The boot of the Kia Rio GT Line is not as tiny as I thought! From empty it would hold eight shopping bags. That is the same as the VW Polo and Mazda CX-3.
The boot is quite deep so you do bend a little into the bottom of it. If needed, you could do an emergency nappy change in there!!
Or if you remove the parcel shelf you could transport a small dog.
The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
With the parcel shelf removed I could fit the Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller in the boot on its side with three shopping bags alongside it.
With the parcel shelf removed I could fit the Britax Flexx tandem stroller with three shopping bags beside it.
With the parcel shelf removed I could fit the Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle single stroller with three shopping bags in alongside it.
The Mountain Buggy Nano compact stroller fitted with the parcel shelf in place with five shopping bags around it.
Storage in the back seats of the Kia Rio GT Line is extremely minimal, there is a single map pocket on the passenger side, which would hold and conceal an iPad.
The rear door bins will only hold a 600ml bottle and there are storage wells in the door handles.
In the front the storage is better, there is a small central console storage box (with a removable butt bucket inside). In front of that are two cup holders that are a good size for a removable or disposable coffee cup.
In front of the gear lever are two large storage trays with two 12V, USB and AUX sockets, so great for storing and charging your phone as well as housing my daughter's sultanas for the week!
There is a lined glasses case in the ceiling and the front visors both have lit vanity mirrors in them.
The glove box would not hold the iPad, only my wallet fitted with the enormous manual.
The door bins in the front were a better size and would hold my large refillable water bottle and the doors had the same useful handle wells, which I love for popping the keys into while I'm fastening my daughter into her child seat.
The reversing camera image is pretty good in the Kia Rio GT Line, but it is such an easy car to reverse and manoeuvre that parking was easy. The sensor noise is pretty loud and the visuals for the sensors are in the screen in front of the steering wheel. The only way to turn the noise off is to press the button down in the central console, which also turns off the sensor visual.
The lane departure warning in the Rio GT Line is a beeping noise, which would definitely disturb any other passengers. You can turn it on and off with a button by your right knee.
Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.
Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!
I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.
The indicators in the Rio GT Line are not particularly loud so I didn’t find they affected my daughter while she was sleeping.
The media system in the Rio GT Line is great, it has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and is really nice and simple to use.
You can lock the doors and windows using the controls on the driver's door.
There is also a fantastic display on the central dash that lets you know if any seatbelts have been unfastened in the front and back and an alarm sounds.
The windows in the Rio GT Line are not baby waking to open and close and neither were the doors.
Since becoming a mum I spend A LOT of time parked up somewhere with a nice view while my daughter is asleep in the back! If it's hot I need to leave the engine running and the aircon on but I do like to get out and drink my cuppa tea in the fresh air while enjoying the fact my limbs are free from said dangling child!!
SO this is a very important test as I have found that sometimes I have been held hostage by a cars BEEEEPING alarms when I have taken off my seatbelt or opened the door while the engine is still running!! (I only stand outside the car, I am not a bad mother!!)
The Kia Rio GT Line does have a throaty little engine sound to it, especially when accelerating up hills, road noise is not bad and it was good fun to drive around town and out of the open roads.
How many child seats fit in the Kia Rio GT Line?
The Kia Rio GT Line is a small hatch so I was not expecting it to fit three child seats and it didn't. It has ISOFix points in both outer rear seats, which are not within plastic guides but were quite easy to connect to.
There are top tether anchorages in the back of all three seatbacks so you do have the flexibility of installing one child seat in the central seat if needed. They are within plastic guides and were easy to connect to.
Two child seats fitted nicely in the back and installation was easy, although I could not sit between the two child seats as there was definitely not enough room.
With a rear facing child seat installed, legroom is compromised in the front and we found a 170cm driver just fitted in front of a rear-facing child seat.
Space is tight when posting bub into their child seat from outside the car, whether using forward-facing or rear-facing child seats. The Rio is low down and being a small car you only have so much room to work in, however, we didn't have any bumped heads over our test week.
From inside the car space was also tight, although I didn't find the roof was too low in the Rio so no bumped heads there either but internal space is compact.
Australia being a country of weather extremes- blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!
With only one child seat installed in the second row, there is plenty of room for feeding bub in the back.
The Kia Rio GT Line is upholstered with dark woven fabric which I worry would soak in any kids' spills or dirt and not be as easy to wipe clean as leather-like upholstery.
The front seats were quite comfy, they weren't as sporty and hugging as I expected them to be in the GT Line.
I couldn't wear a ponytail either with the shape of the headrests.
I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!
The second-row seats are also comfortable and our 182cm tester could sit behind me at 162cm with enough legroom and found the rear seats comfortable too.
The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down, with a manual adjuster on the side of it.
The cruise control buttons are on the right-hand side of the steering wheel, they are quite simple to use but I was surprised that the cruise control ran away with itself on undulating roads at lower speeds.
The digital display in front of the steering wheel displays the distance to empty for the fuel, which is a feature I love since having my daughter and wouldn’t want to be without!
The distance to empty display becomes extra important as a mum because getting fuel with a baby is a whole new world of difficult. If they are screaming in the car you definitely do not want your journey prolonged with a fuel stop! If they are asleep the turning off of the engine, doors opening and locking and unlocking, then re-opening the doors and closing, starting the engine again, beepers going off because you haven’t got your seatbelt on when you start the car or because you blink in the wrong direction, do you take them out of the car when you go in to pay? If you do will you get them back in the seat again or will they have a complete meltdown and you’ll be stuck on the fuel station forecourt with a screaming baby!! Hopefully you are starting to gather the anxiety that what was once a simple fuel stop can be for a mum!!!!
For this reason the distance to empty display can let you know if you have enough fuel to make it home with bub and then go out and get fuel another time when you will not have to take bub with you.
There are four air-con vents across the front dashboard; two in the centre and one at either end and there are no rear air-con vents.
The air-con controls are below the media screen and are really nice and simple to use while driving.
Visibility in the Rio is good, it doesn't have any of the chunky pillars, wing mirrors or bodywork that SUVs and utes tend to have, so visibility from the windows was plain and simple.
The Rio GT Line is great to maneuver and park, such a compact little thing, I found it refreshing in our tight kindy car park at drop off!
The camera image quality is a little grainy but not bad for the price! Visibility when parking is good, it is such a small car you can see your edges, the rear seats sit quite low so you can see out of the side windows and between the seats out of the rear windscreen.
One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we get big SUVs or Utes as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, the Rio GT Line, being a small hatch was easy to reverse park due to the size and camera quality!
The view out of the windows is good for forward-facing rear passengers because the windows are quite large, but rear-facing the child seats sit quite low so it is harder for little ones to see out of the windows.
The interior light in the back is easily reachable from the front while driving, which is a great feature.
I have found Tulsi does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it’s really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.
Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON’T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a 5minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it’s not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!
It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.
There are handles in the ceiling above both rear doors that are useful for hanging a baby toy from. I did find that because the rear seats sit quite low you would need a lot of extension links to lower the toy down far enough for a rear-facing bub.
The interior of the Kia Rio GT Line is tastefully done, I was expecting boy racer style detailing but I have been pleasantly surprised. I think this is a smart move because its price point and practicality make the Rio attractive across different markets from a teenager's first car, to a small family car and through to grandparents.
There are carpet floor mats throughout the Kia Rio GT Line. The boot had a silent manual opening nd I was very surprised to find I had to use the key in the ignition! Most cars have push-button start now so it always takes me by surprise when I have to go old school and use a key! There is even a key hole in the exterior door handles but there is a key fob for unlocking and locking the doors too.
The Kia Rio GT Line has a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2017.
In testing, it scored 14.52 out of 16 for the frontal offset test, full points for side impact and pole testing, pedestrian protection was rated acceptable and it gained an overall score of 35.52 out of 37.
The Kia Rio GT Line has six airbags as standard. Both front passengers get front and side chest airbags and side head curtain airbags extend to the rear passengers.
As standard, the Kia Rio GT Line comes with seatbelt pretensioners in the front seats, anti-lock brakes (ABS), electronic brake force distribution (EBD), electronic stability control (ESC), emergency brake assist (EBA), daytime running lights (DRL), hill launch assist, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), forward collision warning (FCW), lane keep assist (LKA), driver attention alert (DAA), automatic headlights. Speed sensing auto door locking and impact sensing auto door unlocking.
Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and the parking sensor beeping sound.
I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when my daughter's asleep!
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