Fire up the... Kia Rio

I DON'T know if there's an award out there somewhere for Most Improved Car Maker but surely Kia must be in the running for it.

You can snigger all you like but I reckon that owners of the Korean company's cars can now join their Skoda-driving counterparts in switching their smiles to smug mode, because they're having the last laugh nowadays. Generous warranties and aggressive pricing are always going to count in a car's favour, but thanks to the massive strides the company's made with the likes of the pretty Picanto, the Top Gear-starring Cee'd and the strikingly styled Soul, it's increasingly closing the gap on its European rivals.

But if ever there was a dint in the company's armour it was the Rio, which despite its keen pricing never quite excited UK buyers enough to take on the Fiesta/Polo/Clio establishment. That's why the Koreans have gone to town with this third generation model, which on aesthetics alone is a huge improvement on its two lacklustre predecessors.

Slickly styled with plenty of neat detailing, the new Rio is much more like it it, pulling off the trick of looking slick and sophisticated without making its five door package difficult to access. The days of new Kias arriving in the showroom with black plastic bumpers and awkwardly proportioned angles, thankfully, are long gone.

It's just a shame that the interior still lets the side down; yes, it's very spacious and well equipped, but the actual quality of the plastics and the switchgear involved still give the impression of being made to a price, and not a particularly high one at that.

Nor is the Rio the most exciting car in the handling or performance stakes but nor will it ever let you down either, with handling that's reassuring rather than race car exciting and a ride and steering feedback that's smooth rather than jerkily informative.

On its own terms the Rio doesn't quite topple the Fiesta off its perch but it's an intruiging alternative, but that's before you factor in the seven year warranty and the price (the Rio starts at a shade under ten grand). Once you do the prospect of a Kia and cash in your pocket becomes a very tempting alternative.

So much so you'll be laughing all the way to the bank...