Kia Picanto review

The Kia Picanto is something of a rarity, because it's a dinky city-focused small car that runs on petrol at a time when most rivals have gone electric – or gone off sale.

Why? Well, little petrol cars like the Picanto are simply not that profitable to build, and manufacturers would prefer you to spend thousands more on a small SUV or an electric car. And that's fair enough, but what if you don't want to pay out big bucks, don't need SUV levels of interior and boot space, and are not ready for a car that needs to be plugged in?

Well, Kia has shown its not looking to leave this part of the market anytime soon, giving this third-generation Picanto another substantial facelift. It’s still available with two petrol engines paired with a manual or an automatic gearbox but it now gets a fresh look outside, tech upgrades inside and five seats as standard.

While competition is becoming scarcer, there are still good alternatives to consider. There's the closely related Hyundai i10 for a start, plus the Dacia Sandero and the Toyota Aygo X.

So how does the 2024 Kia Picanto stack up against the best small cars? Read on to find out...

The Kia Picanto has a choice of two petrol engines, neither of which has a turbocharger.

The line-up starts with a 62bhp 1.0 MPi. The official 0-62mph time of 15.4sec puts this among the slowest accelerating cars that you can buy. You often need to use full power to keep up with traffic – and that’s with a five-speed manual gearbox. If you go for the automated manual transmission (AMT) the time rises to a glacial 18.2 seconds.

The other choice is the 1.2 MPi, which is a 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol and the official 0-62mph time for that is 13.1 seconds with the manual and 16.5 seconds with the AMT.

The Toyota Aygo X is similarly slow, but the Hyundai i10 gets a peppy turbocharged option (which was previously available in the Picanto, but not for this new model) and the Dacia Sandero 1.0 TCe 90 is punchier still.

The Picanto doesn't ride as slickly as a Sandero or i10, and jostles you around more over scraggy town roads and has some extra fidget along pimpled sections of motorway.

It's all relative, though. In truth, it’s far from uncomfortable, especially if you avoid the larger 16in alloy wheels fitted to top trims. And the good thing is that – being a little firmer sprung than some small cars – it doesn't bounce around along undulating country roads.

The Picanto's firm suspension helps it to corner more keenly than most rivals. It's right at home on twisty lanes, displaying the kind of agility and alertness that its nearest rivals can't muster. The Sandero displays more body lean.

The i10 and Aygo X steer slightly more sweetly than the Picanto but that's picking holes. The steering is still excellent at keying you into the grip at the front wheels and it's more accurate than the Sandero's.

Importantly, the steering lightens up at low speeds, which – combined with its tight turning circle – makes the Picanto a doddle to thread through traffic or into tight parking spaces.

The fact that you need to work the Picanto’s small engines hard, and that they only come with five-speed gearboxes, inevitably leads to a bit of noise.

And it's not just engine noise: at 70mph, just chatting with your passengers will involve raising your voice. If you want a little car with a bit more decorum, try the quieter i10 instead.

On the up side, the Picanto's brakes are really easy to meter, with a firmer, more confidence-inspiring pedal than the Sandero's. That means driving smoothly in traffic isn’t an issue, plus the manual gearbox has a slick shift and clutch action. The slow-witted automatic gearbox that has you nodding gently during every change is less appealing.

The only real bugbear with the Kia Picanto's driving position is that its steering wheel adjusts for height but not reach. Fortunately, its driving position works well for most people, and it’s very easy for the standard digital driver display to be in plain sight.

The driver’s seat is supportive, despite the lack of lumbar adjustment, and has enough side bolstering to stop you sliding around in corners. The well-aligned pedals and driver’s seat height adjustment make it really comfortable, even on a long trip.

The Picanto's dashboard layout is simple and a doddle to understand, with well-placed buttons that are big enough to spot easily on the move.

You get halogen headlights with the Picanto's entry-level trim but all other versions get brighter LED headlights that are better for visibility at night. Seeing out of the front during daylight hours isn't a problem thanks to slim front pillars and a deep, wide windscreen. The same is true when you’re looking out of the side windows while tackling junctions and roundabouts.

The rear side windows are slightly smaller, but passengers are unlikely to feel claustrophobic – the Picanto is relatively bright and airy in the back compared with the smallest rivals.

The rear pillars are chunkier and the rear screen is relatively small, but over-the-shoulder visibility is slightly better than in the Hyundai i10 and much better than in the Dacia Sandero. It's great that rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera come as standard.

Every version of the Picanto comes with an 8.0in infotainment touchscreen with DAB radio plus Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring.

The menus are intuitive and the screen responds quickly to inputs, and it feels altogether more modern than the Sandero’s infotainment system.

As with every other car in its price bracket, the Picanto's interior isn't graced with soft-touch materials that are a great joy to behold. However, the plastics have been textured in such a way that they don't look or feel too cheap.

Everything seems well bolted together, giving the same feeling of solidity that you get from an i10. As with the i10, the buttons and switches also feel nicely damped, but the i10 does have plusher gloss-black plastics that knock it up a notch – for perceived quality at least.

Tall drivers in the Kia Picanto will easily find enough head and leg room to sit comfortably. The Dacia Sandero is a much bigger car overall, and the Hyundai i10 is a little wider, but the Picanto doesn’t feel cramped.

There's plenty of storage dotted around, including two cupholders between the front seats that are big enough for the largest of takeaway coffees, plus a tray for your mobile phone, and front door pockets big enough to hold a small water bottle. The centre armrest, meanwhile, opens to reveal an extra cubby.

All Picantos have five doors but their openings are not as big as they are in an i10, so getting in and out is more of a squeeze. Once inside, six-footers will have little to complain about in terms of head room, but will find their knees pressed up against the front seatbacks, especially if anyone tall is in front.

Rear leg room is pretty good by the standards of the littlest small cars but the i10 has quite a bit more and the Sandero is more spacious still. Five seats now come as standard (earlier Picantos had four seats), with two Isofix mounts for child seats in the back. Sitting three adults side by side there will be a real squeeze because of how narrow the Picanto is.

The tiniest small cars don’t usually have clever seating tricks hidden up their wheel arches, and the Picanto is no different.

Its rear seatbacks can be split in a 60/40 configuration, but the seats don't slide or recline, as they do in the similarly priced Suzuki Ignis. The front passenger seat height isn't adjustable and you can't get it with lumbar support either.

The Picanto has one of the more useful boots among small cars. It's bigger than the Toyota Aygo X boot, with more than enough space for a few large shopping bags. We managed to slot in three carry-on suitcases with some space to spare. The Sandero, though, is available for similar money and can fit six cases.

A height-adjustable boot floor comes as standard on everything apart from the cheapest trim level and in its highest position lies flush with the rear seats when they are put down and only leaves a modest loading lip. In that position it also sits above a useful amount of underfloor storage, and putting it in its lowest position to increase the overall capacity is very simple.

The Kia Picanto is among the cheapest new cars you can buy today. If you’re paying with cash, it is a slightly cheaper alternative to an equivalent Hyundai i10 but is still pricier than the supremely good value (and bigger) Dacia Sandero. While PCP finance deals are competitive, the i10 has slightly better resale values.

Running costs should be cheap, and the Picanto generally costs less to insure than the i10. Both the engines are frugal, and the entry-level 66bhp 1.0 MPi should return real-world fuel economy not far off 50mpg.

The Picanto in entry-level 2 trim comes well equipped for a car with such a low list price. It comes with an 8.0in infotainment touchscreen, rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera, cruise control, and alloy wheels.

Going up to GT-Line adds slightly flashier styling, LED headlights, 16in alloys and a height-adjustable boot floor. 

Next on the trim ladder is 3, which has the same looks as 2 trim but a decent amount of extra kit including heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and keyless entry.

The range-topping model is GT-Line S, which has the same styling as GT-Line but the same level of equipment as 3 while adding upgraded safety tech and a panoramic sunroof. The 2 trim seems like excellent value and is our pick of the line-up. If you want more kit, we’d go for 3 trim and forego the styling upgrades of the GT-Line trims.

In the 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey the Picanto finished eighth out of 19 models in the small car class. Meanwhile, Kia as a manufacturer finished an impressive eighth place out of 32 manufacturers ranked. That's ahead of Dacia and Citroen but behind Toyota, Mini and Hyundai.

For peace of mind, every Kia comes with the brand’s famous seven-year/100,000-mile warranty as standard. You can get up to 10 years on a Toyota if you service it at a main dealer, but no competitor comes close (Hyundai offers a five-year warranty).

Every Picanto gets six airbags as standard, and all trims get automatic emergency braking (AEB) to help prevent front-end shunts. Range-topping GT-Line S gets an upgraded AEB system as well as blind-spot monitoring. The Picanto’s 2017 three-star out of five rating from crash safety expert Euro NCAP is now so old that it has expired – however it should offer a similar level of protection to the i10, which scored three stars out of five in 2020.

All Picantos come with an alarm and immobiliser as standard. However, the Picanto might not keep your valuables very safe: the security experts at Thatcham Research gave it a lowly two stars out of five for its ability to resist being broken into.

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