2012 Kia Rio SX 5-Door Review

• Tweet
• Sharebar

• Tweet

A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to test drive a Kia Rio 5-Door for a week, and my only real complaint was that I had to give it back! The car was perfect for us- small enough to fit into our garage {with ample room left over} yet spacious enough that getting Shane in & out of it was no issue at all.

&The color! Oh, how I loved the color of the car. I know not all Kia Rio vehicles are this color but my car definitely isn’t so it was nice to drive a car that I liked the look of for awhile!

Since there wasn’t really anything that I didn’t like, I thought I’d just feature some of my absolute favorite features of the car.

1. Smart Key. I’m always carrying a giant purse &it’s always pretty full, so finding my keys can prove difficult sometimes. This is particularly annoying when I’m in dark parking lots, or struggling to get Shane to stop running into the street, or when the inside of my car is ten thousand degrees & I need to get the AC running. But with the keyless entry, you just have to have your key on your person & then you can just hit the button on the door handle to unlock your car. {It works the same way to lock it, too.} &The keyless ignition is one of my favorite features in any car so I’m glad that this one had it!

2. Bluetooth compatibility. Here in Nevada, handsets are illegal while driving. We can use Bluetooth though, so I love that the car lets you connect your phone straight to the car. You can even make and answer calls right on your steering wheel {see next point}.

3. Steering wheel controls. While it’d be ideal if none of us ever got distracted while driving, the truth is that sometimes you just have to change a radio station {there are only so many times you can listen to “Call Me Maybe”} &you may have to make or answer a phone call {via Bluetooth} once in awhile. It’s much better &less distracting to be able to do that by hitting a button on your steering wheel than to have to reach over & find it on the main dash.

4. Size matters. Despite having driven sedans for most of my driving career, I actually prefer either small SUV’s or small cars. This one is so tiny & easy to maneuver! It’s easy to make tight turns & nab the small, up-close spots in the parking garage & it takes up less space in our small garage.

5. Retractable mirrors. This is such a simple concept & many wouldn’t even use it very often, but I love that you can fully retract the mirrors with the push of a button. This is handy in our garage, where I don’t have that much room on the side to get in {as evidenced by the major scratch on the mirror of my car} so for me, it makes the Top 5 list.

The Kia Rio 5 Door starts at $13,800 and even with all of the optional upgrad6es you can imagine & with the highest trim available, it’s still just barely over $20,000- a fantastic deal for such a great car!

Which feature would you like the most?

Note: I was not compensated for this post but did test drive the car for one week to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.