Kia Picanto [Merged]

[rodski]

Hello Tsikoteers,

Ako ay nahihiya mag post dito dahil maraming galit sa kia. Baka mabaling yung galit sa mga first batch at 2nd batch owners. Hehehehe.

Pero Kidding aside. Gusto ko rin sana dumami and picanto sa pinas. Isa rin ako sa mabilis mag drive ng picanto (150kph* 4500rpm) sa NLEX. Gusto kong maexperience ng iba kung gaano kasarap gamitin itong kotse sa murang halaga. Oks na oks talaga itong picanto. Pag weekend masarap dalhin sa mall/supermarket dahil hindi hirap mag hanap ng parking. Pag short trips sa highway hindi maiiwan sa pabilisan. Sulit talaga.

Sayang, maraming mainit ang ulo dahil sa pag taas ng presyo at kulang ang supply sa demand WORLDWIDE. Kaya naman kulelat na naman ang pilipinas sa pila ng picanto from korea. Kahit suguro gray market hirap kumuha.

rodski

[CtrlAltDel]

Small Car, Big Demand
By Lester Dizon
The Philippine STAR 02/09/2005

In my previous day job as the marketing manager of an auto club, we thought of a membership promo where we were planning to raffle off two brand new cars — one to give to a new member who joined the club during the promo period and the other one to give to an old member who recruited a new member during the said period.

Since budget was a consideration, we were thinking of giving out either the Honda Jazz or the Toyota Vios 1.3G. Priced below P700,000, a pair would cost us less than P1.4 million pesos, which was well within the budget we were working on. During one of our marketing committee meetings, one director, after seeing the media test drive unit I was driving that day, suggested that instead of giving out two Toyotas or two Hondas, we give out the Kia Picanto instead? Suddenly, the committee fell silent and looked at each other. "Yes, why not?" they said, almost in complete unison. "And while we’re at it, why not give away four cars so we’ll have more winners?"

At the time and for the budget, we could give away four cars if we wanted to. The Kia Picanto, then at P310,000 for the basic unit and P330,000 for the upgraded version (with the body-colored bumpers and silver-colored plastic wheel covers), costs about half of the suggested retail prices (SRP) of either the Toyota or the Honda. Heck, it was even priced lower than a year-old used Vios or City. Thus, raffling off four Kia Picantos (or is it Picantoes?) would definitely meet our budget targets.

Although the Kia Picanto is an, ahem, affordably priced, dare I say cheap, economy car, even at its current retail price of P360,000, there is nothing cheap about its quality. The design of the Picanto is more akin to modern European mini cars than to its Korean compatriots, especially the upgraded version with its body-colored bumpers. The overall design execution invites general comments leaning towards "cute", "nice" or "appealing", although I haven’t heard anybody say that they find the little Kia "***y". The exterior dimensions make it look a lot taller and larger than its popular and populous predecessor, the Kia Pride, and at the same time, makes it look more modern and upscale, status-wise. With its chiseled edges, rounded shape and angular headlights and tail lights, new Picanto owners need not suffer those "rolling refrigerator" jokes inflicted on the old Kia econocar owners, who didn’t really exhibit much pride with their Pride.

Inside, the Picanto welcomes occupants to a Spartan yet roomy interior and access is very easy thanks to four doors and a hatch opening at the back that reaches down to the bumper’s level. The seats, which mix vinyl and cloth, are nicely padded and are quite comfortable. The front seats are sculptured to offer some support during cornering while the rear seatback folds down in a 60-40 split to increase the cargo space, if you’re inclined towards carrying bulky but not heavy items. A removable rear parcel shelf covers the gap between the hatch and the rear seat back when it’s up and adds continuity to the rear bulkhead when viewed from the hatch glass.

Likewise, the driver’s view of the road is unimpeded because of the large front windshield glass. The driver’s controls fall easily to hand, proof that ergonomics play a big role in the cars that come from today’s Kia Motors. The steering is power-assisted and light because of the thin tires and the lightly-weighted power steering unit. Thus far, the steering is the only power-assisted equipment inside the Picanto — the windows are operated by a crank, the side mirrors and the driver’s seats need to be manually adjusted and the antenna won’t retract by itself. After all, this Kia is meant to be an econocar and it does a nice job at being one.

The 1100cc SOHC fuel-injected four-cylinder is frugal and works effectively with the 5-speed manual transmission (no auto gear box as of press time). The drive train combination delivers enough oomph to pull the Picanto to accelerate smartly off the line and cruise happily at 85kph on the highways while returning nearly 9 kilometers per liter in Manila’s horrendous city traffic or about 12-14 kilometers per liter on the highway, if you’re lucky enough to drive in light traffic. Even with my right lead foot and spirited driving style, the Picanto returned nearly 10 km/l on the average during my test drive.

I found the softly-sprung suspension system of the Picanto adequate for the rough and tumble streets of our beloved Metro and the bumps stopped are reached when loaded with five decidedly heavy passengers. The front discs and the rear drums haul the Kia down from speeds with minimum fuzz, and the overall driving feel of the car is stable and solid and ride quality is surprisingly high.

It is no surprise that the quality of Kia automobiles is constantly improving. If you could be as lucky as I was to visit the company’s high-tech and highly robotic Hwasung plant in South Korea, you won’t doubt for a minute that Kia can reach its ambitious goal of becoming the 5th largest car company in the world by 2010. With its improved product line composed of the gasoline- and diesel-powered Sorento and new Sportage SUVs, up-market Amanti luxury sedan, Carnival minivan and Pregio vans and the strength of its partner, Hyundai Automobiles, the constant improvement of Kia Motors will propel it closer to its lofty global target.

If you would like to know whatever happened to my former employer’s membership promo plan to raffle four Kia Picantos, we decided to shelve it temporarily until the club’s anniversary. But to tell you the truth, we deferred the promo upon my recommendation because the Picanto became such a hotcake that the waiting list extended on to three months long. And while I felt that my former bosses lacked the patience to wait, many car buyers are patiently awaiting the delivery of their Kia Picanto.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/bus...0502104001.htm

[mar38]

i agree that the price is cheap pa rin... but a P50k increase in price after a few months is really unfair for consumers plus the dealers are obviously taking advantage of the situation as sees by their prices which the price from one dealer is different on the other dealer. Grabe!!!

kailangan ganito na gawin natin sa Columbian motors at sa kia dealers hehehe

[mazdamazda]

The drive train combination delivers enough oomph to pull the Picanto to accelerate smartly off the line and cruise happily at 85kph on the highways while returning nearly 9 kilometers per liter in Manila’s horrendous city traffic or about 12-14 kilometers per liter on the highway, if you’re lucky enough to drive in light traffic. Even with my right lead foot and spirited driving style, the Picanto returned nearly 10 km/l on the average during my test drive.

hmmm... fuel consumption isn't that amazing... other 1.6L cars can also do that.

[rodski]

How come 60/40 split yung seats sa rear? bagong feature ito. Yung first batch buong seat ang nafold. Hmmmmm.

Yung fuel consumption sa article medyo mali. I get 12-13km sa city driving. Highway wala pa akong data. Pero yung wala pang 1000km yung picanto 10km/li ang unang sukat ko. It improves as it ages ika nga. To date 4700km palang ang tinatakbo ng picanto ko

[CtrlAltDel]

rodski,

pre tingin ko medyo mabigat nga paa ni Lester Dizon (yung nag-review) kaya magastos sya sa gas. I can get 18km/li on really long drive and 14km/li if I make side trips within/around Metro Manila area aside from my daily Bocaue-Ortigas-Bocaue drive. Saka hindi 60/40 yung rear seat but whole seat folded as you noted. Baka nga bagong feature ng 2005 model. That Philstar article I believe made some people curios about the car. Yesterday, I was asked by a fellow in a Trooper magkano daw kuha ko sa kotse, ok lang ba manakbo at kung may-aircon na. I think the question about the aircon means people understand this is really an economy car, hence you should not expect much. It just happen to look nice inside and out (perhaps because Kia hired another company to design it?) Kia plant in Korea should work double time. This cheap car is also liked by some folks who can easily buy much more expensive vehicles (a vice-president in my company personally requested if he can test drive my car.) I think he's also on the long waiting list.

[vicvic]

Going back to the boycott thing. We don't need widespread media buzz or mileage to show our disgust over the picanto "anomaly".

I had many friends who were initially excited to have one turned out buying the vios or the jazz instead. Those kia dealership heirarchy will reap what they has sown. Corporate ethics is very essential in this world, they will soon experience the woes that hounded mitsubishi, enron, etc.

I myself was contemplating to have one before, but now, that car was now eradicated in my list.

Just get the vios or the jazz and you'll have a trouble-free and peaceful future.

With the price of Picanto right now, I say, It's not worth the risk.

They can keep their picanto and I can have my money.

[rbortega1981]

Isa lang masasabi ko di tlaga nakakatuwa ang ginagawa ng Kia sa pagtataas ng presyo ng Picanto isa ako sa mapapalad na nakakuha ng Picanto 2nd batch I get my Picanto at 355,000 nag pareserve ako at 320,000 nainis nga mother ko kc bakit daw tumaas e nakareserve na kami pero kinuha ko na kahit nakakainis kc cgurado kc na pataas ng pataas ang presyo ng Picanto.

Isa pa sa performance sulit na sulit tlaga gamitin matipid na sa gas madali pa gamitin lalo na sa Metro Manila at mabilis tumakbo parang 1.6 din ang lakas. Kung appeal din lang pag-uusapan di din papahuli sa Jazz lagi tinitignan ng mga tao kc cute daw ng porma. Ang mga ilaw maliwanag na maliwanag at kahit maliit sya siguradong kitang kita ka sa gabi sa laki ng mga ilaw. Sayang nga lang at tila lumalaki na ang ulo ng Kia ito na sana ang pagkakataon para ipakita sa mga di pa nakakagamit ng Kia ang malaking kaibahan ng Kia dati sa Kia ngayn.

[carlove]

Nobody is denying that the Kia Picanto is a nice looking car. I would even give them the satisfaction of saying that Kia has improved its cars compared to before.

That's not the point. Ang pinag-uusapan natin dito ay kung niloloko na ba tayo ng Columbian motors. Nagbigay ka ng down para to get the car at the agreed price at that time the reservation was made. Then they jack up the price refusing to honor previous commitment.

Magagawa lang nila to sa Pilipinas dahil tingin nila sa konsumer bobo. At the same time, mahina ang protekyon ng consumer laws natin dito. The only way na your voice will have an impact is COLLECTIVELY SAY " F--- YOU. WE DON'T WANT YOUR CARS KIA."

Their policy for the Sorento is the same. Anything na may benta, tagain natin ang tao.

Columbian Motors, you may be smiling now. May araw ka rin.

[mar38]

your right bro, its obvious na nagkakalokohan na... dapat talaga if not everyone, majority of us will withdraw their reservation. pag nagkataon sa tingin ko biglang baba ang presyo nyan and baka ilabas na dito ang high-end model na all power version ng picanto.

Isa rin ako sa gustong mag ka picanto pero sa nangyayari ayoko na bumili. Siguro saka na lang pag lahat may picanto na at least yun sa akin dat time bago pa. hehehe

"Lucky are the ones who wait" :sleep2: :hihihi: