Kia Picanto practicality and boot space

• Plenty of passenger space
• Choice of four or five seats
• Biggest boot in the city car class

Due to the wheelbase increase, the Picanto offers more space than before, and one of the most spacious interiors among its rivals. There’s plenty of space in the front for two adults and it’s only the narrow body that will make it feel more cramped (but that’s the case for any city car).

In the back, there’s enough room for two adults to sit comfortably on longer journeys, although fitting a fifth passenger in on the odd occasion will be a bit of a squeeze.

During our six month long-term assessment, our tester discovered that the Kia Picanto was more practical than he first assumed: 'There's not much on the market that is smaller in dimensions but inside it doesn't feel cramped or claustrophobic. My children gave it the big thumbs up for legroom, that's despite me having to push my seat back to the last stop to accommodate my height. They did complain about the ride though, more than the passengers in the front seats. The rear seats are positioned directly above the rear axle and transmit every bump in the road.

'Despite having a bigger car within the family I still like to take the Kia on the weekly trip to the supermarket. Mainly because the boot is much bigger than you’d imagine and it’s so easy to park. I can almost get the families shopping in the boot with perhaps the odd bag sitting on the rear seat.

'To flatten the rear seats was just one small pull on a lever on top of the seat. The seats were tensioned to fall flat so there was no awkward wrestling seats into place. Similarly the front passenger seat was spring loaded like a three-door car front seat and it plopped into place immediately. Those two small tugs is the least amount of effort I’ve had to employ to flatten car seats. Full marks to Kia there.'

There’s no three-door option in the Picanto, so access to the rear is easy via wide-opening rear doors which will be a boon for parents needing to fit child seats in the rear.

Class-leading boot space

The boot of the new Picanto is bigger than all of its main rivals at 255 litres. The Volkswagen Up/Skoda Citigo/SEAT Mii trio and Hyundai i10 come close to rivalling the Picanto, but others like the Vauxhall Viva and Peugeot 108/Citroen C1/Toyota Aygo are all well off the pace.

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There’s a split-level boot floor to take advantage of too, and if it’s in the highest position and you need to fold the rear seats down, you’ll be presented with a flat load area once the seats are folded. Space is a generous 1,010 litres when you do this.

Plenty of storage throughout

Kia has lavished storage spaces on the new Picanto. The door bins are of a decent size and will fit a water bottle and some odds and ends, while the compartment below the air-con controls is big and split into two thanks to a little shelf in the middle. For the first time in a city car (according to Kia) there’s a small sliding armrest between the front seats with enough storage inside for a small bottle or a pair of sunglasses.

Safety

• Safety good with optional kit
• Autonomous emergency braking available
• Stiffer structure should be beneficial

The Picanto’s lighter, stronger structure was only enough for it to score a three-star rating in the 2017 Euro NCAP crash tests, only rising to four stars for versions fitted with Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). There are six airbags as standard with an optional knee airbag available, too – as well as several active safety systems.

There’s VSM (Vehicle Stability Management) with ESC (Electronic Stability Control) which keeps the car in check by braking when cornering a bit too vigorously, while AEB is also standard on 3 specification and above. Tyre pressure monitoring also keeps an eye on your tyres for you, and will ping up a warning on the dashboard if they drop below what they should be.