style Manual         R175,995
1.2 Style Auto             R188,995
1.2 Smart Manual       R195,995

The new Kia Picanto comes with unlimited kilometre 5 year warranty. Where is the service plan Kia?