Kia Picanto MK2 - anything to look out for?

[rawenghey]

Hi all.

My mother needs a cheap little runabout and she's looking for a Picanto - the second generation model.

We're looking at a manual 1.25 model, and there are plenty of decent examples about for the £4-£6k mark. Most are around the 40 - 80000 miles and I just wanted to check if anyone is aware of any issues or things to look out for on the leggier cars? I can't seem to get hold of an owners manual to check the service items and when things like plugs, chain, etc are due.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edited by rawenghey on Tuesday 5th September 11:10

[andburg]

no experience but watch a youtube channel called chops garage

He LOVES the small hyundai's and Kias as they give him absolutely no warranty come backs unlike Corsa's

[ChocolateFrog]

My cousin (well on the inlaws side) has one. It's utterly abused, to the point it ran so low on oil it refused to even turn over.

I topped it back up with 2 or 3 litres of oil and it's still running remarkably well.

I've also replaced the boot switch/release that had disintegrated but that wasn't difficult.

Seem pretty well built for the segment to me.

[biggbn]

Daughter had a 1.0 2015 plate Picanto, I called it the little tank. Yeah, cheap plastics but felt so solid on the road and gave her zero issues, absolutely none. Great wee car.

[flumpy]

My girlfriend had an i10 with the same 1.2 VVT engine and did over 100k miles with no issues despite minimal maintenance - its a fairly bulletproof design and copes with neglect well. Eventually she got shot of it because it was getting a bit rattly when started and the engine management lamp came on intermittently (OBD code suggested either a stretched camchain or clogged VVT control valve). An example with less than 80k would probably be fine if there's evidence of regular oil changes and the engine doesn't rattle at startup.

Edited by flumpy on Tuesday 5th September 15:47

[rawenghey]

That is all tremendously helpful and very reassuring. There are plenty about and it looks like £5k will buy her something that should last a while.

Thanks all.