KIA has added a three-door hatchback and four-door sedan to its new-generation Rio line-up that made its Australian debut as a five-door in 2011.
The new models have fundamentally the same mechanicals as the five-door hatch which arrived in three specifications levels – S, Si and SLi.
Now the three-door arrives to top and tail the Rio range, with the entry level S and sporty SLS, while the sedan – in middling Si format only – comes into the range, targeting more conservative buyers.
As GoAuto discovers, the new choices simply add welcome variety to a car that has already carved out an enviable reputation for value and competence in the light car segment.
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JB Rio
Released: August 2005
Ended: August 2011
Family Tree: RioA MASSIVE improvement over the flaky old 1986 Mazda 121-derived first-gen Rio sold in Australia for five years from 2000, the neatly styled five-door hatch and four-door sedan light-car range introduced Hyundai’s all-new MC light car platform to help Kia have a more competitive contender in a growing segment., , Initially just the sole EX model powered by an 85kW/145Nm 1.6-litre twin-cam four-cylinder petrol engine in either five-speed manual or four-speed automatic guise was imported from Korea, until the flagship EX-L sedan and youth-focussed Sports hatch arrived a year later., , Early 2007 saw a 70kW/125Nm base LX join the series., , Kia facelifted the Rio for 2010, introducing a revised nose and a rationalised range consisting of the base S 1.4 and Si 1.6.
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