Kia Rio 2021 review | a budget hatch done right? | Chasing Cars 

I only want to hear about “scratchy plastics” if we’re taking about Rolls Royce, Merc, BMW and Tesla.

A great review, I had one of these since March 2019 with the 1.0 liter 3 cylinder engine and DCT gearbox and I totally love it. The car is smooth to drive and very adequate performance wise for every day use it averages from 45 to 50 mpg, a fantastic car for the money.

NZer here. Had our 21 Rio Gt Line+ for 6 weeks or so (in white - love the Yellow option too!). Interesting your Aussie specs as NZ gets all the missing things you don't see? 100% agree with your review. Spot on. As a detailing nerd, I don't mind the harder surfaces. Not a problem for our family. I get it if you don't like it. Each to their own. I'll take the money going into other areas to keep the cost down. My analysis had the Rio GT Line + as the overall best value for money (and by far best looking!) and Kia/Hyundai is huge now and great for service and customer care (so far). We drove Stonic and the Rio and Rio wins hands down. Main reason is the Rio is easier to get in and out of (ironic I know). The distance from top of the door to the seat is somehow greater in the hatch. Better overall visibility from the hatch over the Stonic. This is our '2nd car' - family of 5 with eldest still at home at 20yrs old. We can 'just' get 5 in, but easily get 4. Wouldn't put 4 in for a long trip or anything, but fine for round town, which is the main use of the car for us. School runs, shopping malls etc etc. Fuel economy is awesome. Retuned 4.3 L/100km on a recent out of town trip (normal mode - not eco mode) and I was not messing around. The overall at the moment is 5.8/9 so pretty close to expectations. Performance: Eco mode - Useless. First thing we do is put into Normal and turn off the auto engine stop. WISH they would remember these 2 settings :-(. I guess it is to fulfill some kind of fuel economy standard or something. Certainly not there to hep drivers. Normal mode - fine for 99.9% of life. Can take a bit to get used to the DCT and normal mode to start with. I am there now and zapping in and out of intersections and traffic like a boss. Love the up and downshift of the DCT. On the road the normal mode is fine for spooling up and passing at open road speeds. No prob at all. You are quite correct in this is not a 'stunning' performance but absolutely fine. All my wife needs anyway :-). Sport Mode - Fun zone. Oh boy, the GT gets up and goes. No problem at all with dropping into sport mode before a tight set of corners and blatting it. Great if you want a bit more oomph at large busy roundabouts and things. Or pulling out of T intersections. Normal more is actually fine, but sometimes its nice to know you have that extra on tap and the gears hoid longer. Honestly was concerned that the 'shopping basket' would be limited at open road speeds and was totally wrong. This is a dream at 100Km/hr (+). Sits beautifully and comfortably all day. Very, very drivable. I don't mind the firmer ride. Would understand if it is too firm for some. You HAVE to drive it in your circumstances to verify. Flappy paddles - does not need them. Even the manual shifter mode is almost not warranted (read useless). Flappy paddles would be a waste on this engine / trans combo. Agree on the missing manual option. Said this to Kia and they agreed. Would have seriously considered a 6sp manual. I have found the best use of manual shift is in heavy traffic where you are creeping along. Stops the DCT trying to makes its mind up. Here in NZ our GT Line+ has Sat Nav, keyless start/stop, reverse parking sensors and rear collision warning. Adaptive cruse control, LEDs everywhere blah, blah - pretty much everything you said was missing. Our 'GT Line' without the '+' does not have sat nav and some halogen headlights etc. The small price difference was a no brainer to get the +. We love our little Rio GT Line and look forward to every trip. Better get my daughter off to school now :-)

Thanks for mentioning the spare tyre. So many reviewers forget this item. The 7 year warranty is an industry leader so thanks for mentioning it. The only thing missing is the Reliability Index. Kia is No.1 in the surveys in the USA this year. It should be mentioned in every single review. I guess it's too much to ask for analysis of after sales service, but I live in hope.

Well to my eyes it's easily one of the best-looking cars in this segment.

Well done, great review 👍🏻

Got one at the start of the year as a 2nd car/daily runabout. Perfectly fit for purpose. As mentioned though could do with a few of the options available in other markets. New Zealand's version is the one we should get

I have the updated Rio GT- Line for 8 months. Love its punchy 'Smartstream' turbo performance, so effortless compared to the 1.4 engine. The DCT can be a little jerky at low speeds but you soon get use to it. The ride is on the firmish side but never uncomfortable and NVH levels are surprisingly good for a small car. The only thing I miss is active cruise control. No regrets buying this car, its so much fun to drive and I thoroughly recommend it.

I have a 2020 Rio sport and it’s great. I prefer a key to start a car

I pick mine up tomorrow 😁

Dude, you just convinced me to buy a Kia Rio 🤔

@John spotted your Yacht Rock playlist. Bangers only on that one mate ;)

I bought this car in January of this year ... Great performances , very comfortable e sportive at same time. Strongly suggested.

We have a 2017 one, less features but it's a perfect drive

Great review John, I really like the look/design of this Kia Rio, it looks really smart and sporty. It is a shame that it doesn't come with Sat Nav however, especially as it's the top line model. But over all a great little car, and also another competitor for the Mazda 2 as well.

This Kia Rio does look attractive with the more powerful 1 litre turbo engine. It's a pity there isn't a manual option

thank you that was an excellent review about the Volkswagen Jetta that seem to be a pretty good car we were considering buying that in the Kia

When will you review a victory yellow R26 megane? Appreciating asset i hear

I love like 2021 Kia Rio gt-line hachback auto

Wow 14,300 in California in the dealer t me off so I rebuilt mine for 3000 twenty-year-old Kia still runs great

Your video made me placed a deposit on a yellow GT line. Well done

Very nice good looking car

I love our 2021 Kia Rio LX+ manual. It lacks this sophisticated powertrain and nicer lamps but it's surprisingly adequate and does really good mileage. I wish there was another USB by the mirror for a dash cam. Be warned people will mess you about because your in a Rio!

Please review the 2021 standard Kia Rio for us POV people 🤣

kia seltos is amazing performance and occupies on indian road recently but we're want to drive a worthy car of kia in the cost of money,love kia

Great review I took one for a test drive and was impressed I pick mine up on Monday

John, nice work. I'm emailing Tom to tell him you get the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series to review

I suspect that the reason you got a higher fuel usage is that you favour the sport mode over the eco mode.

These look good in black. Everything is blacked out bar a bit on the rims.

Best car for students like me!

So beautiful vehicle ❤❤❤

I have a 2018 Rio AO Edition. Its a great car but the drivetrain is the one thing that lets it down. Very practical and it does feel well built. A 4 speed auto in 2018 was pretty poor, not great when mated to the 1.4L. Its fine during winter but during summer the A/C drags soo much power its almost undrivable if you put the fan on anything more then 2 out of 4. If only they had a motor like the Ford Puma......as for the Stonic. That's just heavier so power to weight will be worse. Things could be worse, could have been like our old Mazda 2 2015 that's gearbox crapped out at 30k.

Why is the Australian version different to the New Zealand one, ours has GPS maps, touch screen is different. Push Button start, and we did a road trip from Feilding to Auckland and back and according to trip computer 5.6ltrs to 100km. Ours is a 2019 in Yellow, with currently just over 9,300 km on the odo.

It looks good, but the lack of cruise control in the base model is a killer for me.

has this model got a rearview camera to assist in parking?

I ended up changing to get the White gt line Kia Rio and I'll get it late next week.. it's build date is June 29 so it'll come with the new Kia logo I'm stoked !

Funny how only stripped-down, budget versions of subcompacts (if any at all) are released in the USA. What a shame.

Wish this was in the U.S!

Kia really cheaped the Rio for the USA market. We don't get fog lights, those nice wheels, dual tip exhaust, padded door armrests, or the nicer upholstery shown here. We also only get the 1.6L 4cyl engine. No turbo option is available. I want the Australian version!

How is the fuel consumption???

I painted my blue Kia cobalt blue it's little more snap

With carmakers such as Kia Motors and Hyundai… It makes no sense to shell out more than I have to, for any of the German vehicles which are not even as reliable as the Korean’s…

I also reviewed the Kia Rio in my channel, great for budgeting but it did seem dated by design

Oh one more thing the gas mileage in my kit his outstanding that's why we kept it all these years

What bike do you ride John, I see that Enve bottle ;)

I’m going to buy second hand this car is this ok for me .

Hi ! It's So Cool KIA = SUPER !

Wow why the hell is this body style not in USA, it’s gorgeous.

Whytf do we not have the GT model in the US? Love those quad fog lamps. It would be a low budget no brainer Golf hatchback killer here in the states.

Where did you get the prices you show on the video? Are those up to date?

The basic S Manual would be my pick: 1.4L, 6-speed manual box, manual handbrake (hahaha), a key (HAHAHA!!!) for the ignition (ROFLMAO...who'd a thunk it, a key for the ignition, not very modern, suits me just fine) and all the stuff that matters (to me) is the same as the Sport Manual, for about $24K with flash paint, what's not to like? You can keep those 205/45R17's on the GT-Line, I'd much rather have the 185/65R15's for the goat tracks I drive. Nice review, though.

The Rio has less power than the Polo, but the Rio uses regular, rather than premium in the Polo which I guess makes sense.

Quite a bit of talk about the tech available on the entertainment system, but as an older person I couldn’t care less about that. Instead I’d like impressions of actual quality. Does it sound good? Distortion, bass, clarity, upgradeability.

I think its the best looker in the segment. Shame there isn't a model with more oomph.

You didn't fold down the back seats to show the entire rear space

This car is vibrated when 18 wheels truck passing over on freeway?

Hi. I'm tall person. I have 1,87m tall and I'm wonder if that car isn't small for me. I mean front seat and back seat.

2023 no push start button still use key

I can’t accept the fact that South African market doesn’t get the Rio GT-Line model. Please explain why? 🇿🇦😢

The best car in the world

I wish our subcompact cars in North America looked as good as the ones offered in the rest of the world! Even our Rio offered here doesn't look as good on the outside as this one. I guess the market for subcompact cars here isn't big and competitive enough for the automakers to offer something that looks this good on the outside.

Why does this eng produce less kw than the previous model that use to push out 88kw now down to 75kw . Should have used the old 1.6na they use to put in the Rio 5y ago punched out a respectable 100kw and they went like rockets fun to drive

I hate auto up and down windows , they a pain to just open a little bit

To bad we don't have this in SA

I remember when a Rio was $14,990

Not a fan of its 3 cylinder engine when the car is still at stoplights or traffic

Need a hybrid

is Kia Rio hatchback bigger than Honda Fit?

I have Kia Rio 2011 not bad 😘

Voted best car in Russia!

New Nissan Juke a bit more .. own it, like it 👍🏼

I wonder how much it costs to service this car.

What size are those rims?

2021 and no GPS as standard on a top of the range RIO makes no sense.

Lol. “For some reason doesn’t achieve Kia’s claimed L/100km’s..?.. a few minutes later…. Must use sport mode” Hahaha

Odd that they detuned the turbo.

Unless you need a car of this compact dimensions ,for the sake of a few thousand dollars you will be better off with Mazda 3

Just get a Used Mazda 2. Better to have naturally aspirated engines

Scratchy plastic = Low price, got it? Good.......

у нас в россии такие не продают,здесь кругом какие то седаны и сундуки

My wish is to witness every car manufacturing company face out fuel powered vehicles and start prioritizing electric vehicles in our lifetime. I'm from a corrupt but rich state called South Africa.

28.5k metallic paint inc, rip off

Its much expensive.

Owning a standard 2017 Rio, i can concur, the 1.4 is complete and total garbage.

i have holden barina my 19 still it is better than kia.

What tedious mono review.

This kid knows about cars?

Looks horrific