Kia Rio review
The Kia Rio is a sensible and stylish supermini that offers impressive practicality, low running costs, and the peace of mind of a seven-year warranty.
Author: The Cazoo editorial team
7th Jan 2026 – 8 mins read
If you’re looking for a small car that’s big on space and value, the Kia Rio is a brilliant choice. It’s a stylish and modern supermini that’s more practical than most of its rivals, with a spacious interior and a large boot. Sold new in its current form since 2017, it’s a car that majors on comfort, ease of use, and hassle-free ownership. You get a good choice of efficient petrol engines and a handful of simple, well-equipped trim levels. While it might not have the fun-to-drive character of a Ford Fiesta, the Rio is a comfortable and competent car that’s easy to live with. Plus, every model comes with Kia’s fantastic seven-year warranty, which is a huge selling point.
Pros
- Spacious interior and a large boot for a supermini
- Comes with an industry-leading seven-year warranty
- Comfortable and easy to drive
Cons
- Some rivals are more fun and engaging to drive
- The interior has some cheap-feeling plastics
- Engine choice is more limited than in rivals
Interior
Dashboard & tech
The inside of the Kia Rio is neat, logical, and very easy to get along with. All the major controls are exactly where you’d expect them to be, making it simple to operate everything from the air conditioning to the radio. On most models, a 7-inch ‘floating’ touchscreen sits proudly on top of the dashboard.
This system is home to the DAB radio and, on higher-spec models, satellite navigation, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto. This means you can mirror your smartphone’s apps on the car’s screen, which is a great feature. The system is straightforward to use, but the interior’s overall feel is let down slightly by some hard, scratchy plastics on the dashboard and doors.
Comfort
The Rio is a very comfortable car for a supermini. The suspension is set up to be quite soft, which means it does a great job of soaking up bumps and potholes, making for a smooth and relaxed ride, especially around town.
It’s easy to find a good driving position thanks to an adjustable driver’s seat and steering wheel. The seats are supportive enough for longer journeys, and the cabin is reasonably quiet at motorway speeds. It’s a car that makes everyday driving feel effortless and stress-free.
Quality
The Rio feels like a solid and well-built car, which is what we’ve come to expect from Kia. While some of the plastics in the cabin don’t feel as plush as those in a Volkswagen Polo, everything feels durable and screwed together tightly. It gives you the impression that it will stand up well to the demands of daily life. The seat fabrics are pleasant, and the main touchpoints like the steering wheel and gear lever feel good in your hands.
Practicality & boot space
Interior space
For a small car, the Kia Rio is surprisingly spacious inside. There’s plenty of head and legroom for those in the front, and unlike many superminis, adults can sit in the back without feeling too squashed. There’s enough room for two adults to travel in the rear in relative comfort, making the Rio one of the most accommodating cars in its class.
Storage is good, too. The door bins are large enough to hold big drinks bottles, and you’ll find useful trays and cupholders in the centre console for your phone and keys.
Boot space
Practicality is one of the Rio’s strongest selling points, and its boot is a great example of this. With 325 litres of space, it’s one of the biggest boots in the supermini class, larger than what you’ll find in a Ford Fiesta or Vauxhall Corsa. It’s easily big enough for a large weekly shop or a couple of suitcases for a weekend away.
The only slight downside is a fairly high load lip, which means you have to lift heavy items up and over to get them into the boot.
Versatility
The Rio is only available as a five-door hatchback, which makes it a very practical and versatile package. The rear doors make it easy for passengers to get in and out, and it’s much simpler to fit a child seat than it would be in a three-door car.
The rear seats also fold down to expand the boot space for those occasional moments when you need to carry something large. All in all, the Rio is a small car that offers the practicality of a car from the class above.
Driving
Driving experience
The Kia Rio is a car that prioritises comfort and ease of use over sporty handling. The steering is light, which makes it very easy to manoeuvre around town and to park in tight spaces. The ride is smooth and composed, and the car feels safe and predictable on the road.
While it’s not as fun or engaging to drive as a Ford Fiesta, it’s far from boring. It handles corners neatly and feels stable and secure on the motorway. It’s an easy and relaxing car to drive, which is exactly what many people want from a small car.
Performance
The Rio is available with a small but effective range of petrol engines. The entry-level engine is a 1.25-litre unit with 83bhp, which is fine for driving around town but can feel a little slow on faster roads.
The best engine in the range is the 1.0-litre T-GDi turbocharged petrol. It’s available with either 99bhp or 118bhp and provides a much livelier performance. This small, punchy engine feels energetic and is well-suited to all types of driving, from city streets to motorways. Most cars come with a manual gearbox, but an automatic is also available.
Running costs
Fuel economy & CO2 emissions
The Rio is an affordable car to run. The 1.0-litre turbocharged engines are the most efficient, capable of returning over 55mpg in official tests. CO2 emissions are competitive for the class, which helps to keep annual road tax costs down.
Insurance groups are low, ranging from group 2 to 10 depending on the model, making the Rio one of the cheapest superminis to insure.
Value for money
Value for money has always been a key part of the Rio’s appeal. It’s competitively priced against rivals and comes with a good level of standard equipment, even on the entry-level models. All versions get air-conditioning, electric windows, and Bluetooth.
The biggest factor in its value proposition is Kia’s incredible seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty. This provides fantastic peace of mind and is a huge benefit when buying a used model, as many cars will still have several years of manufacturer warranty left.
Reliability & Warranty
Kia has built a formidable reputation for reliability, and its cars regularly perform very well in owner satisfaction surveys. The Rio feels like a robust and dependable car that you can count on.
That class-leading seven-year warranty is transferable to subsequent owners, which shows the confidence Kia has in its products. It’s one of the main reasons many people choose a Kia over its rivals.
Safety
Safety features
The Kia Rio was awarded a full five-star safety rating by the experts at Euro NCAP when it was fitted with the optional Advanced Driving Assistance Pack. The standard car received a three-star rating.
This pack includes important safety features like Autonomous Emergency Braking and a Lane Departure Warning System. It’s well worth looking for a used model that has this pack fitted for the extra peace of mind it provides. All models come with electronic stability control and multiple airbags as standard.
Trims & Engines
Trim levels
The Rio is available in a simple range of trim levels, named ‘1’, ‘2’, and ‘3’. The entry-level 1 is quite basic but comes with air-con, Bluetooth, and electric front windows. The mid-range 2 is the sweet spot, adding the 7-inch touchscreen, 15-inch alloy wheels, a reversing camera, and rear electric windows.
The top-spec 3 adds larger 16-inch alloy wheels, automatic climate control, satellite navigation, heated front seats, and a heated steering wheel. There are also sporty-looking GT-Line and GT-Line S models, which get a more aggressive body kit and unique interior details.
Engines
The Rio’s engine lineup is focused on efficiency. The range starts with a 1.25-litre petrol engine that produces 83bhp. There was also a 1.4-litre petrol with 98bhp, which was only available with an automatic gearbox.
The pick of the bunch is the 1.0-litre T-GDi (Turbocharged Gasoline Direct injection) engine. This three-cylinder unit is available in two power outputs: 99bhp or 118bhp. It offers a great combination of zippy performance and good fuel economy. In later models, this engine was updated with mild-hybrid technology to improve efficiency even further.