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June 2008 Archives

Kia Rio review

Posted by Samantha Castle on June 23, 2008 4:51 PM

sam%20car-1.jpg

Car: 2008 Kia Rio Sports 1.6
Price: £10,095
Acceleration: 0-62mph in 10.2 seconds
Average consumption: 43.5mpg
C02 emissions: 153km
Eco rating: 7/10
In a word: Nice!
The reason I was given the chance to test drive the Rio is because Kia have just updated the Rio range, despite it only being two years old, to make it more affordable and more environmentally friendly. Rio models boast fewer emissions, lower tax bands, exempt from congestion charges and a more fun drive.
I don’t want to sound like an advert for Kia or get carried away with having a new car at my disposal for a week but I have really enjoyed driving it in comparison with my little six year-old Ford Fiesta 1.25.
At first glance it was almost love at first sight, with its sexy, sporty black leather and red stitch trim interior, sports pedals and 16-inch alloys (which I scratched ever-so-slightly thanks to some blind old fart on Tesco Junction roundabout!). However, I felt slightly disappointed that it came in silver, the same colour as my Fiesta and the most common car colour on the road, and that it looked a little box-shaped. But as our week together progressed my love for the Rio grew until it was a full-on love affair.
When *loml clapped eyes on my Rio he said he liked the look of the Sport model and said Kia was probably trying to move away from the OAP market and moving towards a younger type of driver- like me. (Young!?) He also said that offering a three year unlimited mileage warranty was very brave but also a very good selling point.
The big road test for me was my weekly journey to Chester for my shorthand class. Usually in order to get up Rhuallt Hill without being overtaken by countless HGV's I have to get a good run up before the start of the hill in my Fiesta. I have to really put my foot down and it’s not until everything is shaking in the car and the CD starts jumping that I know I’ll make it up the hill at a decent pace otherwise my speed just decreases to about 40mph. But I had no problem with the Rio, it took the hill in its stride, kept a constant speed and even picked up fine letting out a little growl after I had to break sharply mid-hill for a lorry pulling out in front of me.
It has definitely got some power when you need it and although I still think it looks a little boxy I do really like the Rio and just wish I could keep it forever.
On a 45ltr fuel tank capacity I drove roughly about 460 miles before I needed to put any fuel in which works out 46 miles per gallon, now I'm no petrol head but even I think that's very economical.

My free Kia Rio car

Posted by Dan Owen on June 17, 2008 3:27 PM

Sam in her Kia Rio
ONE of my favourite smells, along with Lenor, DKNY, new shoes and babies head’s, is the smell you get from the interior of a brand-spanking-new car. Don’t worry Penny Pincher’s I haven’t gone into even more debt and splashed out thousands of pounds on a posh new motor. In fact I didn’t need to, because those generous people at Kia Motor company have kindly given me a brand new Kia Rio car to test drive for a week, and included a full tank of fuel.
It arrived on Monday looking all shiny and new and smelling delicious, well it did to me anyway. And I now get to drive the £10.095, 1.6-litre, Sports model around for the week to and from work to see how it handles and how economical it is.
My sliver coloured Sports model is also available in a more economical 1.5-litre diesel version, however Kia boast all their models are kinder to the environment with some up to £500 cheaper.
The model I have is said to very affordable due to its combined fuel economy of 43.5mpg (?) and an insurance rating that puts it in group seven and it is also easier on the environment with a CO2 output of just 153g/km. Which may all sound like gobbledegook to you but carbon emissions are serious stuff for road users as the longer you are sat idle the more harmful emissions your car can produce. (Read more about that in my ‘Issue’ about the state of Welsh roads and the over use of traffic cones in this weeks Weekly News)
Kia boasts the Rio to be “ever-youthful� but I have to admit I’ve not felt very youthful in the car so far as already this morning I have been cut up at Tesco Junction roundabout, beeped at for stopping for a lolly-pop lady and ignored at a giveway junction, and it’s only Tuesday!
I will update my Penny Pincher blog next Monday with a review on Kia’s “ever-youthful� Rio, so don’t forget to log back on then.

I'm back...

Posted by Samantha Castle on June 5, 2008 10:49 AM

SORRY I’ve not written an update for over a week, I’m not neglecting you, I just thought you needed a bit longer to fully absorb my pole-dancing escapades.
Many thanks to over 1,000 of you who have so far viewed my video, I hope you enjoyed it?
I’ve also been away on a little holiday with *loml, not abroad- we can’t afford that kind of holiday! No, we did the paupers holiday, staying with relatives.
Although we couldn’t afford the luxury of a package holiday somewhere hot it was still lovely to get away from work and have a change of scenery for a week. Staying with relatives has some distinct advantages as well, they can’t do enough for you: clean sheets, fresh towels, cooked meals, packed lunches, it really does cost nothing when you stay with the old folks and all in exchange for our scintillating company.
We headed up North on our jollies to visit one half of *loml’s family, who live in Pontefract stopping off on the way in Leeds, a great city, to have a quick catch-up with friends for a boozy stop-over.
We really did have a nice time and we hardly spent a penny, well maybe about £300, but who’s counting! (Big thanks to Nigel and Liz x)

This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Penny Pincher in the June 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.

May 2008 is the previous archive.July 2008 is the next archive.

Many more can be found on the home page or by looking through the archives.