Kia Picanto Long Term Test

Going from a year in a 150 bhp Ford Focus Ecoboost to a 1.0 68 bhp Picanto could have been a culture shock. However, the first journey in the little Kia on a motorway proved to be a relief. Of course, it is noisier than the Focus, mainly because the smaller engine has to rev a lot higher, but it is bearable at any vaguely legal speed. The refinement means you are not reaching for a sixth gear that isn't there: fifth gear provides decently refined cruising.

Back in its natural habitat of city driving, the Kia Picanto has one killer advantage for London drivers – it is congestion charge exempt. All you have to do is pay £10 to register it and then you can smugly drive past all those cameras while thinking about the daily charge of £10 you have not paid. The driving experience around town is good, but it is not perfect. The one issue we have is the clutch. It is light but vague which, combined with an over-sensitive throttle pedal, means the first few starts tend to feature a badly slipping clutch as you vainly try to balance clutch against accelerator. You get the knack of divining the clutch's hidden biting point, but a more precise clutch would definitely be high on our list of priorities for the facelift in a couple of years.