Kia Rio review

The Rio may have grown since the third-generation car, but it’s worth remembering that it’s still a small car. Front seat passengers certainly have plenty of room above and in front of them, but you might find yourself rubbing elbows with you passenger on occasion. Storage is good, however.

The door pockets are shaped to accept a bottle of water with ease and can even hold a medium coffee upright. Between the seats are another couple of cup holders and in ‘2’ trim and above, a storage box between the front seats. There are also a couple of handy shelves beneath the heater controls that can hold even a large smartphone.

As one of the bigger cars in its class, you shouldn’t have too much difficulty getting taller adults in the back seats. Head room is good and there’s more leg room than you get in the already roomy Skoda Fabia; it’s still a small car, but only when there are particularly tall people up front will those in the back find their knees pressing in to the back of the front seats. Try squeezing three adults across the back seats and you’ll only want to do a short journey as shoulder room will be tight, although the middle passenger will find good foot space thanks to the small central tunnel. Like the front doors, there’s enough space in the rear door pockets to hold a drinks bottle.

There’s nothing special about how any of the seats adjust – you just get the usual 60/40-split rear bench that folds for extra boot space. Having said that, it’s only really the Honda Jazz that offers anything better, with its lift-up rear-seat bases that let you fit tall items in the rear passenger compartment.

The Rio’s boot is one of the biggest in its class, comparable to the Skoda Fabia and much bigger than the Ford Fiesta or Renault Clio. It’s a uniform shape and comes with a variety of hooks and lashing eyes to stop your shopping sloshing around the boot at every roundabout. Our only complaints are that there is a big step down from the loading lip to the boot floor, and another big step in the extended load deck once the rear seats are folded down. A variable height boot floor would help, but isn’t available, even as an option.