2004 Kia Picanto LX from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing what so ever has gone wrong with my Picanto.

I think the Kia is a great little car and here is why I think so:

Good handling.

Amazingly impressive brakes (being all round disc's).

Chucky big mirrors so visability is clear and non obstructive especially when in reverse.

High quality interior and not being so 'plastic' like other Korean attempts.

Impressive seat fabric.

Leather touches to the steering wheel and gear stick.

Fuel economy is fine at about 45 to 50 mpg, though not soo good if pushed too hard.

All the gadgets and buttons for no extra dealer fee, such as aircon, ABS EBD brakes, all round electric windows.

Basically, a solid and reliable car at a respectable price.

The only one thing that bugs me slightly, is the unlocking remote fab, which is stupidly located on the side of the key. When the key is in my trouser pocket, I easily accidentially press it and unlock the car (without knowing).

In general, I'm happy with my Picanto and like it's quirky looks and front wide grille.

Hats off to Kia. I'd purchase another from the brand.

The button on the key fob drives us loopy too! We have a 54 plate blue LX and love it, but wish it was a little wider inside. The only fault is cigarette lighter does not appear to work. Otherwise fine after 7500 miles. The trim and equipment is superb for the money, but the engine struggles on our local hills without changing down to second or sometimes even first. Impressed with dealer handover as car explained thoroughly and we were given huge bouquet of flowers and then a courtesy call a few days later to check all was OK. Resale value will be low as the dealer is now selling pre reg 54 plate cars with delivery mileage at big discounts... In all, a great little car with air conditioning at a low price, very happy so far.

Come to think of it, the dealer was really impressive to. We didn't get the flowers, but certainly an excellent handover of the car, which even included being shown how to operate the stereo. Amazingly, a tank of petrol too. (not just a token fiver).

As for the value after three years! I anticipate about 40 percent of the original purchase price. A respectable trade in, about £2k - £2.5k, so long as no dints and knocks.

Just shame about the key fob design.

Yeah, the engine does struggle slightly on the hills, but my last car had an 800cc engine, so that was painfully slow.

Happy motoring.

Be careful when using the cigarette lighter. We plugged a mobile phone charger into it and it has burnt out all the wiring. The handbook says not for accessory use, this was not explained to us after we specifically asked for this feature. Dealer has been condescending and irritating. Car returned from 10,000 mile service without being washed which was also irritating. Very poor service department. In dispute over the cigarette lighter as we think this is a very dangerous fault as there are no obvious warnings and the car is marketed at young townies who will naturally use the socket to charge phones with. It is most unusual for such a low voltage accessory to cause wiring to BURN OUT. If we do not get the right answers from Kia, we will press for a recall due to risk of fire.

There is a warning about not using the cigarette lighter to power accessories - it's on page 3-86 of the handbook. That just leaves the question of the emergency tyre reflator which you are supposed to plug guess where??

I agree that the remote key fob is not that easy to use, especially if you've chewed your finger nails down! However, the problem of accidentally unlocking the car might be irritating, but isn't that serious - if you don't open a door they will relock in 30 seconds so you are unlikely to leave the car insecure.

Hats off to Kia with the "30 second self-locking system". I never knew about that so tried it out the other morning, and sure enough the car locked itself. Makes me feel a little happier.

As for the ciggy lighter! Well, this was something I was unaware of as have just never got round to using it. Something I'll avoid I think.

Also, has anyone noticed problems with the paint work on the front bonnet. I've had a few unlucky stone chips which have easily gone straight through to the metal. Now, I'm not sure how many layers of paint Kia use, but I'm a little sad to have to use a 'touch up pen' so soon into my ownership. I just hope I can avoid more annoying chips.

Having problems with the tracking on our 2004 1.1LX, now on third set of front tyres due to scrubbing on on edge. Car is running well at 18,500 miles, but stone chips go straight through paint to the metal-poor quality paint.

Generally easy to live with and happy considering price.

Dreading resale with this mileage!

I've always had the belief that you get what you pay for and this rule certainly applies to budget cars. Manufacturers will always find ways of cutting costs so I rather Kia cut costs with the paint than something crucial like the engine, which on the Picanto seems respectfully solid. I have a red car so no doubt after a few years it will shade to pink, but by then I'll have traded in.

As for resale, I think it won't be that bad. There aren't many Picanto's on the road which is a good thing for holding the value. Recently looking over the figures of depreciation, the Kia is stronger than a lot of French cars. It's just one of those things.

Tracking issues not helped by tyre dealers not having the correct updates on their computerised four wheel tracking systems. Kia dealers want between £60-90 to do a job that would cost £20-30 at a tyre fitters if they had the info. Ring to check first before wasting your time going. These are the settings; Toe setting=ahead +/-29 minutes; Camber=straight up =/-30 minutes; Thrust angle=zero +/- 15 minutes; Caster= +2 degrees, 33 minutes, with a permissible variance of 2 degrees/13 minutes. If they use the old non-laser equipment, this is fine, the laser equipment needs downloads and won't take new info on site.

Back to the key fob! there is another "feature" which is either very useful or a disaster waiting to happen depending on when it happens. If you press lock with a door open it will lock all those closed and when you shut the open one it locks that as well. Very handy if you've loads to carry as you can lock up, put the key in your pocket, fill your hands and then just push the door shut with some other part of the body. Not so clever if you drop the key down the side of the seat as you get out, knocking the button without realising, shut the door and then wonder a) where's the key and b) what was that clunk?

I have had my Kia Picanto for 2 months now and I love it, I agree regarding the paint as someone has brushed past mine and it was quite noticable at first, but with a little Metallic T-Cut and some Colour Magic (Black) you can hardly notice it now.

On the downside Kia seems to be making the accessories for the Picanto quite affordable which makes me buy more, this is an upside for some people, but maybe not for me - I just can't show restraint! The accessories are high quality and reasonable price which makes a change, I have purchased the mats, side window deflectors, headlamp covers, numberplate surround and some locking wheel nuts (sadly these don't come as standard on the SE!), all accessories have also been really easy to fit myself.

The JVC MP3 Player as standard is superb and the air conditioning has been a god send over the last few weeks.

Good all round car although I think the drivers seat should have an adjustment to make it higher.

Having owned the Kia now for just over one year, I am still happy with spending my money on the Picanto. The only main niggle I really have is the paint quality. I dread washing the car (even by hand), as scratches and swirl marks easily appear in the paint finish. Also stone chips go straight through the layers of paint. I'm hoping that 'T-cut colour polish' will come to my rescue, and tidy the scratches up. I have one particular spot on the roof, where I even thought rust may start to develop. Overall I am impressed by the Kia for the price tag.

I've just got one and am delighted with it so far. I will keep an eye on the paintwork though, but it seems to be at least as good as that on a Peugeot or Renault which I have run in the past. I have managed to accidentally unlock the car with the key fob, but hopefully it will be a one off! Further to the comments about the cigarette lighter, I spoke to two dealers, one of whom didn't know what I was talking about, and the other said he'd used his mobile phone charger in his for six months with no problems. I can't help thinking though that if the wiring really was that weak, the cigarette lighter problem would affect all the cars in Europe, and there are quite a few thousand cars around now! Although I still won't use my mobile charger (just in case...). Delighted with car though, surprised at how comfortable and stable it is at motorway speed. Anyone else found that?. Do wish that Kia would make a 1300cc or 1400cc version though, that would be cracking mini rocket.

Incidentally my previous daewoo car (2000 model) had an automatic locking system if the car was remotely unlocked and not entered. This feature of a locking system in 2006 is hardly a "hats of feature"! Nevertheless, it's interesting to see the kia car company trying to improve... on balance, I still wouldn't want to be seen in a kia!

Funnily enough my previous car was a Daewoo, and I must add that I'm extremely glad to see the Daewoo badge deleted. My Daewoo was probably one of the most un-reliable cars I ever unfortunately purchased, and I lost count of the endless garage trips and repair bills. I ended up tradeing the Deawoo in for the Kia (which is by far a superiour made vehicle). I enjoy my Kia and always appreciate it's reliability and strengh. The only pleasure I got from the Deawoo, was selling it on for the Kia

Picanto for a respectable trade in price, which was purely down to the kind Kia sales girl, who offered me a more than generous trade in price.