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.

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