As in the U.S., where roughly 70 percent of new cars sold are black, white, or some shade of silver or gray, the automotive landscape in Korea is almost exclusively gray scale. This might have been why the locals gave us funny looks as we drove from downtown Seoul to the country’s east coast in a bright red 2012 Rio5 (U.S.-spec, of course). Or maybe it was the pace at which said red Kia was racing from one well-marked speed camera to the next.
Or it could be that those onlookers were simply noticing that the Kia Rio now has presence. The Rio is one of the last of Kia’s offerings to get a full styling overhaul. (The Forte is next, and the forgotten Sedona will continue to wither until it gets a complete reboot.) This longer, lower, and wider 2012 Rio once again shares its platform with the Hyundai Accent, which was itself stretched and massaged into something more attractive for 2012. On looks alone, we’d take the Rio. And, of course, we prefer the more useful hatchback version of either. It helps that the Rio5, which we’ve now had the chance to sample in Korea and test here in the U.S., gets a more expressive front end than its four-door counterpart.
Jumbo Shrimp, Meet Affordable Luxury
Kia continues to fight its econocar label with the Rio and does a pretty good job with that misdirection, especially in the cabin. The interior is as handsome as the exterior and puts soft touch points where they’re needed. For example, a squishy façade fronts a hard dash top, breaking up what would otherwise be a vast expanse of hard plastics. When it comes to equipment, Kia has the upper end of this lower end of the market in its sights, with available keyless entry and start, heated front seats, a rearview camera, leather seats, and power-folding side mirrors. Unlike the Hyundai, the Rio even offers a touchscreen nav system.
The Accent and the Rio do share powertrains. Their 1.6-liter four-cylinder generates 138 hp and 123 lb-ft of torque—it’s the same Gamma engine as before but with the addition of direct injection helping to create another 28 hp and 16 lb-ft. Two six-speed transmissions, a manual and an automatic, are offered. Both Rio5s we drove were equipped with the auto, as it’s standard on all but the base LX model. This is unfortunate, since our experience with the manual in the Accent proves that, although not the most satisfying stick to row, it makes the car much more involving and considerably quicker. The Rio5 SX we tested needed 9.5 seconds to reach 60 mph compared with 8.0 for a manual-equipped Accent hatch. For the car that’s supposed to be the sportier of the two, we’d expect wider availability of the stick, but that seems to be where the ideas of fun and premium butt heads.
Eco Minding
Instead, the engineers forwarded the sporty edict to the designers, the former spending their time worrying about efficiency. To that end, the Rio uses a clutched alternator, and all auto-equipped cars come with an “active eco” button, which dulls throttle response slightly and changes the shift program to increase fuel economy. An optional Eco package, which we sampled in Korea, adds to that lower-rolling-resistance tires and an engine stop/start system called “Idle Stop & Go.” No complaints on shutdown or startup; we never noticed the engine turning off, and the refire happened smoothly in the time it took us to go from brake to gas. The package will be available here sometime later in the model year. Our SX test vehicle managed 28 mpg without it, shy of the 30-mpg city and 40-mpg highway EPA ratings. Kia expects the stop/start system to boost the city figure by 1 mpg, but it could have a more pronounced effect in real-world driving, as the EPA test doesn’t incorporate much idling.
Although that efficiency tech aims to be undetectable, the Rio5 does make a slight transformation when equipped as an SX, which brings a stiffer, “sport tuned” suspension and 17-inch wheels. (The SX also includes projector headlights with LED DRLs, LED taillights, and Kia’s voice-activated Uvo infotainment system.) Whereas other Kia SX models get harsh with the wheel-and-tire and suspension tweaks, the upgrades are indeed upgrades here, keeping the Rio5 a bit more planted. It’s still not quite a corner carver, though: The Rio5 SX is somewhat hard to place, which is not helped by well-weighted but low-feedback electric power steering, and the suspension still allows some decidedly unsporty body roll. The car lacks the handling immediacy and directness of B-segment dynamic specialists like the Mazda 2 and Honda Fit.
Better Than Ever, but Not Better Than Everything
Kia hasn’t yet released pricing for the 2012 Rio, but given the company’s recent launches and premium-on-a-budget marketing strategy, we expect stickers similar to those of last year’s model. Figure on a base price of less than $15,000, with the top SX trim starting at about $18,000.
Although it might not be the B-segment pack leader, the Rio has improved in pretty much every measurable and subjective way. If fuel economy is your thing, the Rio is one of many new small cars to hit the magic 40-mpg highway number. It should satisfy the little-car, big-feature crowd, too. And we have a hard time arguing with a good-looking hatchback that covers those bases—especially one available in hues besides white, black, and silver.
