Service Cars

2006 Kia Rio 5 SX

Body Styles, Trim Levels and Options:

The 2006 Kia Rio sedan comes in base and LX trims, while the five-door Rio5 hatchback is available in a single SX trim. With no air conditioning and skinny 175/70R14 tires, the base sedan is a budget ride. Yet, you do get an attractive cloth interior in beige or gray, two-way driver-seat height adjustment, a tachometer and a full complement of side airbags.



The well-equipped LX sedan provides A/C, a four-speaker CD stereo, power steering, a 60/40-split folding rear seat, a tilt steering wheel and meatier 185/65R14 tires. The Rio5 SX hatchback adds 15-inch alloy wheels, metallic interior trim, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and metal-trimmed pedals. LX sedan and Rio5 hatch buyers can get the optional Power Package, which provides power windows, mirrors and locks; keyless entry; and tweeter speakers.

LUU: It’s easy to step into an entry-level Kia with preconceived notions of (poor) quality, performance and handling, and that’s probably why I come away generally impressed by this Rio and how much it has evolved since the last one I drove a few years back.

The Rio goes around corners, rides down the highway and through the city competently. The engine is more refined than before, and the shifter action is perfectly adequate. The interior is on par with anything in this econocar class.

At $12,000 this would make a great car for the budget-mind-ed driver, but at $14,510 I have to pass. This price cannot be justified, not because the car is terrible, but because Honda charges just $14,910 for a base Civic DX coupe.

PAVIA-RAUCHMAN: Crank windows! Wow, this takes me back... back to unlocking doors with a key, rolling down my own window (and not being able to roll down any others while driving) and manually adjusting the sideview mirrors. But it’s also a more accurate reflection, dollar-wise, of what I could afford if I were in the market for a new car.

I found the Rio to be a peppy little ride. The engine gets rather buzzy, but it easily gets up to speed and beyond, and it cruises comfortably. With the audio system cranking—it has a CD player, so what more could you want?—the road and engine noises aren’t horrible.
It’s all pretty basic (cheap) inside, with funky, commercial-feeling cloth seats. I’d be really pleased to hit the kind of mileage figures Kia claims. I guess you wouldn’t call this a pocket-rocket, but I’d say it’s just your basic econo-commuter. Not bad.

BLAHNIK: The Rio makes the Ford Focus feel like a luxury car. And like Pavia-Rauchman, it’s been quite awhile since I’ve had to negotiate my way around an interior with things like manual door locks, mirrors and windows.

The car feels somewhat peppy, but I still had a problem getting up to highway speeds quickly. I can’t imagine how slow it would feel if it was an automatic. Once up to speed, the poor car sounds like it is straining around 4000 rpm.
source : edmunds.com ,autonews.com