The 2024 Kia Picanto has received a facelift and it’s now almost as high as it is wide and still weighs less than a cubic metre of water. Its square face is highlighted by LED headlights, LED Daytime Running Lights and a centre LED garnish lamp on this, the higher spec GT-Line.
Kia has tuned the Picanto for Australian roads to offer fine-tuned ride comfort and quality to match our local driving conditions. Under the bonnet is the same 1.2 litre In-line four-cylinder petrol engine that powered the previous Picanto, which has a very modest 62kW of power and 122Nm of torque. This time around though I drove the 4-Speed automatic, which has an official combined fuel consumption is 6.0L/100km and for my week I used 7.6L/100km of petrol.
The GT-Line Package adds a GT-Line body kit, Gloss Black Radiator Grille, and GT-Line rear badge and these cute 16″ machine finished alloy wheels. This colour is a premium paint called Adventurous Green, but my son called it Forest Green. He also said that he would be happy for a Picanto to be his first car and it’s a vehicle I have suggested to many people when they ask my opinion for a good first car suggestion for young drivers.
On the interior the GT-Line has premium seats with Grey Accents, a premium steering wheel and shift knob and I like the Picanto floor mats, as they add a touch of indulgence. The Picanto has push button keyless entry and keyed start, which has one advantage that you will need to be more conscious of where your key because you will need it to physically start the Picanto. Both front seats have manual adjustment for recline and forward/back and I felt liked I was sitting up too high in the passenger seat, so thankfully driver’s seat also had manual seat height adjustment, another GT-Line inclusion.
The Picanto now comes with wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto as standard on both variants, and the latter worked well for me. This means once connected, your phone can simply stay in your handbag. Or if you do need to charge it there is a cubby at the front of the centre console with one USB-A port, one USB-C port, and one 12C socket located above it.
The 8″ infotainment touch screen comes with built-in sat nav and is connected to four speakers in the front and rear doors and two front tweeters with media sources available being AM/FM radio, Bluetooth, USB and Smartphone. Another new feature on the Picanto is the 4.2″ colour instrument cluster for the driver and I’m happy to say that it has retained Kia’s cool retractable cup holders at the front of the centre console. There’s a lot of hard plastic on the dash and door trims, but the Picanto does have good-sized drink bottle storage cubbies in the front doors.
All four of my family, two adults and two teenage children, were able to fit in the Picanto, but it was understandably a bit squishy. The rear seat leg room is tight, but the headroom was very good even for my ever-growing teenage son. For younger passengers there are two ISOfix/three rear tether child seat restraint points, but really only room for two car seats due to the overall width of the rear seat. Rear passengers get no rear air vents, no fold down centre seat with cup holders or drink bottle storage in the door cubbies. But in the GT-Line there is one USB-C port behind the centre console.
The Picanto has a surprisingly good-sized deep boot and it swallowed a large weekly shop, I just had to place the heavy things at the bottom and light items on top. The power assisted boot lid has a release on the boot only and manual close. The boot space has two hooks and a temporary use spare tyre under the boot floor and if more space is required the 60:40 split fold rear seats can be folded down using the release is on the seat’s outer shoulders, but this does not create a flat space.
Kia Picanto vehicles built from 1 January 2024 are currently unrated by ANCAP. The 2024 Picanto comes with driver and front passenger airbags, front side SRS airbags, and curtain airbags to protect occupants in the event of an accident. Active safety aids included as standard across the range include Autonomous Emergency Brake with Forward Collision Warning System, Blindspot Collision Avoidance Assist, Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Avoidance Assist, Safe Exit Warning, Lane Keeping Assist, and Lane Follow Assist.
The standard rear view camera has dynamic parking guidelines and rear parking sensors, but as the Picanto is less than four metres long, you’ll find parking it to be very easy anyway. For convenience you also get dusk-sensing automatic headlights and High Beam Assist, but no auto rain sensing wipers.
All new Kias come with a 7-Year Unlimited Kilometre Warranty and one year of complimentary Roadside Assist. Owners can renew their Roadside Assistance package yearly, for up to eight years, by simply returning their vehicle to an Authorised Kia Dealer for its annual scheduled services. For the Picanto GT-Line, service intervals are once a year or 10,000km, whichever comes first, and the total cost for the first seven services is capped at $3,069.
The Kia Picanto GT-Line is a stylish little car with just enough power and all the modern tech you really need. Prices for the Kia Picanto GT-Line start at $23,490 drive away and as tested with the optional Adventurous Green Premium Paint ($520) my cute little Picanto was $24,010 drive away. You can Build & Order a new Kia Picanto on-line using one of the easiest configurator websites to navigate or visit your preferred Kia dealer for more information.
| Pros | Cons |
| The refreshed exterior design | The front passenger seat is high |
| The wireless Android Auto works well | There’s not much on offer for rear seat passengers |
| The boot is surprisingly commodious | The rear seats do not lay flat when you fold them down |
Photographs by driven Women Magazine.