A 100-Horsepower Kia Picanto Is On The Way

To really start to have fun in a car they say you need about 100bhp per tonne and a good chassis, and a new car that meets these criteria is incoming later this year from an unlikely source...
A 100-Horsepower Kia Picanto Is On The Way

Kia has confirmed a 99bhp turbocharged version of its dinky Picanto city car, and this is better news than you might think.

It’s slated to arrive in the last couple of months of this year. Weighing a little over a tonne in top-spec guise and blessed with a brilliant new chassis, the Picanto is a much better steer than you might expect, as we’ll explain in our review that goes live tomorrow.

Even with the 83bhp four-pot it’s good fun, so adding a meaty chunk more torque as well as more power, combined with three-pot character, means it’s going to be a winner. With prices for the turbo car guesstimated to start at below £14,000, it’s also going to be pretty affordable as new cars go.

A 100-Horsepower Kia Picanto Is On The Way

The small warm hatchback market is going through a bit of a lull, with no real options on the table right now with the exception of the Renault Twingo GT. Kia’s move to a more sporting stance, along with a decent power-to-weight ratio and the right engine setup, are likely to shift the turbocharged Picanto to near the top of many teenage wish-lists.

The engine in question is a three-cylinder, 1.0-litre charmer already fitted to the Cee’d. It’s not as explosive or fruity-sounding as the equivalent in the Ford Fiesta, but it’s a good one. The Picanto will be at least 250kg lighter than the Cee’d, too, and that should see the 0-62mph sprint dip well below 10 seconds.

A 100-Horsepower Kia Picanto Is On The Way

The short body, 99bhp output and involving chassis puts us in mind of the old Fiat Panda 100hp, which was a complete blast to drive, regularly cocking a back wheel around bends and even hopping onto two wheels if you were really committed on a bumpy corner. Let’s hope the blown Picanto is just as much of a giggle.

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Comments

Anonymous

Puts it about $18000 US, assuming we even get the car that is.

04/27/2017 - 06:49 |
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Ben Anderson 1

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Our prices include all taxes and delivery on the sticker by law.
Without all of those, in the USA this car would actually be somewhere around $14,200 MSRP fresh off the lot in the spec shown in the article.

This is why you see so many small cars like this in Europe: they’re unapologetically affordable.

05/01/2017 - 17:19 |
0 | 0
imamutomo21

scrolling and looking at this article
wtf its 1000hp ?
*oh well 100hp ._.

04/27/2017 - 09:01 |
0 | 0
Blaž Potočnik

This and Stinger are only Kias yhat I would consider buying.

04/27/2017 - 10:08 |
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NOTROX

it looks like a white jelly bean to me

04/27/2017 - 13:17 |
0 | 0
M4R10

Oh that hp figure is very spicy (picanto)

04/27/2017 - 13:27 |
4 | 0
Jeremias

Nissan needs to make a Super S version of the micra to compete in this market and because the micra is just an awesome car.

04/27/2017 - 14:52 |
0 | 0