Kia Rio (2005 - 2011) 1.5 CRDi Zapp 5d Owner Review

It's better than i thought. I decided to downgrade to a smaller car after driving my Volvo S60 T5 due to the fact i don't drive much and the S60 was over £300 to tax and about £80 to fill up! Looked up the Rio and was impressed with the CRDi specs. I wanted a small engine diesel that had as much power as some of the bigger diesels, luckily i found a 56 reg for sale not far away from where i live for only £995, average prices were around £1500-£2000 for 2006/07 reg cars. Took a gamble and bought the car in the rain, to reveal next day how many scratches the car had, it's black so shows everything. Luckily a bit of T-Cut and polish fixed it up nicely. Had to get some new front pads and discs as they were beyond gone, but even with that problem the car was a bargain! Nice to drive and very quick for what it is. Being a diesel all the power is low end. 0-60 feels quicker than what the Internet say but its got a great engine. Handling wise, well it's okay, bit soft and bouncy around the bends (not as bad as a 90's vauxhall corsa) but while it's bouncy it can still cope fairly well but soaks up the bumps nicely for a small car. Very quiet as well once cruising, engine sounds like a petrol it's that quiet. 50-60mpg average, cost pennies to run and about £40 to fill up the tank, unfortunately being a 2006 it's £110 to tax as opposed to £30 on post 2008 models, but for what i paid for it I can accept the slightly higher tax. It's about £9 a month. Interior is simple but well laid out, equipment is a mismatch of basic and higher end. I got A/C and rear parking sensors, but manual windows and no remote locking?? Seems a strange combination of features, but at the end of the day it's a cheap, no nonsense run around. Rear legroom is okay if you're shorter than 6ft, and boot is fairly big for it's size. Problem wise, well like i said earlier, the front discs and pads had to be done otherwise i'll being failing to stop, the only other niggle is that the injectors are a bit dirty or clogged as it sometimes kangaroos in 2nd gear and when i accelerate from about 45mph the car shakes a bit, still gets up to speed a fair bit. In a nutshell, yes nice car pleasantly surprised, but the diesel engine is the best part about the Kia Rio. Facelift models are better looking but much more expensive.