Kia Picanto Review & Prices

The Kia Picanto is a member of a dying breed - the truly small ‘city car’ is being abandoned by more and more car manufacturers, and just a handful remain. That means fewer choices, and if you’re in the market for a really small car you’ll almost unavoidably have to shortlist the Picanto.

It’s a bit like choosing a broadband supplier - ultimately, you have to go with what’s available in your area. That’s why it’s such good news that the Picanto is really rather good.

Though the underlying design is a few years old now, Kia’s given the Picanto a substantial mid-life facelift. It’s brought in a bold and angry-looking new design that means its smallest car is now in line with some of its biggest - such as the EV9 and facelifted Sorento.

With its updated looks and modernised interior the Picanto’s now even better placed to distract you from cars like the Hyundai i10, Toyota Aygo X and Suzuki Ignis. It does also have to fight off a growing number of larger cars which compete with it on price, though - such as the Dacia Sandero, MG3 and Citroen C3.

The visual makeover Kia’s given the Picanto is particularly eye-catching. There are angular, vertically-stacked headlights, joined by a chrome strip which on top models is replaced by an oh-so-fashionable LED light bar. It’s the same story at the rear, with L-shaped taillights almost meeting in the middle of the tailgate.

The interior’s had less of a going-over, but now all models including the base car get an 8.0-inch touchscreen and a digital instrument cluster. It’s still very spacious inside for such a small car - four six-footers can genuinely get comfortable for short journeys, and the 252-litre boot is as big as you get on any car of this size.

The engine range has been updated, too. There’s a 1.0-litre engine with a lowly 62hp on the base trims, but Shadow and GT-Line S models come with a larger 1.2-litre engine with 77hp. Neither of these are what you’d call particularly fast, and you’ll definitely want the 1.2 if you’re doing longer journeys or lots of motorway work. However, they are both perfectly adequate for a car of this size, and their limited power makes them wallet- and insurance-friendly for young drivers.

In driving terms, the fun of the Picanto is in its light weight and dinky dimensions. It’s good fun to chuck about tight streets, and even holds its own on a twisting back road. However, the lack of power and super-light steering means you won’t go mistaking it for one of the best hot hatchbacks any time soon.

If you want a brand new Kia Picanto then head over to Carwow and check out deals on that or any other new Kia model. Used Kia Picanto offers are also available, while you can also check out used Kia deals on Carwow as well. If you want to sell your car and get a great price for it, use Carwow as well, where our trusted dealers will bid on your car.

The Picanto starts at a bit less than £16,000, which makes it one of the cheapest cars in the UK - though the Citroen C3, Dacia Sandero and even the all-electric Dacia Spring undercut it. The mechanically-similar Hyundai i10 costs around £500 extra.

Opting for an automatic gearbox will set you back an extra £700 - we would really recommend avoiding this - and the cheapest model with the larger 1.2-litre engine costs from just over £18,000, though this also gets quite a bit of extra equipment. All cars do come with alloy wheels, air-conditioning, a reversing camera and smartphone connectivity, though.

The Picanto's tiny body makes it easy to drive in town and the engines are well-suited for urban environments, but it’s hard work on the motorway

In town

The city is the Picanto’s natural environment. Its compact dimensions mean it is easy to thread though the traffic, with its narrow footprint being especially handy when trying to squeeze through narrow streets and between parked cars.

A tight turning circle makes parking manoeuvres easy too, and it's simple to squeeze into spaces which SUV drivers would have to ignore. All cars get a reversing camera and rear parking sensors, too, so it’s easy to make sure you’re going right up to the next car’s bumper.

Despite the small overall length, the Picanto has a longer wheelbase than is usual in this sector, which makes it feel remarkably refined around town. Broken surfaces are absorbed admirably by the suspension and even speed bumps are soaked up without drama. Steer clear of the bigger 16-inch wheels if ride comfort is crucial to you though. They make the steering feel sharper but add to the road noise and make the car feel firmer.

The standard 1.0-litre engine is far from quick, but feels fine for urban traffic situations. You might be tempted to opt for the automatic gearbox to save your left leg in traffic, but we’d advise against it - it’s a very cheap kind of automatic known as an automated manual, and it’s lumpy, unresponsive and frustrating to use.

On the motorway

It’s important to put the Picanto’s motorway manners in context. Compared with a small car from ten years ago, it’s practically a limousine. However nowadays, Dacia, MG or Citroen will sell you a much larger car that copes with faster roads far better than the Picanto does - for a comparable price.

The 1.0-litre 62hp engine requires some forward planning for overtakes or sliproads, and you’ll likely need to rev it quite a lot to keep up with traffic in these scenarios. The 1.2-litre is better, and it makes for a much more relaxed driving experience. Regardless of engine, the Picanto’s tiny size means it can get bouncy on faster roads, and its light weight does make it more susceptible to cross winds.

It’s a shame that Kia ditched the 1.0-litre turbocharged engine that was available in the pre-facelift Picanto, as this made short work of motorways.

On a twisty road

Even the sporty-looking GT-Line models are not really designed to be a fun car in the same way as a proper hot hatchback, but there is still something entertaining about driving a small and slow car like the Picanto on a twisty road.

You do need to work the gears hard, and rev the engine a lot to keep your momentum up. That’s not too much of a chore, as the gearbox feels really nice to use (as long as you get the manual) and there’s plenty of grip from the front tyres to allow you to carry what little speed you have into the bends.

The steering feels positive but it’s very light, and body lean is quite well-contained.

Five doors and plenty of room for such a small car - but you can get bigger vehicles with more space for the same money

The Kia Picanto can’t quite do a TARDIS and cheat physics. It’s a small car, so it has a small interior. However, if you’re a couple or perhaps a young family, you might find that it’s all you need - and it’s certainly more spacious than something like a Fiat 500.

The driving position isn’t perfect as the steering wheel only adjusts for height. That means if you have very long arms or legs you might find it’s difficult to get comfortable. However, all models get a height-adjustable driver’s seat, and so you should be able to minimise the issue.

Storage up front is pretty good. There are a pair of cupholders which you can hide away if needed, plus a small tray in front of them and another just underneath the climate controls that’s perfectly sized for a mobile phone. It’s a shame that there’s no way to route a cable, though - if you’re plumbed into the infotainment system, you’ll have to have your phone upright somewhere else.

The door bins are shaped to hold a bottle, there’s a reasonable glovebox and a modicum of storage under the central armrest. It’s a pretty good arrangement for such a small car.

Space in the back seats

Don’t expect to fit a whole rugby team in the Picanto’s back seats. However, what you can genuinely do is fit a six-foot adult behind a six-foot driver. They’ll have to sit quite upright, but it’s more than feasible for short journeys.

It also means there’s more space for a child seat than in many similarly-sized alternatives, and there are a pair of ISOFIX mounting points on the outer rear seats to facilitate this. The rear doors also open nice and wide, and unlike the Toyota Aygo X you get proper electric rear windows instead of meagre pop-out affairs.

Boot space

You probably won’t be expecting to start a removals business using a Picanto, but it is worth checking that the 255-litre boot is going to be big enough for your needs. It's marginally roomier than those in the Hyundai i10 (252 litres) and is just beaten by the Suzuki Ignis (267 litres), so you won’t struggle to fit a weekly shop for two or a weekend getaway in there.

All models come with rear seats that fold and split 60:40, so you can carry a passenger in the back next to some flat-pack furniture poking through from the boot.

If you’re splashing out on one of the top models it comes with an adjustable load floor that means you can slide a suitcase into the boot without having to lift it over the load lip, and can hide valuable items too.

Nicely-designed interior is easy to use with plenty of buttons - shame the digital dials are a poor attempt and there’s no wireless connectivity

The Picanto’s interior has quite a lot to like about it, and the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. First of all, it’s a little old-fashioned, but in a really nice way. That means you get a proper instrument binnacle that you can see in direct sunlight, as well as discrete climate controls which you can alter without ever having to go near the touchscreen.

Even the screen itself has shortcut buttons underneath it as well as a physical volume dial. Add in the manual gearshifter and real handbrake, and it’s distinctly analogue in here.

Well, until you reach the dials. Kia says it’s a fully digital instrument cluster, and that’s technically correct - but instead of fitting a big screen like you get in most alternatives, you instead get two LCD readouts for speed and revs. The latter in particular is really quite useless - we’re accustomed to seeing revs as a needle, so the number ‘3.4’ (for example) doesn’t really mean anything. You get a small screen between these two readouts for stuff like your trip computer or nav directions.

The infotainment screen is easy to use and responsive, even if its 8.0-inch screen looks a little small by today’s standards. All models get sat-nav built-in, which is nice, but it’s a shame that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both wired-only, even on models that come equipped with a wireless charging pad.

Material quality isn’t perfect - the dashboard is made of uniformly hard plastics, for example - but that’s to be expected in a car this small and cheap. Everything feels very well screwed-together nonetheless.

The Picanto has a choice of two small petrol engines that should be very cheap to run. The 1.0-litre claims to do 55.4mpg and the 1.2 claims 51.4, according to official figures. Drive gently and you’ll see just over 50mpg from both, though if you’re doing a lot of faster driving and working the engines hard then a more normal average is around 45mpg.

That’s not at all bad, though in the real world a Suzuki Ignis will average closer to 60mpg by virtue of its even lighter weight and mild-hybrid engines. And of course, if you’re looking to really minimise your day-to-day running costs, you should look for one of the best small electric cars.

The Picanto’s CO2 emissions range from 111g/km to 129g/km - low enough for an economical first-year road tax bill, but not enough to make it a more appealing proposition than a larger, plug-in hybrid car for company car tax purposes.

The Picanto gets a fairly average three star rating in the independent Euro NCAP tests, but that’s on a par with its rivals in the city car sector. However, that rating was back in 2017, and the test has become a lot tougher since.

It actually has a decent amount of safety kit to protect you as standard, including side and curtain airbags and a forward collision avoidance assist system.

Rear parking sensors and a camera are standard on all models to prevent low speed knocks. It’s a shame that Kia doesn’t fit any shortcuts to turn off the more annoying advanced safety features - you have to go through a couple of menus to do this yourself.

To stop anyone making off with your Picanto, there is a standard alarm across the range, along with locking wheel nuts and speed sensing auto door locking.

The Picanto has built a reputation for strong reliability over its 20 years on sale. Kia continues to offer all Picantos with its seven-year, 100,000 mile warranty, which is reassuring, and it’s also great to see how well the brand performed in the 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey.

With Kia finishing third out of all manufacturers, and the Picanto finishing 12th place in the model rankings, it’s an excellent showing.