Kia picanto

[dragon]

My current car is a 98 ka3 and while it's not done many miles (only about 50K) but it's starting to show it's age.

Was looking at a cheap/small car to replace it, noticed the deal kia are doing on the picanto.


http://www.kia.co.uk/New-Cars/Range/...ge-Scheme.aspx

I suspect my ka would qualify for it i've owned it since I started driving (about 3.5years now) if they're still doing a deal in a month or 2's time but does anyone know if the car itself is any good.

Seems to have quite a lot of features for the price and given that getting a new one would mean it comes with warranty still only 4 seats but would be nice to actually have some rear doors.

I'll admit though I know nothing about cars, and while having something fast is always tempting I think it would be silly to buy a bigger car only to spend a fortune running it and not really gaining anything from it even though these are only 1litre engines actually they don't seem a lot slower than my current KA and are infact a lot more economical as well.

Hopefully the offers will be around for a while to give me plenty of time to decide.

[Charlie_Bubble]

What is your budget, because all the major manufacturers are doing various scrappage deals and you may be able to get a bigger car that might fit your needs a bit more. From your remark about the 4 seats, a smaller car might not be the best thing for you now.

[haydnwalker]

Just because its got 4 doors and 4 seats - doesn't mean anyone would want to spend time in them due to size etc.

I would look around - depending on your budget, all the usual suspects (ford, peugeot, vauxhall, fiat) are signed up to the scrap-car deal.

I would ignore the picanto - I would however look at the Kia Cee'd and Pro Cee'd as they look nicer than the picanto

Go to your local dealers and check their websites - drive all the cars you're interested in as ultimately its about comfort (especially if you drive alot) or comparitive prices (if you don't drive alot).

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Charlie_Bubble

What is your budget, because all the major manufacturers are doing various scrappage deals and you may be able to get a bigger car that might fit your needs a bit more. From your remark about the 4 seats, a smaller car might not be the best thing for you now.

The remark was simply aimed at the fact whilst it's very rare for me to have more than 2 people in the car (actually it's usually just ME) most cars have 5 seats (if you really want to squeeze in).

I really don't want to spend a lot of money on a car because I don't actually drive that much (I commute to London by train daily) That said I don't want to not have a car as there are times (e.g the weekend) when i'd quite like to go out and visit friends or whatever and not be confined to using public transport (I'm not a big fan of it, just use it during the week as it's the easist way for me to get to work).

I was looking at the kia as it seemed to have a lot for such a cheap car and it came with a 3yr warranty so i'd hope to have fairly troublefree motoring and if something did go wrong for it to be covered as much as possible so I don't then have to worry about how much it's going to cost to fix.

[Osem]

Check this out:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?md=831

[dragon]

Sorry It might help if I perhaps detailed my requirements.


1) Rear Doors, while I don't often have people in the back of the car it's such a pain if you do happen to have someone in the back to get out or even if you want to shove something in the back that doesn't fit in the boot.

2) Reliable, I know where to put the petrol and the screenwash, how to top up the oil but that's about it, I

3) Economical, I'd say its for the environment but if i'm honest I just don't like spending a fortune just to get somewhere.

4) Cd Player, prefer with mp3 4+ speakers I like music and i'd rather not change the stock stereo (did that in the ka, now has stupidly large rear speakers) I also don't like all the audio coming from the front only it doesn't sound right in a car as far as i'm concerned.

5) 12v accessory socket, I suspect this is pretty standard but it's a requirement I need somewhere to plug the sat-nav in. (MY sense of direction is useless!)

6) Remote locking, Nothing worse than coming back and fumbling with the keys to unlock the car/boot when it's pouring with rain.

7) Folding rear seats, so if I do need to get something larger in the boot I can. (Was very usefull when I went to i27 )

8) Homing device.... Number of times I park up get out of the car wonder off then relise I forgot to take note of where i parked. DOH! (this one's not a serious requirement )

---------- Post added at 22:05 ---------- Previous post was at 22:01 ----------

Originally Posted by Osem

Check this out:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?md=831

Hmm don't think they liked it very much... any other specific reccomendations

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by dragon

8) Homing device.... Number of times I park up get out of the car wonder off then relise I forgot to take note of where i parked. DOH! (this one's not a serious requirement )

The is an iIPhone app for that

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Moldova

The is an iIPhone app for that

Really?

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by dragon

Really?

http://gizmodo.com/5022678/g+park-ip...mark-their-car

http://www.apptism.com/apps/parkingpal

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Moldova

http://gizmodo.com/5022678/g+park-ip...mark-their-car

http://www.apptism.com/apps/parkingpal

Pity my iphone is the orginal one without GPS i'm not sure if would be accurate enough to be usefull.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by dragon

Pity my iphone is the orginal one without GPS i'm not sure if would be accurate enough to be usefull.

I would check out the Hyundai cars with their longer 5 years warranties

http://www.hyundai.co.uk/

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Moldova

I would check out the Hyundai cars with their longer 5 years warranties

http://www.hyundai.co.uk/

Looks pretty impressive features wise will have to look at it further

Review's i've seen so far are also seem quite good, Does much better than the Kia.
I think it might be worth seeing if they will let me test drive one

[dragon]

Well went and asked about it, seems they're not very keen on the scrappage scheme by the sounds of it (don't think the dealer makes much money out of it)

Also said there's a long leadtime on the i10 due to the demand created by the scappage scheme and that it would likely be sept/oct before I'd get one if i orderd.

Also not taking orders untill they get final confirmation of the leadtimes apperently

Really did give the impression that they didn't actually want to sell one under the scheme

[haydnwalker]

I've just found out that the i10 has been a complete sell-out...

Have you considered the NEW ford KA? Is on the same chassis as a Fiat 500 so should be a good nippy drive. They start at roughly the same money as an i10 (7.5K for a 1.2 studio 3de) and ford should be more forthcoming with the discounts & scrappage scheme too. Or theres the Citroen C1 (VT 1.0i 12V 68hp 5Dr 106 g/km CO2 £7,945.00 - from HonestJohn.co.uk) if you need 5 doors.

[dragon]

Originally Posted by haydnwalker

I've just found out that the i10 has been a complete sell-out...

Have you considered the NEW ford KA? Is on the same chassis as a Fiat 500 so should be a good nippy drive. They start at roughly the same money as an i10 (7.5K for a 1.2 studio 3de) and ford should be more forthcoming with the discounts & scrappage scheme too. Or theres the Citroen C1 (VT 1.0i 12V 68hp 5Dr 106 g/km CO2 £7,945.00 - from HonestJohn.co.uk) if you need 5 doors.

Wouldn't want another KA

Out of interest does the car you trade it in for have to have lower emissions than the one you have now?
Not sure what the Emissions are of the older KA's mind.

Say If i wanted to stick with a hyundai but went for the bigger i20? (although I may just order an i10 and wait, as I liked the one I went to look at in the showroom)