Jonathan Crouch considers the Kia Picanto (2011-2017)

Models Covered: 3/5DR CITYCAR (1.0 / 1.1 PETROL [1, AIR, 2, SR7, 3, 4, CITY, VR7, HALO, QUANTUM, SPORT])

In second generation form, Kia's Picanto proved to be a little city car that was big in importance for its Korean maker.

Stylish, frugal and practical, it was much better than the cheap and cheerful original version and played its part in redefining the way many people think about this smallest category of car. Let’s check this MK2 model Picanto out as a potential used buy.

What You Get:

MK2 Picanto buyers were offered a choice of both three and five-door guises, the three-door car featuring a more aggressive frontal treatment and a unique rear C-pillar.

Things continue on in the same vein inside a cabin that punches well above its price point. It’s all a long way from the not too distant days when interiors of cars of this kind had all the stylistic appeal of a telephone box.

True, some of the plastics used here are still a little hard to the touch but you’d expect that in a citycar and anyway, everything’s so nicely integrated that you don’t really notice, the ambience lifted considerably by a silver strip that runs along the lower half of the dash to lift the otherwise unremitting blackness of the cabin.

As for rear seat passengers, well, the amount of room in the back is astonishing for a car that takes up less than 3.6m of roadspace. There’s a 200-litre boot too.

What To Look For:

ery little goes wrong with typical second generation Picanto models; in fact, our ownerships survey almost completely failed to find anyone at all who was dis-satisfied. The closest we came to that was with an owner who complained of sticking rear brake callipers.

Otherwise, just look out for the usual things; kerbed alloys and damage caused to interior plastics by unruly children. Make sure that the service book is fully stamped up by a franchised dealer too.

Replacement Parts (approximately based on a 2013 Picanto 1.0 ex VAT):

An air filter will be priced at around £9, an oil filter will sit in the £6 to £7 bracket and a radiator will be priced at around £100.

The brake discs we came across sat in the £28 to £30 bracket, with pricier-branded discs costing up to around £47.

Brake pads are in the £18 to £27 bracket for a set, though you could pay up to around £34 for a pricier brand.

A clutch kit is about £160.

Wiper blades cost in the £3 to £4 bracket, though you could pay in the £13 to £27 bracket for a pricier brand

On The Road:

Entry level buyers are offered a 69bhp three cylinder 1.0-litre engine, whilst those opting for the 1.25-litre Kappa four cylinder unit have 85bhp at their disposal.

The difference between the two is actually bigger than the outputs might suggest, and not only because the faster version’s 11.0s showing from rest to sixty is a couple of seconds quicker than its stablemate. For a start, the lower-powered 69bhp variant has just three cylinders, so is inevitably noisier when you push it hard, as you have to in order to make rapid progress.

Those likely to need their Picanto to undertake longer journeys on any kind of regular basis will be better off shaking the piggybank a little further and opting for the four cylinder 1.25-litre model.

Overall:

In terms of looks, packaging, running costs and general day-to-day usability, Kia set a new benchmark with this model. What it boils down to is that though you can spend less on a used citycar from this period, after trying one of these, you probably won’t want to.

Jonathan Crouch