Kia Picanto Updates are More Than Skin Deep

Kia’s Picanto single-handedly regenerated a dying segment of the passenger car market. These little micro-cars, perfect for town travel, had been disappearing faster than Christmas gin. It turns out that buyers knew good value when they saw it, and what they’d been given was a load of old rubbish. Along came Picanto with its cheery face, fun drive, and sensible pricing, and kicked the others out of the sand box.

It has been around since 2017, and the 2023 facelift is the latest of 2 incarnations, and is possibly the most important. 6 years usually signals a model change, and is something Kia has done with most of its range like clockwork. Picanto’s light touch-up suggests developing an all-new car did not make financial sense, much as Kia might say otherwise.

The new appearance has given the aging design a look that now sits comfortably alongside the rest of the range.

Kia Australia’s Chief Executive Officer Damien Meredith said, “The latest iteration of Picanto integrates features and styling that brings the baseline of the Kia range in line with our newest models, while still delivering the outstanding value that Picanto has come to be known for”.

“Along with the updated product range, Picanto demonstrates Kia’s ongoing commitment to our customer base in providing a car to suit every lifestyle and stage of life”.

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ABOVE: 2024 Kia Picanto GT-Line

New Picanto comes as Sport and GT-Line, both carrying over the 1.2 litre MPI petrol engine with 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic. The car deserves a 6 speed in both transmissions, considering the puny 62kW/122Nm power output.

Kia’s ‘Opposites United’ design brings new:

Headlights
radiator grille
front bumper
rear tail lights
Rear bumper

GT-Line has front & rear lighting with Kia’s new ‘signature’ lighting design. There are 14” alloy wheels for Sport and 16” machine-finished diamond cut alloy wheels for GT-Line.

Kia is having a gentle laugh by calling the plastic on the steering wheel and shift knob, “Premium artificial leather”. GT-Line gets a D-cut sports steering wheel, and analogue gauges are gone, replaced in by a 4.2” digital cluster in all models. The 8” floating touchscreen infotainment system has been retained as is.

GT-Line also adds rear USB-C charging ports, for the little travellers small enough to origami themselves into the poor pews.

Only a short time ago, we are arguing with Kia’s product planner about the wisdom of reversing cameras being a must-have. Since then, much has changed. Not only does Picanto have a great infotainment system with a camera, but there are safety and driver aids once reserved for cars costing twice as much. Both models get electric and folding side mirrors with integrated indicators, with heating for GT-Line.

Performance is not the aim in a city car, it is the ease of use that has pride of place. It has to be small, easy to park, economical, yet comfortable with enough room inside for a hanger-on or two, and all the gear that comes with daily life.

It just so happens that Picanto has been a fun drive as well.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) include: