Small Car, Big Demand

In my previous day job as the marketing manager of an auto club, we thought of a membership promo where we were planning to raffle off two brand new cars — one to give to a new member who joined the club during the promo period and the other one to give to an old member who recruited a new member during the said period.

Since budget was a consideration, we were thinking of giving out either the Honda Jazz or the Toyota Vios 1.3G. Priced below P700,000, a pair would cost us less than P1.4 million pesos, which was well within the budget we were working on. During one of our marketing committee meetings, one director, after seeing the media test drive unit I was driving that day, suggested that instead of giving out two Toyotas or two Hondas, we give out the Kia Picanto instead? Suddenly, the committee fell silent and looked at each other. "Yes, why not?" they said, almost in complete unison. "And while we’re at it, why not give away four cars so we’ll have more winners?"

At the time and for the budget, we could give away four cars if we wanted to. The Kia Picanto, then at P310,000 for the basic unit and P330,000 for the upgraded version (with the body-colored bumpers and silver-colored plastic wheel covers), costs about half of the suggested retail prices (SRP) of either the Toyota or the Honda. Heck, it was even priced lower than a year-old used Vios or City. Thus, raffling off four Kia Picantos (or is it Picantoes?) would definitely meet our budget targets.

Although the Kia Picanto is an, ahem, affordably priced, dare I say cheap, economy car, even at its current retail price of P360,000, there is nothing cheap about its quality. The design of the Picanto is more akin to modern European mini cars than to its Korean compatriots, especially the upgraded version with its body-colored bumpers. The overall design execution invites general comments leaning towards "cute", "nice" or "appealing", although I haven’t heard anybody say that they find the little Kia "sexy". The exterior dimensions make it look a lot taller and larger than its popular and populous predecessor, the Kia Pride, and at the same time, makes it look more modern and upscale, status-wise. With its chiseled edges, rounded shape and angular headlights and tail lights, new Picanto owners need not suffer those "rolling refrigerator" jokes inflicted on the old Kia econocar owners, who didn’t really exhibit much pride with their Pride.

Inside, the Picanto welcomes occupants to a Spartan yet roomy interior and access is very easy thanks to four doors and a hatch opening at the back that reaches down to the bumper’s level. The seats, which mix vinyl and cloth, are nicely padded and are quite comfortable. The front seats are sculptured to offer some support during cornering while the rear seatback folds down in a 60-40 split to increase the cargo space, if you’re inclined towards carrying bulky but not heavy items. A removable rear parcel shelf covers the gap between the hatch and the rear seat back when it’s up and adds continuity to the rear bulkhead when viewed from the hatch glass.

Likewise, the driver’s view of the road is unimpeded because of the large front windshield glass. The driver’s controls fall easily to hand, proof that ergonomics play a big role in the cars that come from today’s Kia Motors. The steering is power-assisted and light because of the thin tires and the lightly-weighted power steering unit. Thus far, the steering is the only power-assisted equipment inside the Picanto — the windows are operated by a crank, the side mirrors and the driver’s seats need to be manually adjusted and the antenna won’t retract by itself. After all, this Kia is meant to be an econocar and it does a nice job at being one.

The 1100cc SOHC fuel-injected four-cylinder is frugal and works effectively with the 5-speed manual transmission (no auto gear box as of press time). The drive train combination delivers enough oomph to pull the Picanto to accelerate smartly off the line and cruise happily at 85kph on the highways while returning nearly 9 kilometers per liter in Manila’s horrendous city traffic or about 12-14 kilometers per liter on the highway, if you’re lucky enough to drive in light traffic. Even with my right lead foot and spirited driving style, the Picanto returned nearly 10 km/l on the average during my test drive.

I found the softly-sprung suspension system of the Picanto adequate for the rough and tumble streets of our beloved Metro and the bumps stopped are reached when loaded with five decidedly heavy passengers. The front discs and the rear drums haul the Kia down from speeds with minimum fuzz, and the overall driving feel of the car is stable and solid and ride quality is surprisingly high.

It is no surprise that the quality of Kia automobiles is constantly improving. If you could be as lucky as I was to visit the company’s high-tech and highly robotic Hwasung plant in South Korea, you won’t doubt for a minute that Kia can reach its ambitious goal of becoming the 5th largest car company in the world by 2010. With its improved product line composed of the gasoline- and diesel-powered Sorento and new Sportage SUVs, up-market Amanti luxury sedan, Carnival minivan and Pregio vans and the strength of its partner, Hyundai Automobiles, the constant improvement of Kia Motors will propel it closer to its lofty global target.

If you would like to know whatever happened to my former employer’s membership promo plan to raffle four Kia Picantos, we decided to shelve it temporarily until the club’s anniversary. But to tell you the truth, we deferred the promo upon my recommendation because the Picanto became such a hotcake that the waiting list extended on to three months long. And while I felt that my former bosses lacked the patience to wait, many car buyers are patiently awaiting the delivery of their Kia Picanto.