In 2021 Kia was the fifth highest selling car brand in Australia with 6.5% of the total market share. The Cerato was Kia’s most popular model sold, by more than double the amount of the next model, the Seltos.
Of those top five car companies in Australia, only Kia offers a seven year, unlimited kilometre warranty with seven years (or 70,000km whichever occurs first) of capped price servicing as well. So, when you price up a new Kia, possibly using their excellent on-line shopping tool, you have a clear idea of what the costs will be for your car ownership for the next seven years, which is a great feature for the budget conscious member of a household.
I recently spent a week with the new Snow White Pearl Cerato GT Hatch and holding the elegant looking key fob in my hand, my first impressions were good. I really liked the alloy wheel design, the contrasting black and red highlights, and the funky daytime driving lights.
On the interior, the GT offerings continue with sports leather appointed seats with red GT monograms on the headrests. Both front seats are heated and cooled with the driver’s seat getting 8-way power adjustment for recline, forward/back, seat cushion height front and rear, 2-way lumbar support and two memory positions. The passenger seat has manual adjustment for recline, forward/back and height only.
The flat-bottomed perforated leather sports steering wheel adds to the vibe of the GT cabin and there are plastic wheel-mounted gear selectors if you want to take ‘manual’ control of the dual-cluth tranmission. Like all Kia models the voice control button has a masculine looking silhouette on it and the voice control function only works when Apple CarPlay/Android Auto are connected.
The Apple CarPlay/Android Auto in the Cerato GT still uses a wired connection to project onto the 10.25” high-mounted central touchscreen. Other functions available on the infotainment system include satellite navigation and numerous media sources. These include DAB/FM, AM radio, Bluetooth, USB music, USB video and Sounds of Nature. To keep your devices charged there is a wireless charging pad on the ledge at the front of the centre console and below this a deep storage cubby with two USB ports and one 12V outlet.
Both the driver and front seat passenger can enjoy dual zone climate control in the Sport + and GT Ceratos, with the lower models only getting single zone climate. In the centre there are two rigid cup holders and a good-sized drink bottle storage cubby in the front and rear doors. The front door also has a space large enough for a small tablet or laptop to be stowed here.
The rear seats have adequate head and leg room for two adults to sit, with the central seat folding down as an armrest with two rigid cup holders at the front of it. For younger children there are two ISOFIX/three rear tether child seat restraint points, but in reality, I think you would only fit two car seats in due to the width of the rear seat. Rear passengers get two central air vents with manual open/close and direction control and below this there is one USB port.
The Cerato hatch boot lid has power assisted opening and manual close and the boot is a good size, easily accommodating my weekly shop, or could most likely take a pram and a small shop. There a four tie down points and no hooks, but under the boot floor there is some nifty storage area. You can either lift up the sides of the boot floor to access them or lift up the whole floor and use the storage space above the spare tyre. If further space is needed the rear seats have a 40:60 split folding mechanism for long items.
The Kia Cerato GT Hatch is the only variant in the current Cerato lineup that is powered by 1.6 litre, in-line 4-cylinder, turbocharged petrol engine with 150kW and 265Nm of torque. There are four drive modes to select from, Normal, Eco, Smart and Sport. Sport mode holds the revs a little higher before upshifting the 7-speed dual clutch transmission and there is some fun to be had if you push the Cerato. The official combined fuel consumption is 6.8L/100km and for my week driving the GT Hatch I used 7.1L/100km.
All models in the new Cerato range come standard with a suite of active safety measures including Blind Spot Detection (Sport + and GT also get Blind Spot Collision Avoidance Assist), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (Sport + and GT also get Rear Cross Traffic Collision Avoidance Assist), Lane Keep Assist with Lane Follow Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) with Forward Collision Warning System and the Sport+ and GT get adaptive cruise control. ANCAP tests of AEB system showed some GOOD performance at highway speeds, with collisions avoided or mitigated in most scenarios. Overall, AEB system effectiveness for higher speed scenarios was rated ADEQUATE. ANCAP tests of lane support system functionality showed GOOD performance, with the system intervening in some of the more critical emergency lane keeping (ELK) test scenarios. Overall, the ANCAP score for Safety Assist on the Cerato GT is 73%.
A 5-star ANCAP (2019) safety rating applies to all sedan and hatch variants build from April 2021 (on sale from June 2021) except Cerato S and Cerato Sport variants without Safety Pack 1. A separate ANCAP safety rating is available for these variants. The Adult Occupant Protection score for this Cerato 34.3 out of 38 (90%) and the Child Occupant Protection is 41.1 out of 49 (83%). Passive safety includes driver and front passenger airbags, front side and curtain airbags. For convenience the Cerato rear view camera comes with front and rear sensors and has dusk-sensing automatic headlights.
In addition to Kia’s seven year unlimited kilometre warranty, you can renew your Roadside Assistance package yearly, for up to 8 years, by simply returning your vehicle to your local Authorised Kia Dealer for its scheduled services. The service interval for the Cerato GT is every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever comes first with the price capped to $3,234 for the first seven services.
The Kia Cerato GT Hatch is competitively priced at $36,990 drive away and as tested with the optional Snow White Pearl premium paint the GT I drove was $37,510 drive away. Visit you preferred Kia dealer to see for yourself why the Cerato is the top selling vehicle in the Kia Australia range.
| Pros | Cons |
| Seven year warranty and capped price servicing | Voice control only works when Apple CarPlay/Android Auto are connected |
| Stylish exterior and interior design | Masculine looking silhouette on the voice control button |
| Competitive drive away price | There are no hooks in the boot |
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine