By Paul Gover.
EVERY baby car in Australian showrooms has just had a value boost, thanks to Toyota.
By introducing its all-new Yaris at $22,130, up from $15,390, everything else looks like a much better buy.
Just in case you have trouble with maths, or the calculator is too far away, Toyota Australia wants new Yaris buyers to pay 43.7 per cent more for the car.
And, against that background, I’m jumping into a Kia Rio.
It should be the $18,090 base car for a fair comparison, but I have yet to see – or drive – a new Yaris.
So, instead, it’s the fully-loaded GT-Line with a turbo engine, full suite of safety gear, alloy wheels and the rest, which has my attention.
It’s a good looking little thing, with a surprisingly sporty side.
For the record, the drive-away pricing is $24,490.
Kia has done the best job in the business on customer support with its seven-year warranty, seven years of capped-price servicing and seven years of roadside assist, even if it was originally just a ‘Permission to Buy’ package for people who liked the cars but wavered on how they would go.
Chinese brands, including British-named but all-Asian MG, are now doing a similar thing.
But back to the Rio, which has smooth looks, a very nice cabin and, thanks to my old engineering friend Graeme Gambold, suspension that is tuned for Australian roads and drivers, including Continental tyres.
It’s roomy for four people, quiet and surprisingly comfortable from the supportive front seats.
The GT-Line has an interesting mechanical package, using a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder turbo engine. It has the same 74 kilowatts of power as the four-cylinder motor in the lesser models, but a whacking boost in the torque, which jumps from 133 to 172 Newton-metres.
What that means is it can really crack away from the lights, or overtake far more briskly than most baby cars, yet still return economy of less than 6.0 litres/100km. It also has a swift-shifting DSG gearbox, although there are no flappy paddles, and the cornering grip is well matched to the performance.
So the turbomotor model is the one for drivers, but there are some traps. It has a stop-start system which can be slow to re-start, and you must ensure you are in the right driving mode.
The Eco setting is too dozy for me, and downright annoying when accelerating away from a Stop sign, but Normal is good and Sport really makes a big difference with instant throttle response and a satisfying surge at any legal speed.
The GT-Line also has a full package of safety systems, a large infotainment screen, UBS ports and impressive aircon.
It’s a strong all-round package and good value at just under $25,000, although I know that most Rio buyers will be shopping at $18,000 for the base model.
And, in case you’ve forgotten, that is the value location that Toyota has just abandoned.
THE BASICS
Kia Rio
Price: from $18,090
Power: 74W/172Nm
Transmission: 7-speed DSG auto, front-wheel drive
Position: sporty-ish baby car
Plus: drives nicely, great value
Minus: getting costly as a GT-Line
THE TICK: beats the Yaris
Score: 7/10