At its roadshow in 1Utama Mall today, displayed its entire fleet of cars including its new RM79,080 Rio hatchback. The real star of the show however, was the all-new Kia Cerato Koup, which we were allowed to take for a spin.
Most of remember the last time the Koup badge was worn by the Forte, it was one of the best-looking affordable 2-door cars around. The new Cerato Koup continues this trend, but brings with it a very nice extra; a turbocharged direct injection engine. The 1.6 litre unit may have a small displacement, but it puts out 204 PS of power, giving it a 0-100km/h time of just 7.4 seconds.
Testing it around the roads of Selangor, we found the car was very responsive and more than satisfied the sporty element integral to having 2 doors. What’s more, for tighter driving control, there’s a toggle that allows for switching between steering response of the electric power steering on-the-fly.
Being a coupe, it’s got a sloping roofline and frameless doors along, but there’s also a sunroof that adds a lot to the styling and quite frankly, the coolness factor. The interior is an all-black affair, with faux-carbon fibre trim and a driver-oriented dashboard.
We didn’t get to try out some of the other goodies, like the 4.2” Supervision Cluster or the 6 airbags (thankfully) but from what we can tell, it’s going to be a pretty great package when it’s finally released to the public.
Pricing hasn’t been decided yet, but they expect something around the RM150,000 mark.
Gear shifter is short and leather wrapped, with a manual gear selector integrated into the 6-speed auto. Paddleshifters are included.
Two 12V sockets, 3.5mm aux, USB and Bluetooth, what more could you ask for.
This unit may be familiar to those who have seen the newly launched Hyundai Veloster Turbo.
Clean, simple black interior.
