Here Comes The Hotstepper — And By "Hotstepper" We Mean "Manual-Transmission Kia Rio With Additional Features"
In my fawning review of the Kia Rio 5-door, I noted that the six-speed manual transmission was only available with the base model. When the B&B complained, I commented that
Kia’s about to try to prove me wrong.
For $18,650 including destination charges, you can now buy a stick-shift Rio SX five-door with all sorts of fun stuff including touch-screen navigation. It’s still going to be a very loud car, and not everyone likes the way it looks, but this has to be one of the better values in the segment. Note that there’s no price break for taking the stick-shift — and look for that policy to become the rule, not the exception, everywhere you go.
Those of you who said you wanted to buy an upscale manual-transmission compact can now put your money where your mouth is. Assuming, of course, you haven’t all taken delivery of a Focus Titanium already.
More by Jack Baruth
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As much as I love Kia, the Rio is subcompact, as opposed to the Focus's compact size. Furthermore the Rio SX's material choices and build-quality are not as good as the Ford Focus Titanium's, which is near to Audi and Lexus in terms of fit-and-finish.
I must admit, when you crunch the numbers for subcomp cars like the Rio, they don't quite make sense. As you add options, the prices start bumping Focus/Elantra/Cruze/Corolla territory......I think perhaps the tiny Chevy Spark is the rare exception. You can land a decent Spark for $13k, which explains its unexpected sales success.........I will give the Rio credit, however. It's a nice looking small car, inside and out. Impressive styling.
After depriving myself for 25 yrs, I satisfied my manual transmission urges with a Ranger 5 spd stick. Its deja vu all over again. The 600$ Rat reminds me of my '47 GMC pick up. Except the Ranger, doesnt have a roll out windshield for ventilation.
When looking for a replacement to my '08 Gov't Motors Malibu (p.s., WORST CAR I'VE EVER OWNED) about 6 months ago, I narrowed the search down to four rides: Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, Ford Fiesta and Honda Fit. In addition to the Acura dealer I work for, my employer also owns Honda and Hyundai dealerships. That said, I did seriously consider a Rio due to its low price of admittion. And although the MSRP and fuel economy were attractive, at the time you COULDN'T EVEN GET A/C WITH A MANUAL. Idiotic. I ended up with a '12 Accent hatch (with 6spd manual AND A/C!), and never looked back. It now has about 12k on the 'clock', and have had absolutely no issues. I average 40mpg on 50mph county roads with it (with a little 'spirited' driving mixed in :) What Kia failed to understand at the neo-Rio launch was that the target market for such vehicles rarely want slushboxes. They want low price point, maximum fuel economy, and sometimes the option to wind the engine out to its breaking point once in a while (and boy, is that 1.6l fun to do that with), but with a few modern conveniences. My only complaints with Accent in the GS/manual trans trim level: NO CRUISE. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? And the pizza cutter tires are, well, to say the least, cheap crap (and will be replaced by 16 or 17" next spring). Rio is a cousin to the Accent, so, maybe Hyundai/Kia management is actually LISTENING to its customer base. What a novel concept! More than I can say for Honda/Acura (read: 2012 Civic), which considering they write my paychecks, scares the shit out of me.