I should point out from the start - since it will become decreasingly obvious as this article continues - that I have a bit of a soft spot for Kia. In fact, some of my best friends are Kias; or, at least, two of the cars that have impressed me most since CARkeys came into existence have been that company's Sedona MPV and Magentis saloon, both of them offering a surprising amount of space and quality for the money. I was less impressed by the Carens mini-MPV, but colleagues were loudly enthusiastic about that too.In comparison, the Kia Rio is a fearful device. Its greatest asset is that, for a new car, it is cheap (the range starts at under £6000, though I suspect a huge chunk of that will vanish in first-year depreciation). It also keeps the rain off, and it's quicker than walking. Other than that . . .. . . well, for a start the styling seems very confused, as if too much attention had been paid to the second-generation Ford Mondeo at the front and the Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon at the rear. The sloping roof means that back seat passengers have very little headroom.That's not so much of a problem up front, but as a driver of over six feet in height I found that there was no more room than in the notoriously cramped (though, in its defence, smaller overall) Citroen Saxo. Even by moving the seat as far back as possible, thereby annihilating rear legroom, I was still too close to the major controls for comfort.The 1.3-litre engine is quite lively, but you would never want to use the performance, as the Rio is notably unpleasant to drive; more so, I think, than anything I have tested in at least a year.Apart from the cramped interior, there are two reasons for this. The less serious of them is the gearchange, which feels - in a reversal of the age-old compliment - like throwing butter at a knife. I can't imagine a reasonable excuse for this, though no doubt you would get used to it if you never drove anything else.More importantly, something has gone seriously wrong with the damper settings in the suspension, giving rise to moments of deep uncertainty in sidewinds, or when the car is going over a crest. Of course, nobody would ever pretend that the Rio is a sports car, but when this sort of thing happens even at moderate speeds you can't help wondering about the car's active safety in an emergency situation. It was very revealing that an off-roader I was driving at about the same time felt far more secure in every road situation, despite what should have been the Rio's inherent dynamic advantages.And this is a car built by the same company which produces the Magentis and the Sedona? It won't do. Kia must be able to make a better job of a small car than this. I look forward to a decent replacement, and the sooner the better. Second opinion: Dunno where to start, really. The report above suggests that the Rio has all the attraction of a fourth-hand perambulator with three buckled wheels, but I have to say that I quite liked it in its real-life guise as a modestly priced middle-of-the-road car. I have no gripes about the styling, but it seems clear that the body was designed for four smallish Korean chaps or chapettes who wanted to carry a lot of luggage around. The boot is huge, but you can't get that, in a car of this length, without sacrificing some space elsewhere - in the Rio's case, rear seat legroom. I suppose I tended to potter around, which I imagine is what most Rio owners do. If you remember the ten-point Birkett Dicing Analysis in which the first stage was "Elderly Dodderer Going Nowhere", and the second was "Elderly Dodderer Going Somewhere", I was often only two or three points above that. But I did liven up a little on some winding roads and enjoyed it well enough, although there were no high winds or hump-backed bridges to contend with. Ross Finlay. Engine 1343cc, 4 cylinders Power 74bhp Transmission 5-speed manual Fuel/CO2 39.8mpg / 170g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 12.9 seconds Top speed 102mph Price £7645 Details correct at publication date
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