2013 Kia Picanto in Malaysia !

No doubt that the Kia Picanto is a head turner, thanks to Peter Schreyer, Kia's CEO and Chief Design Officer. Halogen projector headlights with daytime running LEDs, sloping beltline, protruding shoulder line and LED taillights give the Picanto a contemporary and upmarket design. This is to make a statement that the Picanto is not an average A-segment hatchback.

Two variants have been offered by Naza Kia - a 5-speed manual and a 4-speed automatic transmission. Both are coupled with a 1.25 litre Kappa powerplant which can also be found in the Hyundai i10 1.25. The Kappa engine produces 87PS at 6000rpm and 120Nm of torque at 4000rpm, should be nippy enough for daily city driving.

The difference between automatic and manual transmission is that automatic transmission get more goodies. For instance, 15-inch alloy opposed to 14-inch for the manual, front fog lights, chrome door handles, keyless entry with push-start button, 6 speakers (4 in the manual), supervision meter cluster, LED illuminated vanity mirror, sunglasses case, cupholder illumination (wow!), Bluetooth and leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio buttons.

Safety wise, it'll take your breath away. Six airbags, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Hill-start Assist are standard for both automatic and manual transmission. This would put some D-segment sedan (ahem, Japanese) to shame!

Yes, the Kia Picanto might be loaded with a long list of equipment and features, but with indicative price of below RM60k for the manual and below RM64k for the automatic, it's a little pricey to be considered as an affordable A-segment hatchback. However, this will give the Mitsubishi Mirage in the similar price range a run for its money. Hopefully in the future, a lower spec variant will be introduce to bring the price further down to near RM50k.

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