Optional: Kia Rio top-end Premium Navi

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The Korean sedan is well known to the Russian buyer, but this does not mean that he has nothing to surprise us with.

“Kia Rio for a million? A little expensive!”, The parking neighbor concluded, looking at the test sedan, and went to his premium car, in which, due to the fierce economy of its owner on equipment, there is practically nothing but a steering wheel yes pedals. For the sake of justice, I had to wrestle for an overly arrogant “judge”.
A million rubles (or rather 942,900) for the Kia Rio in the top performance of Premium Navi is psychologically not the easiest amount to read. However, many questions about pricing are removed as soon as you open the price list with a list of additional equipment that this car has. To begin with, Rio received the Warm Options package. And this is the heated front seats (two-stage, by the way), steering wheel, rear-view mirrors and windshield washer nozzles. In addition, the sedan in the arsenal also has electric windshield heating.

Kia Rio is available in the Russian market with two gasoline engines - 107 and 123 hp.
Such a generous and versatile set just a few years ago, cars that did not belong to the premium family could not even dream of. The maximum that buyers of affordable cars could count on is the heated front seats. Yes, and his presence was perceived as incredible generosity. But even now, such delights on a car of this class force owners of more expensive cars to click their tongue enviously. “Oh, but everything is cool here,” the skeptical parking neighbor nevertheless took pity on.

The car in the top-end Premium Navi version has a radiator grille trim in chrome and black gloss.

OPINION: Maxim Rakitin, editor-in-chief of AvtoMir magazine
In order to win the favor of the client, all methods are good. It is especially nice when for the sane money you get those options for which some tear at exorbitant prices. Take the same windshield heating. Agree, there is nothing more disgusting than on a frosty morning to scrape the glass with a scraper in the hope of digging through at least some embrasure. It’s both cold and insecure, because when such a “tankman” leaves the yard, he practically doesn’t see anything, and one god knows what is in his head now and after how much time he will again look at the world normally. Simple human laziness, coupled with a constant lack of time, do their job, and manufacturers of cheap scrapers rub their palms, like cartoon villains.
Koreans with the peculiarities of our mentality and climate sorted out quickly, they wisely did not take a lot of money for their "heating pads". Not only that, some of them are also available “in the database” - for example, the initial Comfort version for 650,900 rubles will have heated exterior mirrors. And then competitors gnarls with anger. We even measured the time during which the windshield comes into working condition. Some 5 minutes - and you can go without fear that someone will suddenly jump out in front of the bumper, and you have half the glass in ice.
With its “Warm Options”, Kia tuned customers to its advantage. After all, this is not just heating the glass, here the seats are heated, but also the steering wheel. This is generally gorgeous: you don’t have to sit in shaggy mittens until the “donut” warms up to a digestible state. In short, the Korean brand turned to face people, and people - they are such, they remember the good.

It will be hot!

Unfortunately, there was no time to tell what other trump cards were in store for Kia Rio in his sleeve. And then there would be something to add to this “warm” list.For example, the maximum configuration of Premium Navi (just the one for which they ask for almost a million rubles) also includes LED daytime running lights and the same taillights. The interior is decorated with a Supervision dashboard, which displays useful information about the car and the ride. A convenient thing - data is read easily, menu navigation is simple and logical ...

The interior of the Kia Rio is practical and laconic at the same time. The seats are upholstered with Clean Tex dirt-repellent fabric. During the test, we have more than once transported in the cabin both suitcases and boxes, and just bags from the store - and there was not a speck left on the chairs.
Speaking of navigation. Here it is also there - with a 7-inch screen, the ability to receive information about traffic jams and the Miracast function. What kind of thing is this? It's simple - with its help you can display information from the smartphone screen directly on the display of the navigation system.

OPINION: Ekaterina Kvashenkina, deputy chief editor of AvtoMir magazine
Once upon a time, when the first generation Kia Rio was being sold new, my daily morning drive to the car (but it was not Kia Rio at all) looked ridiculous in winter. I crawled out of the porch, embracing Emelya, with a sedentary hand in the mittens, grabbing the wire from this unaesthetic, but extremely useful construction, trying to fall all the time. What, you don’t know about Emelya? This is a heated cigarette lighter seat pad. These are still being sold. But how good it is when such tricks are not needed! To drag "Emelya", to fasten "Emelya", to sit on the "Emelya", to fry it or to freeze until it heats up, to be afraid of a short circuit - no, that's enough!
Indeed, in the late 10s of the XXI century, you absolutely do not need to be an oligarch in order to feel like a person. You open the car, start, press the button for heating the seats, you go to whisk the snow from the body, and when you return - voila, sit warm. This is simply normal!
Kia understands the adequate desires of Russian drivers perfectly, therefore 20 of the 23 Rio versions available on our market have heated front seats. This “Warm Option” is humanly conceived and humanly works. No need to look for buttons on the side of the chair, where they are crammed by some particularly creative automakers (I won’t point a finger!), They are not hidden in cunning niches or mysterious recesses. No need to twist the wheels. One, two, two buttons. One, two - two modes.
The light bulbs on the buttons may light up, may not light up: it is immediately clear whether heating is on or off. Of course, the difference between how quickly your brain notices an on light or, for example, a turned washer with a number is minuscule. But life, excuse me, has accelerated so much in our already post-information era that a split second also matters. Kia saves me this time. Thank you guys, you are normal!

And finally, one more argument: in order to get in your undivided possession the heating of everything and everything, it is not at all necessary to order Kia Rio in a top-end performance. You can choose a version and simpler, which means - cheaper. Anyway, Rio will have the same set of “warm” equipment. Yes, the navigation system and some other options you will not get. But the heat, even in the most severe frost will be for sure!

OPINION: David Hakobyan, editor of AvtoMir magazine
The current Rio is already at the end of its life cycle. A new generation of cars is just around the corner. At least, the canons of the market require this: update the lineup every 6-7 years. And, I think, Kia in this sense is no exception.
And, nevertheless, despite his considerable age, the Korean sedan remains one of the most competitive cars in the class. An attractive car for buyers is made not only by the industrial assembly in our country, which provides a democratic price list, but also by a balanced combination of consumer qualities.
And do not be fooled by looking at the initial prices from competitors. Yes, in the basic version, Rio itself does not flaunt expensive options.But the set of equipment that a machine should have in medium and older configurations is not always found on cars of a class higher. What is the package "Warm Options". Yes, heated seats are unlikely to surprise anyone, but the spiral in the "steering wheel" is a thrill! And it is available not only in the "top". Options Comfort Audio for 700 900 rubles, the steering wheel will also get. I happened to ride a car when the spring weather was changeable, like the mood of a capricious woman. And I'm not sure that my mornings would be so happy if not for this wonderful option on an inexpensive and practical sedan.

Text: Anna Levina
Photo: Vyacheslav Krylov

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