Kia Picanto X-Line 2018 first drive

The Kia Picanto is a budget city car with prices starting from under £10,000, but as with every model range, there’s scope to spend a load more if you venture up the Kia 's range.

Despite the apparently questionable logic of spending a substantial percentage of the price of a basic Picanto 1 to acquire a GT-Line or GT-Line S version, Kia reports that almost a quarter of buyers choose these top-of-the line models. The reason, says Kia, is that it doesn’t cost so much to upgrade when you’re paying monthly on a PCP lease deal.

Along with bigger engines, these versions deploy a more energetic look with their enlarged alloys, racier bumper designs and red highlights, and the top GT Line S trim showers you with the kit of a grown-up car.

A wannabe grown-up car is what Kia’s new Picanto X-Line is all about, this faux crossover drawing inspiration from Kia’s larger crossovers, such as the Kia Stonic. It rides 15mm higher than a standard Picanto, flaunting black plastic wheel arch extensions with short tongues that cut into the bodywork – just like a Land Rover’s – as well as black sill covers and reworked bumpers that add 75mm to its length.

It also wears a distinctive new face, taking the Picanto front bumper style count to three, has ‘plastiminium’ skid plates front and rear and lime green décor highlights inside (and outside with certain colours).

Mechanically there are no differences apart from the ride height change, the X-Line coming with the larger 1.25-litre 83bhp four cylinder and a five-speed gearbox.

Price-wise the £12,595 X-Line splits the two Kia PIcanto GT-Line models at the high end of the range, which now features seven trim levels. Which might sound a lot, except this city car contender is Kia UK’s second best-selling model after theKia Kia Sportage, selling more than 13,000 units (and rising) annually.

It’s hard not to be slightly amused by this Picanto’s crossover-in-miniature look, which nevertheless strengthens the car’s visual appeal considerably, aided by standard-fit 16in alloys. Inside there are grey, faux leather seats with lime stitching – they look better than they sound – and gloss white and lime armrest décor inserts, which don’t. This is a cheerier cabin than you’ll find in lesser Picantos.

It doesn’t take long to be reminded that the Picanto genuinely feels more grown-up than its scale suggests: this city car’s general refinement and zip, not to mention its equipment count, is worthy of something larger. The 1.25 engine is impressive for its ability to pull quite hard from 2000rpm and keeps on pulling even as the red line looms, providing plenty of pep. It gets a bit boomy beyond 4000rpm, but a final burst of urge is the pay-off.