Kia Picanto Review 2026

True city cars have become a rarity these days as manufacturers move away from small models with small profit margins. Thankfully, the Kia Picanto is still here, and thanks to relatively recent updates, it's better than ever and offers a great option for drivers who want a compact car. It’s more affordable than its stablemate, the Hyundai i10, and the Toyota Aygo X, too.

The Kia Picanto has been on sale for an awfully long time it this third-generation guise, having been initially introduced to the UK market in 2017. During that time, an awful lot about the car has changed, but then again, an awful lot has stayed the same, too.

Let's start with the changes, and the most noticeable of those is the car's appearance, which during a facelift in 2024, took on a much more angular, chiselled look. This was inspired by the Kia EV9, a massive seven-seater electric car positioned at pretty much the exact polar opposite end of the market to the dinky little Picanto, but somehow, the makeover still works.

Another thing that's seen a lot of change is the specifications on the car. This includes the engine offering, which has seen various different power units come and go along the way, and in terms of trim levels, where various different grades of the Picanto have been offered over time, while the level of standard equipment provided with each grade has fluctuated during the years as well.

Thankfully, though, where the Picanto has remained consistent are the areas in which its greatest strengths lie.

Cabin space is one such area. The front is more than capable of accommodating tall drivers and passengers, while the rear is also comparatively roomy, capable of accommodating adults as well as kids. Boot capacity is limited compared with most cars, but it's one of the class-leaders in city-car circles, with a more spacious load area than key rivals such as the Toyota Aygo X, Hyundai i10 and Fiat 500.

Quality has also remained consistently impressive in the Kia Picanto. Yes, there's no disguising the fact that this is a car pitched very much at the budget end of the market, but bearing that in mind, it feels nicely finished and built to last.

The driving experience is also one of the Picanto's great strengths. With neat and agile handling, plus steering that's light and precise, it's easy to thread through city streets and genuinely enjoyable so thread along a country lane. The pay-off is a firmer ride quality than you get in some other city cars, but it will be comfortable enough for most drivers.

The various engines offered over time have all been rather limited in performance to one degree or another, but all have deliver the low running costs that are crucial at this end of the car market. Kia's fantastic seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty also helps towards reducing both unwanted costs and nasty surprises.

The city car market has been shrinking for several years as manufacturers switch their attention to larger cars with larger profit margins, to the point where the Picanto is now one of the only city-car choices left. Happily, it's always been one of the best, for the various reasons outlined, so if you're shopping on a limited budget, it's and obvious (and brilliant) choice.

The Kia Picanto doesn’t weigh a great deal compared to most cars, and as a result, it is easy and fun to drive whatever trim level is chosen.

Its low weight makes it genuinely agile and nimble around town, with pleasingly precise steering.

Even away from the urban environment, the Kia Picanto manages to be enjoyable, whizzing along country roads despite the limited horsepower on offer.

This engaging handling is partly enabled by a firmer ride than you’ll find on some other city cars.

You are more aware of more bumps in the road, but never to the point of being uncomfortable. Even models with larger 16-inch alloy wheels remain compliant, but the tautness is more noticeable.

In all situations, this is a pleasant and enjoyable little car to drive.

During its many years on sale, the Picanto has been offered with a variety of different engine options, although these days, there's only one available to buyers of brand new Picantos. 

It's a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine with a modest 68PS. That's really not a lot of power, even in a tiny, featherweight car like this, and performance is predictably modest as a result.

When fitted with the standard five-speed manual gearbox, the 0-62mph dash stands at a very leisurely 14.6 seconds. But while that's not fast by any stretch of the imagination, the rate of acceleration on offer does at least feel adequate in most situations, and doesn't make you feel like you're getting in other motorists' way too much.

Specify the optional five-speed automated manual gearbox (a kind of rudimentary automatic transmission), meanwhile, and that sprint time is extended out to 17.2 seconds. That level of pace is such that you do start to feel like you're holding others up, and you can sometimes feel concerningly short of forward momentum. The gearchanges are also slow, jerky, and generally not pleasant. It's a transmission we'd avoid unless you really must have an automatic.

This engine has been offered pretty much all throughout the car's lifespan, and earlier on within that lifespan, performance was even more lacklustre. Official acceleration figures in years gone by have been given at 15.4 seconds for the manual and 18.2 seconds for the automated gearbox.

Other engines previously offered in the Picanto include an 84PS 1.25-litre four-cylinder petrol. This had a 0-62mph time of 11.6 seconds when fitted with a five-speed manual gearbox, or 14.2 seconds with a four-speed automatic. Either way, it felt brisker than the smaller engine, but not by a huge amount.

The most powerful Picanto was the 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo, which gave a much-more-like-it 100PS through a five-speed manual gearbox. The 0-62mph time was 9.8 seconds, and it felt properly perky when zooming around town, and more settled on the motorway. It was the best engine by a mile, but when new, it was only paired with the more salubrious trim levels, and so was relatively expensive. It's well worth seeking out on the used car market, though, not least because the price difference will have all but disappeared.

The third-generation Kia Picanto was assessed by the Euro NCAP safety organisation when it was first launched in 2017.

It was awarded three stars in standard form, but upgraded to four stars with the optional safety pack. The latter included autonomous emergency braking, which is now fitted to all models as standard.

It means you can consider the updated Kia Picanto to be a four-star car, albeit one tested under an older Euro NCAP protocol, which is nowhere near as stringent as today's.

All versions of the Kia Picanto come with multiple airbags, forward collision avoidance assist and electronic stability control.

Due to the diminutive size of the Kia Picanto, the car has not been rated for towing trailers of any size. One of Kia’s larger hatchback or SUV offerings will be more suitable if towing is on your agenda.

Although the Kia Picanto measures just 3595mm in length, it manages to squeeze in a surprising amount of space.

In the front, the Kia Picanto is more than accommodating for two adults. There is enough leg- and headroom to get comfortable, even if it can’t quite compare with small hatchbacks from the next class up. Kia has not forgotten about storage either, with various cupholders and cubbies to keep hold of important items.

In the rear of the Kia Picanto, space is more limited, but not to the point that adults won’t fit. Legroom will feel tight if there are taller passengers up front, but it's fine if your co-travellers are sensibly sized, and headroom is never an issue.

At some points throughout the car's life, it has been offered as both a four-seater and a five-seater, so if buying used, make sure you know which format the example you're considering is giving you, and that it suits your needs.

Due to the limited size of the Kia Picanto, and its generous passenger space, boot capacity is predictably modest, but it's actually very good by the standards of the city car class. With the rear seats in place, the Kia Picanto can accommodate 255 litres of luggage. This is similar to the Volkswagen Up and Hyundai i10, and more than the Toyota Aygo X.

Folding the rear seats down, with a standard 60:40 split, boosts luggage space to 1,010 litres.

The Kia Picanto may be built to a price, but that has not resulted in an interior that looks or feels bargain-basement. In fact, there are some neat touches that make the cabin appear more expensive than it actually is.

Although there are not many soft-touch plastics, the materials used feel solid and seemingly built to last. Fancier trim levels bring extra hints of colour to brighten the interior.

As of the 2024 facelift, all versions of the Picanto come with an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with navigation, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. You also get four-speaker audio. That's all the functionality you really need, and the interface is fairly simple to navigate and looks pretty good, too. Range-topping versions have wireless phone charging on top.

Previous to the facelift, different versions of the car had very different infotainment systems. Low-spec cars got a very basic non-touchscreen stereo with a tiny 3.8-inch monochrome display and two- or four speakers. These are worth avoiding if you're shopping on the used car market. Instead, go for a higher-spec model, as these did much better, with six speakers and a 7.0-inch touchscreen system, along with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

When this third-generation Kia Picanto first went on sale in 2017, list prices for the car started at a little over £9,000 and even the top-of-the-range version checked in at less than £14,000. The world is a very different place these days, though, and those prices are a distant memory. The entry-level car now costs just shy of £17,000, while prices rise up to more than £20,000 at the top of the range.

That observation needs some context, though. Like we said, the world is a very different place these days, and everything - cars or otherwise - costs far more than it used to. Also bear in mind that entry-level Picantos of today have much more kit than those of yesteryear, and are more comparable to mid- or high-spec versions of days gone by.

Critically, too, the Picanto undercuts most of the few rivals it has left on price. Its generous seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty also makes it a more compelling ownership prospect than most, too.

Bargains can be had on the used car market, too. Around £6,000 will get you an early Mk3 Picanto in low-spec form with around 60,000 miles on the clock, but these examples will be old enough for the warranty to have expired. Spend around £10,000, though, and you can have a fairly high-spec three-year-old example with around 15,000 miles, meaning it'll have four years of warranty potentially left to run.

City cars are typically bought with budget motoring in mind, and the Kia Picanto will certainly satisfy those who need to stretch each and every pound.

With such frequent change within the engine range, there's been corresponding change with fuel economy figures, too.

The thirstiest historically is the 1.0-litre turbo, not hugely surprising given that it's the most powerful version with the liveliest performance. Even so, a claimed figure of 48.7mpg is still pretty good. 

Next thirstiest is the 1.25-litre four-cylinder unit, with average consumption of 49.6mpg, although that drops like a stone if you swap the standard five-speed automatic gearbox for the four-speed automatic: that figure stands at 43.5mpg.

The entry-level naturally aspirated 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine had the best figure of that era, returning an official average of 50.4mpg.

That engine remains today, and periodic efficiency improvements mean that figures have also improved, to 51.3mpg in manual form, and 50.4mpg with the automated manual.

Insurance groupings are one of the Picanto's big draws, especially if you're a young-, new-, or inexperienced driver. Some versions sit in the very lowest group 1 for insurance, making them as cheap to insure as cars get. Some versions go as high as group 11 (of 50), making for much higher premiums, but most Picanto versions sit closer towards the bottom end of that spectrum than the top, and so should be affordable to cover.

VED road tax will be charged at the regular flat rate, currently charged at £195 per year, with no danger of you being bothered by the steep 'luxury car surcharge' thanks to the Picanto's low prices.

As we've already said, the Kia Picanto has changed a lot, and in a variety of ways, over the many years it been on sale. And one of those ways is the trim levels that have been available: these have come and gone over the years, and the level of equipment that has been provided as standard has fluctuated quite a bit, too. And that's before you factor in the numerous special edition models offered over time. This is a complicated area, then, and for that reason, we'll offer you this rule of thumb if buying used: consider each individual example you encounter on its own merits, and decide for yourself whether it has enough creature comforts for you.

If you're buying a brand new Picanto, then the trim levels on offer are currently called Pure, GT-Line and GT-Line S.

At the starting point of the range, the Kia Picanto Pure kicks things off with a decent level of equipment, including:

• 14-inch alloy wheels
• automatic headlights
• electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors
• black cloth upholstery
• manual front seats adjustment
• manual air conditioning
• 8.0-inch touchscreen navigation
• Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• 4.2-inch digital drivers display
• rear parking sensors
• reversing camera
• cruise control
• lane keep assist
• lane follow assist
• six airbags

The mid-range Kia Picanto GT-Line adds to this with:

• 16-inch alloy wheels
• GT-Line body styling
• LED headlights and rear lights
• power folding door mirrors
• privacy glass
• cloth and faux-leather upholstery
• alloy pedals

On top of all that, the top-of-the-range Kia Picanto GT-Line S gives you: 

• tilt-and-slide sunroof
• heated front seats
• heated steering wheel
• automatic climate control air conditioning
• keyless entry with start button
• wireless phone charger
• blind spot assist

Shortly before these trims became the standard offering, the trim levels on offer were 2, GT-Line, 3 and GT-Line S. This had been the case since the car's facelift in mid-2024.

The Kia Picanto 2 gave you:

• 14-inch alloy wheels
• manual air-conditioning
• electric front and rear windows
• electrically adjustable side mirrors
• premium black cloth upholstery
• 8.0-inch touchscreen
• Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
• 4.2-inch digital drivers display
• four-speaker stereo
• rear parking sensors
• reversing camera system

The Kia Picanto GT-Line came next, bringing:

• 16-inch alloy wheels
• bespoke GT-Line bumpers
• privacy glass
• LED daytime running lights
• LED tail lights and projection headlights
• black and grey artificial leather upholstery
• extra USB charging port in the rear

The Kia Picanto 3 does without the sporty styling, but benefits from much of the GT-Line’s extra equipment. It also comes with:

• climate control air-con
• chrome exterior door handles
• cruise control
• heated seats
• heated steering wheel
• wireless mobile phone charger

Sitting at the top of the range is the Kia Picanto GT-Line S had:

• GT-Line bodykit
• sunroof

If you're looking further back into time for a used buy, you also have the choice of the previous entry-level version, the Kia Picanto 1. It is basic, with:

• 14-inch steel wheels
• black cloth upholstery
• two-speaker audio system linked to a 3.8-inch monochrome radio
• Bluetooth audio streaming
• automatic headlight control
• remote central locking
• front electric windows

Used buyer might also be interested by the SUV-inspired Kia Picanto X-Line S, which can be identified by its bespoke front and rear bumpers, bringing an off-road style to the compact city car. On the inside, you get:

• faux leather upholstery
• heated seats
• heated steering wheel
• wireless smartphone charging