• Good levels of room on offer in the front and back
• Luggage capacity compares well against most rivals
• Plenty of storage space within the cabin

The Rio’s boot and interior space are both commendable, with enough room for two normal-sized adults to fit into the back. However, their overall levels of comfort depend largely on how tall those in the front are, so bare this in mind when you’re sizing up the Rio. Three young children will fit in the back seats without any problems, although note that there are only two Isofix points.

Bootspace is competitive, and although it can’t match cars such as the Honda Jazz, the 325-litre luggage capacity is more than adequate. The space itself is a good, useful shape and can be increased by folding the – standard 60:40 split – rear seats down. Unfortunately, the seats don’t fold completely flat, making loading long items tricky.

There’s plenty of storage space in and around the cabin with a good sized glovebox and four cupholders in the front. Annoyingly, though, the handbrake is placed too close to the central cupholders meaning it’s easy to end up pawing at the lid of your coffee instead of activating the handbrake.

How safe is the Rio?

• Only three stars from Euro NCAP crash test…
• Only rises to five with optional safety equipment
• But you only need second model up to get it all

When tested in 2011, the third-generation Rio was awarded the maximum five-star rating and performed particularly well in adult and child protection, two areas this generation of model also performs well in. However, in standard form Euro NCAP only awarded this 2017 car three stars, ramping up to five for Rios equipped with automatic emergency braking (AEB) that Kia calls Forward Collision Avoidance Assist and Forward Collision Warning, and lane-departure technology.

That’s the limit of driver assistance tech available in the Rio, unlike the adaptive cruise control systems you can find on the Volkswagen Polo, for instance.