New Kia Rio (2011 / 2012) starts at £10,595

New Kia Rio - on sale 1st September

Last week we had the reveal of the 3-door Kia Picanto, and today confirmation that the 2012 Kia Rio - revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in the Spring and first cousin to the Hyundai i20 – will be on sale in the UK on 1st September from just £10,595. Busy times for Kia.

The new Kia Rio will launch as a five door, but we can expect to see a sportier three door version in the New Year.

Two petrol and two diesel engines will be on offer at launch. The two petrol engines are the 1.25 litre Kappa engine with 83bhp and the 1.4 litre Gamma with 107bhp.

Diesel engines are the impressive 3-pot 1.1 litre CRDi which manages to produce 74bhp and averages 88.3mpg, whilst the 1.4 litre CRDi (which is effectively the 3-pot with an extra pot) offers 89bhp and economy of 70.6mpg.

If you want economy, no VED and no congestion charge your model of choice is going to be the Rio 1.1 CRDi ‘1’ EcoDynamics which offers a quite remarkable combination of a Fiesta-size car with 88.3mpg and 85g/km CO2 for £11.095.

All the Kia Rio models with diesel engines get Stop-Start, low rolling resistance tyres, a drag reducing front grill and the ubiquitous gear change indicator.

Standard kit is more than passable, even on the entry level ’1′ trim. There’s daytime lights (if that’s a plus), body-coloured bumpers, electric windows, Radio/CD/MP3 and Bluetooth. But for some reason you only get Bluetooth on the ’1′ trim level with a petrol engine. We didn’t bother to ask why.

Step up from the Kia Rio 1 and you get the ’1′ Air which does what it says on the tin – just adds AirCon. Get to the Kia Rio ’2’2 and you can add stuff like 16″ alloys, Fogs, AirCon, electric mirrors, leather steering wheel and a cooling glove box.

Go completely berserk and fork out for the Kia Rio ’3′ and you’ll be treated to such sybaritic delights as 17″ alloys, privacy glass, LED daytime lights, Climate, auto lights and wipers and Cruise.

But if you live in town – particularly in London – you can’t go wrong with the Kia Rio 1.1 CRDI EcoDynamics for just £11k. 88mpg and no road tax or congestion charge. And not much more than half the price of a battery pack on a Nissan LEAF.

But we’re spoilt, so we’d want to opt for the 1.1 CRDI EcoDynamics with AirCon. Except, for some reason we can’t fathom, Kia want a rather steep £1600 for bolting AirCon in to the little diesel – twice what they charge on the petrol engined Rio. Which seems odd.

But even then, it’s still massively cheaper than any EV or hybrid.

Update: We asked Kia about the odd pricing on the 1.1 CRDI EcoDynamics and the £1600 jump to add AirCon. It seems they dropped a clanger with the price list they sent us, and the 1.1 CRDI EcoDynamics was listed at £11,095 instead of £11,895. Which puts the differential right, even if it makes the pick of the bunch for London motorists – the 1.1 CRDI EcoDynamics – almost £12k.

(43 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK