Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Merging the latest technology with a smooth driving experience, the new Kia Cerato Koup offers a motor oozing youthful exuberance while retaining its affordable price point.
Although not a sports car by definition, you’d be forgiven for thinking so thanks to its new exterior. Featuring bold and aggressive curves on the bonnet and rear, with sleek side panels, it’s an attractive model on the road.
The interior continues in this vein, with supportive bucket-type seats that, thanks to heavily-defined bolsters, are certainly the most comfortable seats I’ve experienced with this type of car.
Unfortunately, I did struggle a little for leg room despite the seat being pushed back to its maximum capacity, so this is something to bear in mind for those above six feet tall.
By far the coolest, literally, feature of the seats is the ventilation system. At the touch of a button, cool air is channelled through both the back of the seat and the cushion underneath to avoid discomfort in the hot Bahrain summers.
There are also both seat and steering wheel heating options in a similar style, although the chances of feeling the need to use them here is slim to none!
The car continues to impress when you test out what’s under the bonnet. Poking the push-button start/stop ignition, the nifty two-litre engine sparks into life, packing 161bhp at 6,500rpm. It isn’t the quickest out of the blocks by any means, but it strikes the right balance between cruising along the highway and the stop-start nature of Manama traffic on any given afternoon!
The tiptronic gearbox provides both automatic and manual transmission, with the latter particularly smooth thanks to handily-placed steel paddle shifters behind the wheel. The car also features three steering modes, ‘comfort’ for a very light experience perfect for those twisty turns in the kingdom’s towns, ‘normal’ which has a bit more give and is perfect for lane-swapping on the highway, and ‘sport’ which is much more stiff and particularly responsive when putting the car through its paces.
All of these modes can be accessed by flicking a switch on the steering wheel, with a 4.2-inch LCD display on the dashboard providing you with all the information you need. The controls are highly intuitive and simplified, which is a welcome relief from the over-complicated dashboard navigation I’ve decried in recent test drives.
The Cerato Koup has some nifty features in the centre stack, too. A 4.3-inch touchscreen is the gateway to a plethora of infotainment features, such as radio, CD, MP3, Bluetooth and USB input. A particularly cool feature is the ‘My Music’ system, which allows you to store songs played from CDs and USBs in the car’s system memory for playback at any time. As someone who finds no pleasure in driving without some great tunes accompanying me, I found the integrated iPod compatibility particularly useful.
Modern safety features come as standard, but there are a few impressive extras. There is both a front and rear parking assist system, with loud audible indicators and a visual gauge on the touch screen from the rear view camera display. The seatbelts come with pre-tensioners too, which makes you feel just that extra bit secure.
Overall, while the Cerato Koup does not push the top end of its range, it comes with a very generous price tag of BD8,300 and all the basic features, plus more, which the average driver will need.
The Kia Cerato Koup is available at the AA Bin Hindi Kia showroom in Khamis. Call 17408800 for more information.
