Out on the motorway the baby Kia kept up with the traffic considerably well, though its ability to accelerate and overtake on an incline was limited when cruising along near the speed limit of 70 miles-per-hour.
Despite weighing in at just under 1000kg, the Picanto feels quite solid and sturdy on the road the majority of the time. It does get unsettled when trucks or even large vans drive past, and gusts of wind can be felt.
The wind can also be heard in the cabin, there’s a bit of road noise too, particularly under the back of the car. However very little engine noise infiltrated, even when it was being pushed towards the redline.
The little city runabout is the perfect size for the narrow, twisty country roads, lined with hedges or rock walls and at times covered in an arching canopy of trees, and it felt right at home.
Moving up and down through the gears on the hilly, windy roads, at times it didn’t seem sure whether second or third gear was the right one. Occasionally, when revving too high in second, changing up to third only served to drop the revs too low.
When the Picanto arrives, it won’t have Kia’s usual Australian suspension tune treatment, we’ll have to wait for the new generation. But driving through the English countryside, it didn’t feel at all disrupted over bumps or rough surfaces.
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