We Did 8000km in a Kia Picanto GT. Should You Buy One? (Long-Term Review and Recommendations)

Our long-term review of the Kia Picanto GT hot hatch is complete. Should you buy Australia’s cheapest small performance car? Can you even call the Picanto GT a hot hatch? Let’s find out!

We entrusted the keys to a grey Kia Picanto GT to journalist Zak Adkins, who owns a manual hot hatch himself. Priced at $22,490 driveaway, the Picanto GT is really affordable but still a very fun drive, as we found out.

Our Kia Picanto GT spec:
- 2022 build, MY22 equipment
- Astro grey metallic paint ($520)
- Black vinyl upholstery

The Kia Picanto GT competes with very small cars, like the Mazda 2, MG3, Toyota Yaris, Volkswagen Polo and others.

As always, we don’t accept advertising from car manufacturers, and we’re powered by Budget Direct - so this is an independent, honest review of the Kia Picanto.

Disclaimer: use of the Picanto was provided by Kia Australia, but Chasing Cars paid for all maintenance, petrol, and other running costs during our loan. Our independent owner, Budget Direct, paid the salary of the people responsible for this content. We remained free to say anything, positive or negative, about this vehicle.

Chasing Cars is Australia's most independent source of new car reviews, car industry news, comparisons and car guides. We give you a critical look at every new car you should consider!

[ubernoob]

This guy is an absolute natural in front of a camera. So much joy and sincerity in his delivery.

[MrReedmonkey]

Just test drove one on the basis on this review and bought it on the spot. Absolutely a fun little car with surprising amount of room in the front seats. Love the engine and the 5 speed/clutch is very user friendly. Surprised how refined it is for the price. Happy days indeed!

[TonyHawkinsExplores]

These type of cars are more about character than raw speed or handling. Lots of fun in a little package

[benwelter]

Bought one 5 months ago and I've loved every second with it. Put on 15, 000 KMs on it, pushed it in the Brisbane and gold coast mountains, can keep up with wrxs uphill, and is nice and comfortable doing freeway speeds. Love it to death

[maaprj]

I bought one. Its the perfect foil to my Supercharged HSV (no longer a daily driver I'm afraid). Its a seriously good micro car.

If I could change anything it would be a shock absorber upgrade as the OEM shocks are harsh on rough roads. As far as small cars go they are fine, but I think a set of premium shocks would help.

The manual gearbox is pretty good (the comments on long throw are correct, but you get used to it). However, I'd like to see rev matching on the downshift ...and the gearing is for economy, with 5th being very tall. Surprisingly the punchy engine still manages to push the car along, not requiring a down change on steep hills at 100Km/h.

The seats are OK but a lumber support wouldn't cost a lot and improve things on a longer trips for those with older backs.

All in all its so good and such fun... it may become a bit of a cult classic.

One other thing, buying this type of car will save the planet. The day it's feed back into the blast furnace... it's carbon footprint will still be less than most electric cars have before they roll off the end of the production line!

[Olwingponce]

after 3 years of use on my kia picanto 2019 i'm proud to say that have had 0 issues, here in my country the guarantee only is 5 years or 100, 000 kms, very good korean car.

[greenmonkey]

I have a GT line (auto) Picanto and I just love it. They are cute, economical and do the have had mine nearly 4 years and no regrets. You can cram quite a lot of things in and go on a mini roaddtrip!

[bjw]

What a great review, I subscribed on the spot. I only came across this car hours ago as I was looking for a car for my wife & neither of us have ever owned a new car, so I saw if it was possible to get something we could afford & this car was top of the list, it does look really nice so thank you for showing it on the road, it helped.

[fullboost]

Nice review guys, straight to the to the point in all areas.

[claudiadavies]

This car is a peach, simple and sassy, love how it looks too, great review 😃😃😃

[iusfvpc]

Had mine 12 months now and I love it, that 3 cylinder engine is was one of the all time greats and pulls right up to the 6500rpm. The equipment on the gt line 3 is fantastic

[lucasdimond]

I drive a 2020 Picanto X-Line with the 1.25 litre engine which they discontinued, the car is an absolute dream to drive, I put 10000 miles on it in 8 months driving to and from college every day, has decent boot space, fold the seats down and you can very easily fit quite a lot in, i'm a 6 foot 3 giant and I manage to fit in and drive the car with heaps of comfort, but the rear seats, you would be hard pressed to fit 3 adults in the back, maybe 3 kids because of leg room. People tend to overlook kia as being a boring brand, but the early models of this car were used as rally cars, great fun to modify!

[tighematthew]

I just brought the same one for my daughter its a Awesome little car there.really fun to drive. I find myself driving it a lot.

[leestockton]

Here in the UK I have the GT-LINE S which has a five speed gearbox and a 1 litre turbo charged engine unit.
I bought the last of the old badge style which Kia made; it is a special edition version called "Bumblebee" (probably after the Transformer with the car being yellow with black alloys), and has 120bhp which propels the car from 0 - 62mph in 8.5 seconds whilst still giving 50mpg. Fantastic car

[All-we-have-is-Now]

I love Chasing cars. Thanks for another detailed honest review.

I would love to see a side by side comparison of all the small cars.

[stephensmith]

Kia Picanto is my favourite in this segment, so much so I recommended one to my nan (she bought the base).
MG3 is a class bigger, it does have more power but build quality isn't as great. Mitsubishi Mirage is no longer available but at the time it didn't have enough power to get out of it's own way. I didn't bother looking at Suzuki's because they didn't impress me whatsoever.

[md]

It's amazing people buying these for their first car. In my day you were lucky to get your mum's old Falcon when she upgrades to a shiny new Kia hatch

[Denistone]

glad to see a cheap and fun manual car.

[AndREDraut]

i have a red Picanto GT Line 1.2 with sunroof, nice looking car with good cornering abilities

[secondsrule]

I have the Korean top tier version (I guess get line equivalent) and it is a really cool and fun car. We don’t get a turbo version which is a massive shame - only 990cc engine which feels quite weak and can be dangerous when you need to accelerate harder to fit when changing lanes here in Korea (people do not let you in so you have to bully you way in and hunt for gaps among the cars which do not slow down) - but we do get a lot of additional government benefits because of it as it is a micro car like half price for fees, parking and cheaper petrol. Driving above 85km/h is quite twitchy and can be unnerving on uneven surfaces - turning the optional lane keeping helps a bit while tightening the steering feel but it really makes you a bad driver if you rely on it too much. It’s pretty good and makes for much more relaxed driving but when you switch it of you will be shocked how poorly you drive. Don’t ask me how I know. 😅Steering wheel assistance should be reduced at higher speeds too. I think it looks a bit hideous on the outside and the pre-lift version looks better but neither is as good as original new Kia. For some reasons Koreans love to over complicate their design. Common, it’s not a hot hatch unless you leave it in the sun.