Kia Rio CRDi | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Sat 21 Aug 2010 19:40

Kia Rio CRDi - Glenn 42

I was talking to my brother's neighbour today and he has a 59 plate Kia Rio CRDi that costs little more than the petrol version, but returns 60 mpg, is better to drive and very cheap to insure and tax. Having looked up a few reviews, most owners rave about the economy, value for money and reliability of these cars and Which rate Kia quite highly, in fact way higher than my current make, a Nissan. Doing about 9k a year, often in urban driving, is this car worth considering as it is cheaper than the Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris that I am thinking of?

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Sat 21 Aug 2010 20:20

Kia Rio CRDi - pcvpilotmick

Do you really need the diesel version? I bought a 10 plate Kia Rio 1.4 petrol a few months ago and the worst I have managed to achieve is 39.4mpg on a mixture of urban driving and A road commuting. I managed 51mpg on a steady trip to Devon which I thought was pretty good.

The one thing that stands out is that the interior trim and plastics feel a little bit cheap, but that may be down to the fact that I had a 51plate Focus Ghia before this. Lots of toys (air con, PAS, Abs, remote locking etc) as standard, good value package.

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Sat 21 Aug 2010 20:28

Kia Rio CRDi - Glenn 42

I did read that the petrol model isn't as refined or as powerful as the CRDi, although my current Nissan Almera 1.5 falls a bit short in these departments as well. However, it does seem the Rio has a loyal following locally among people who appreciate a reliable, simple car. I'd love the Ceed, which is up among the best and has a fantastic warranty, but these are still too expensive for me.

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Sat 21 Aug 2010 20:41

Kia Rio CRDi - pcvpilotmick

Try one, you may be suprised! I found that mine was much better with a couple of hundred miles on the clock. They are a little bit vocal at 5000rpm upwards, but for normal driving they are fine. For the money that you pay, you can't really go wrong, especially with a 7 year warrenty as standard!

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Sat 21 Aug 2010 20:45

Kia Rio CRDi - Glenn 42

Well I read Which today in the library and Kia are in the top ten, beating far more expensive makes such as BMW, VW, Audi and Ford. I know I did have an ECU fail on a Hyundai, which is part of Kia, but this was an older model and apparently newer models from this group are more reliable. Certainly the latest Rio is light years ahead of the old one in all respects and Kias in general are becoming quite desirable.

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Sat 21 Aug 2010 20:59

Kia Rio CRDi - pcvpilotmick

When I was looking for a new car, I looked at :

Honda Jazz. Lovely car but very expensive. Dealer wouldn't offer a decent trade in price for my car.

VW Polo. Not much in the way of luxuries unless you were prepared to pay extra for them.

Hyundai i20. Dealer kept ringing me up and trying to pressure me into making a quick decision. No thanks.

Kia Rio. Dealer allowed me £2500 for my trade in ( a 50 000 mile 51 plate Focus Ghia Estate with quite a few scuffs and broken electrical bits) and I didn't pay the extra for the metallic paint. No pressure, didn't follow me around the showroom almost drooling unlike the Hyundai salesman. The car was ready to pick up on time, didn't try to stitch me up with a finance package and even gave me a large bunch of flowers upon collection of the car to give to my other half. The car hasn't missed a beat, and I would not hesitate to recommend one to anyone.

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Sun 22 Aug 2010 00:15

Kia Rio CRDi - Avant

The Rio is underestimated perhaps because its predecessor was slated by all the testers and Kia might have done better to change the name. This model has been around for some time, and other cars may be more exciting to drive - but go and try both petrol and diesel, and if you like it there should be some good deals going.

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Sun 22 Aug 2010 01:39

Kia Rio CRDi - Lygonos

I don't think the Rio diesel has an exhaust particulate filter, so it may well be suitable to town driving.

Try both, buy what you want.

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Sun 22 Aug 2010 06:57

Kia Rio CRDi - carl_a

The Rio Diesel is an excellent engine but the extra £1100 it costs over the petrol is in no way worth it with the mileage you're doing. It's getting an old car now, it was a generation behind when released and there is better value out there, indeed it'll be replaced shortly. If you're after the long warranty and good mpg, You'll find delivery miles i30s for £8600, Ceed's for 9k, the 1.4 engine in these does almost the same MPG as a Honda Jazz.

Smller cars in demand and have the excessively expensive recently, I suspect prices will be falling across the market soon however. New Ford Fiestas base models with AC are now trading 1k less in cash than they were last month, Mitsubishi just announced a £1.5k reduction in the Colt 3dr CZ1, Toyota Yaris prices are falling to just above where they were before the car hyper inflation that happened in the last two years.

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Sun 22 Aug 2010 11:14

Kia Rio CRDi - diddy1234

I think if you take one for a drive, you would be impressed.

It's an understated car that is actually better than some reviews have made out.

The worst part about the Rio is handling, understeer comes in too early.

However, the steering provides nice feedback and even when understeer comes in the Rio is still safe and can be pushed that little bit harder. if needed.

The diesels biggest asset is whafting along the motorway at 70mph just purring along and if you need to accelerate (to overtake), a quick prod on the right peddal and your at 80mph !

I do not know how the petrol version compares though.

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Sun 22 Aug 2010 18:15

Kia Rio CRDi - b308

It depends on what the deal is you arrange with the dealer, the list price difference between petrol and diesel isn't neccessarily what you will pay... Some friends of ours bought it over the petrol and are well pleased, and they are saving money over the cost of the petrol, even with 10k pa miles...

Petrol = low milage and diesel = high is NOT always true, there's a lot more variables in the equation these days...

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Sun 22 Aug 2010 21:38

Kia Rio CRDi - Avant

Interesting point and very true, b308.

There are quite a lot of factors to bring into the diesel v petrol choice:

- the price of diesel fuel: at the moment 3-4p more than petrol, but the difference has been as high as 12p and as low as 1p in the last two years

- the deals available on new cars and the desirability of a particular used car: these can narrow or widen the extra cost of a diesel car

- the unsuitability of DPF-equipped diesels for town driving

- the liability to major failure of some components of diesel engines as they get older (so be wary of buying certain dlesels out of warranty)

- and finally what you want it for and your own style of driving - for example, do you value low-down torque (go for a diesel), or do you want as quiet a car as possible (don't).

Coming back to the Rio, as this is a model nearing the end of its life, the availability of a good deal could well be the deciding factor if you're buying one new.

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Sun 22 Aug 2010 22:43

Kia Rio CRDi - carl_a

It depends on what the deal is you arrange with the dealer, the list price difference between petrol and diesel isn't neccessarily what you will pay... Some friends of ours bought it over the petrol and are well pleased, and they are saving money over the cost of the petrol, even with 10k pa miles...

The costs of these things is very debatable, while it is true the deal often changes the prices it often changes then in favour of petrol by quite a margin. Kia aren't daft when it comes to marketing Diesel cars, they had a while back a few promotions for Diesel at the same price as petrol, and RRP price they were but the deal you could get on a petrol was better. Special editions also come out as petrol only, a few years back when the Ceed GS petrol and diesel were the same RRP they launched a special edition called SR (my dad bought one), it was exactly the same spec as the GS bar the badge at the back.

GS cost: 12,850

SR cost: 10,500

Price of the SR cash was 10,00 after a deal, GS was 12k, 2k difference. But of course to people that bought the diesel say it cost no more than the petrol :)

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Sun 29 Aug 2010 18:17

Kia Rio CRDi - ssparks

I've only had my 1.5 diesel under two weeks, but so far I am VERY impressed. Cheap to buy, cheap to run, engine is quiet as a mouse but has the power to go like s*** from a shovel. I get 50+ mpg on urban and 60+ on main roads (60 mph) driving. I tried the 1.4 (I think?) petrol and to be honest, wouldn;t touch it; compared to the diesel the car lacked guts and felt under powered and the engine was noisy.

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