The Kia Cerato S hatch might look like a coupe or a wagon. But, it’s certainly now Australia’s cheapest and best value new small car.
The 2020 Kia Cerato S is the entry-level model into the Korean firm’s small car line-up. It launched in 2018 as a sedan variant first, followed by the hatchback in 2019.
Its rivals include the related Hyundai i30, Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3, Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Scala, Honda Civic, and more.
However, most of its competitors have surged their entry model price tags recently by up to $4000, making the Kia Cerato S the cheapest small car in the country (for now).
The fourth-generation Kia Cerato comes in four variants – S, Sport, Sport+, and GT – and starts from $21,690 to $33,690 before on-road costs for both body styles. It’s worth noting that the company frequently offers drive-away pricing.
Uniquely, an Si model is available to fleet buyers only.
All models bar the top Sport+ and GT come with a manual transmission as standard, meaning buyers will need to shell out an extra $2000 for an automatic. All colours except Clear White incurs an extra $520 outlay.
The cheapest two models – the S and Sport – are offered with an optional Safety Pack for an additional $1500 for both manual and automatic transmission models.
Here, I’m testing the Kia Cerato S hatchback with an automatic in Clear White. As at publication, it sells for $24,490 drive-away (depending on state).
Design: Inoffensive but sporty-ish
From the outside, the Cerato S looks like a typical entry-level small car – if a little longer than expected – with Kia’s signature ‘Tiger Nose’ grille (great for anti-large grille fans).
It’s not helped by the test car’s basic solid white paint and average looking 16-inch steel wheels that evoke ‘economy car’.
Upon closer inspection, there are some sporty touches like a triangular-shaped housing for the front and rear indicators, aggressive rear diffuser with a centre fog light, and enlarged chrome exhaust that envelopes the actual single rear pipe.
All these elements are finished in gloss black – which is a nice premium touch I didn’t expect on a base model.
The bulb-type halogen headlights and taillights are sub-standard. However, the circular halogen daytime running lights (DRLs) cheapens the Cerato S. Disappointingly, you’ll need to step up to the second most expensive Sport+ trim just to get LED DRLs when its standard on nearly all of its small car competitors.
I’m also not a fan of Kia placing turn signals and reverse lights (dangerously) down in the bumper when there is clearly room in the head and tailights. This results in other drivers possibly not seeing the Cerato’s blinking indicator or tiny white reversing light.
With automakers increasingly slimming their lights – but still managing to fit in all indicators in one unit – Kia’s design decision seems more like an afterthought, even though the same applies on the more expensive Sportage SUV and forthcoming Carnival people mover.
The hatchback slopes quite a bit; at some angles, it even looks like a coupe or wagon. It’s a unique look that I like, but it does hamper the practicality of the boot and rearward visibility.
Inside, it’s a similar story: basic but acceptable.
There are touches of faux aluminium trim on the steering wheel, gear shifter, interior door handles, and across the dashboard in a single line to lift up the quality of the black interior. It doesn’t feel like cheap imitation plastic. Good job, Kia.
Similarly, there are lashings of piano black under the touchscreen – and, unfortunately, on the steering wheel buttons and surrounds. Fingerprints and dust were already building up on my new test car. Not ideal.
On this base model, the steering wheel is wrapped in polyurethane instead of leather – which I actually don’t mind as it ages better, particularly for drivers with sweaty hands.
There are hard plastics across the dashboard and lower door cards, but it makes up by implementing softer materials on the upper door, centre console lid, driver’s armrest, and gear shifter. The latter feels satisfying when going through gears.
However, the vehicle’s manual air-conditioning dials seem quite small to operate easily while driving. Particularly, the centre fan speed control is tiny compared to the temperature and fan direction controls. It’s almost like the awkward middle child.
Overall, I find the Cerato S’ design inoffensive, but there are small touches that lift up its appeal and value. It’s money well spent in my opinion.
Practicality and Comfort: Spacious with gripes
The Cerato hatch has a claimed boot capacity of 428-litres (VDA) with all seats in place. That figure places it above the likes of the Hyundai i30, Volkswagen Golf and Honda Civic – but in the ballpark of the class-leading Skoda Scala which has 467-litres of boot space.
The boot is more than capable of handling a week’s worth of groceries and the odd furniture move, but I wouldn’t say it’s drastically bigger than a Hyundai i30. Again, the sloping hatchback reduces the versatility of loading taller items like chairs and pot plants.
The hatchback has a neat little divider under the boot floor to store tools or smaller items, three shopping bag hooks, two small side slots, and a space-saver spare tyre sits underneath for emergencies.
Kia does not quote capacity when rear seats are folded down, but does fold in a 60/40 split.
It’s quite easy to find a good driving position in the Cerato, with reach and rake steering wheel adjustment, plus manually adjustable seats in this base model.
The cloth seats in the Cerato S are good for most drives, but some may find it uncomfortable for longer trips. It’s firm, doesn’t have much side support and no lumbar adjustment. The front row felt spacious with enough head and feet room.
Meanwhile, passengers in the rear-row can also sit in relative comfort with a low transmission tunnel and a folding armrest with two cup holders. Sitting behind my driving position (around 180cm tall), there’s good leg and head space. No issues.
Though, three people abreast may struggle for longer drives – exacerbated by the lack of rear air-vents in this base model.
Storage spaces are plentiful, too, with decent sized front door cards to accommodate most bottles, spacious glove box, a sunglasses holder up the top, carpet-lined centre console box, and two cup holders that aren’t too deep so I can easily grab a small coffee by the lid without spilling it.
But, the rear door pockets are laughably small to hold any decently-sized bottle.
Drive-throughs are also made easier with a one-touch automatic window for the driver’s side only, while passenger windows will make do with holding the switch for just a little longer on this base trim level.
As per all Kia’s, the Cerato has a two-level tray ahead of the gear shifter. Both are rubber-lined, so I can easily place my phone on the top while it’s plugged in and wallet at the bottom. Very handy.
Concerningly, the Kia Cerato S carries the new design key fob that debuted with the performance Kia Stinger liftback. The three buttons – lock, unlock, and boot-only unlock – are relegated to the side and finished in faux stainless steel, with the former being the biggest toggle at the top corner.
While it may look great and feel a bit more upmarket, it’s a hassle in everyday usability. All buttons are simply too small and there isn’t much tactile feedback.
Magnifying this is the lack of proximity sensing on this entry-level Cerato S – which if you like to unlock and lock while the key is in your pocket when your hands are full – it’s hard to actually feel the buttons.
This is a minor gripe, but it could mean spilling your frozen drink or soft serve cone one day just to unlock the Cerato. Perpetual frustration from this key fob might become a major issue over time.
Technology: Just right
All Kia Cerato’s come with an 8.0-inch infotainment system that protrudes out from the dashboard. Crucially, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring are standard, allowing users to use important apps like Google Maps, Waze, and Spotify on the display.
The base Cerato S misses out on built-in satellite navigation, but it isn’t necessary when there’s smartphone mirroring. That is unless the always-on speed limit and school zone warnings without habitually connecting a smartphone is important to you.
Compared to the South Korean company’s 7.0-inch touchscreen in the smaller pre-facelift Picanto and Rio models, the Cerato’s bigger unit uses a noticeably better LCD panel.
Colours, contrast and black levels are much better in the Kia Cerato. Its aspect ratio is also taller, plus the one-inch truly makes a difference in smartphone mirroring – especially operating small-ish toggles in Android Auto.
As for Kia’s own operating system, it’s easy to use with little to no lag. Thankfully, the annoying high-pitched beep every time you touch the screen can be turned off. However, I wish there was a light mode, instead of the persistent dark theme – even though it allows for better contrast.
Users can set a screensaver to only show an analogue or digital clock – handy when you’re driving to a meeting (or the train station).
While Kia’s infotainment system is simple and easy to operate, its user design is a far cry from smartphone mirroring from Apple and Google. In the Cerato S, there’s not much functionality in the core system besides changing radio stations, switching some settings, and a voice memo application – which is why Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is crucial.
Additionally, there’s standard AM/FM and DAB+ digital radio that is easy to operate. It’s assisted by small physical volume and tuning knobs, but I mostly control it via the ergonomic toggles on the steering wheel.
The driver enjoys a 3.5-inch monochromatic display in the instrument cluster, sitting in the middle of two legible analogue dials.
The small TFT-LCD screen can show the speedometer (most important), lane departure alert, trip information, drive mode, and vehicle settings. It’s easily controlled by the steering wheel buttons.
Notably, there are a range of vehicle settings enabled via the screen such as changing the behaviour of when the doors unlock/lock automatically (based on speed, gear shift, etc.), disabling the possibly frustrating welcome sound, and more. I welcome these settings to customise the car.
Neat little animations showing the car’s ‘system check’ upon startup and opening/closing doors are good touches, while the seatbelt warning chimes and welcome/goodbye sounds are in a more pleasant tone.
There’s also an AUX, 12V outlet, and three USB-A charging ports – one for data, one for charging at the front, and another charging port inside the centre console. Unfortunately, there aren’t any for rear passengers, though most cables can easily feed through from the centre cubby.
The six-speaker stereo system is average, but I’m no audiophile. The pretentious speaker grilles scattered across the cabin look good, though.
Safety: Mostly optional
The Kia Cerato S and Sport variants only have a four-star safety rating by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) under its 2019 testing criteria.
Standard safety provisions include six airbags, a reversing camera with turning guidelines, front and rear parking sensors, city-speed autonomous emergency braking (AEB) that detects vehicles during the daytime, forward collision warning (FCW), and lane keep assistance (LKA) when above 60km/h. There’s also a driver attention monitor which warns you if you’ve been driving too long at one time.
That’s an impressive list, especially given front sensors aren’t even standard on other rivals’ top-spec models. ANCAP rates the FCW as a good performer and AEB as adequate. Even though I set the FCW to ‘early’ through the instrument display, I could never trigger the system to activate (intentionally and safely of course).
And since the reversing camera is placed under the licence plate at the tailgate, the view is more high up, resulting in better visibility. The camera is also wide-angle and is decent quality, too.
But, I applaud Kia’s lane-keep assistance which warns of an unintentional lane-sway by vibrating the steering wheel (not an audible beep) and gently turning the steering wheel back to get back on course. It’s definitely not a self-centering, semi-autonomous feature – but it’s quite handy to have and doesn’t aggressively want to take control over my driving.
It uses the front-facing camera to read white lines painted on the road, so it’s dependent on well maintained roads. When the lane-keep assist is available and the car is above 60km/h, a handy green steering wheel icon illuminates in the instrument cluster.
However, keep in mind that other models up the range receive a five-star 2019 tested ANCAP safety score thanks to a more advanced active safety system, which is also an optional $1500 safety pack on the cheapest S and Sport models.
It adds high-speed AEB ‘Fusion II’ that can also detect pedestrians and cyclists during the day and night, stop-start adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, plus automatically-folding wing mirrors and a leather steering wheel to the Cerato S.
It’s definitely worth the extra spend, albeit manual models miss out on adaptive cruise control while charging the same money as per automatic models.
Structurally, all Kia Cerato hatch and sedan variants are identical.
Driving: An urban commuter
Like most of the small car’s line-up, the Kia Cerato S comes with a naturally-aspirated, four-cylinder 2.0-litre petrol engine that produces a modest 112kW of power (at 6200rpm) and 192Nm of torque (at 4000rpm).
It’s mated with a six-speed manual transmission or optional six-speed automatic transmission. I’m testing the latter, which most buyers will opt for.
Around urban and suburban environments, the Cerato does a great job as for noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). The cabin is generally quiet with little road and tyre noise, direct steering feel, and enough power to get up to speed. The torque converter automatic also shifts smoothly.
However, once I demand a sudden burst of acceleration to, say, overtake someone, the engine and transmission often takes a few seconds to react and take off. This can be remedied by switching to manual mode via the shifter that automatically enters the car into ‘sport’ mode. But, even then, there’s still a clear disconnect between me manually shifting the gear stick and the transmission actually downshifting. This delay not surprising for a torque converter auto.
Once it does downshift, the interior gets much noisier when the engine revs above 4000rpm – and not in a pleasant tone.
I mostly kept the car in ‘smart mode’ where it figures out which mode to be in. There’s also a ‘comfort’ and ‘eco’ mode option, which aren’t really useful by slightly numbing the throttle response and lightening the steering.
Admittedly, the graphics shown on the infotainment screen when switching modes is the only reason why you’d press the toggle down beside the gear shifter.
On the highway, ambient sounds are further increased with more tyre roar and wind noise entering the interior. It does get annoying over time, and is a stark contrast to driving around town.
The small 16-inch wheels provide a smoother ride with less imperfections like potholes reverberating into the cabin and steering wheel. I don’t mind the hub caps since they’re less prone to curb rash and cheaper to replace.
The trip meter showed an average fuel economy of 8.9 litres/100km, driving mostly around suburbia with a short stint on the highway. That’s quite high for its class – but not surprising for this stalwart Hyundai/Kia 2.0-litre unit. A lighter right foot and some patience can improve its fuel efficiency.
Moreover, there’s decent all-round visibility in the Cerato. The wing mirrors provide a clear view of the car itself and adjacent vehicles while on the road, and the car’s wheels and the curb or line markings while parking.
However, the sloping roofline on the hatchback means a narrower back window to see out of and thicker c-pillars, even though it’s helped by a small rear quarter window. It takes some getting used to.
The Cerato has a 10.6-metre turning circle between curbs, one of the best in its class. This means, parking, navigating tight streets and turn arounds are easy enough with light steering.
Aftersales and Servicing: Paying for privilege
As with all cars from the South Korean manufacturer, the Kia Cerato comes with a seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, seven-year capped price servicing, and eight-years of roadside assistance (renewed with every scheduled service).
Holistically, Kia still offers the best aftersales support in the Australian automotive landscape – despite Mitsubishi offering a 10-year warranty but capped at 200,000km, and sister brand Hyundai providing a five-year warranty with unlimited capped price servicing and 10-years roadside support.
Disappointingly, the Kia Cerato S is more expensive to service than its counterparts. Owners will need to spend $2015 to maintain the car for the first five years of ownership, resulting in an average cost of $403 per year. Service checkups are required every 12 months or 15,000km (whichever comes first).
Buyers will definitely pay more for the car’s affordable price tag and better aftersales support in the long-run.
Would I pick the Kia Cerato S?
The Kia Cerato S is certainly a good value, well packaged vehicle. After all, it’s now the cheapest small car in the country.
But, I would choose the Kia Cerato S with Safety Pack, instead, as it brings potentially life-saving safety technologies plus other niceties for an extra $1500; all-up around $26,000 drive-away.
If you want more equipment and have a larger wallet, I’d go for the top-spec Cerato GT. For the $34,000 drive-away mark, it brings a more potent 1.6-litre turbocharged engine that puts it in warm hatch territory, standard safety tech, ventilated and heated leather sports seats, proximity key, much more appetising 18-inch alloy wheels in grippier Michelin tyres, and much more.
However, I would skip the mid-spec Sport and Sport+ variants as the extra impost simply creeps too close into the GT’s value-buy price tag, without adding much worthwhile equipment over the Cerato S with Safety Pack.
Above: Kia Cerato GT hatch and sedan
Also, keep in mind that a mid-life Cerato facelift is coming sometime in 2021.
Nonetheless, the entry-level 2020 Kia Cerato S has enough space, technology, active safety equipment, and driving dynamics that’s pleasant in urban environments. It doesn’t excel in any one area (except price), but doesn’t fail in any one area either.
Therefore, it’s a good all-rounder without the expensive price tag that its rivals now unashamedly wear.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The test vehicle was provided by a Kia dealer as part of a service loan.
The Connected by Henry Man 