2009 Kia Cerato SLi Long Term Road Test Review

IT  SOUNDED like a plan. Take the Hume to Sydney, have a bit of a look, then drive back to Melbourne along the New South Wales South Coast.

Yeah, I was up for it. Why not? After all, we had TMR’s long term Kia Cerato SLi itching for just such a run. “And when you get back, write it up… now get cracking.” (Oh well, there goes the holiday.)

So it was settled, my sole companion for the trip would be BIK-22X.

With nothing but the Cerato, a selection of pub-style classic-rock CDs and the open road for company, the adventure began.

The primary fear when undertaking a long haul trip is comfort, or more importantly, lack thereof.

Luckily, for seat comfort, the Cerato manages to get it pretty right. It also scores a tick when it comes to getting the relationship between the seat and the steering wheel nicely set.

If there were to be a niggling point, it would be the rough-edged plastic trim on the right side of the driver’s seat. Those foolish enough to wear shorts in the tail end of winter can find it a tad scratchy in the long run.

As for braving local radio in far-flung locales, the Cerato’s reception stayed clear and crisp for both FM and AM bands. The same, however, can’t be said of some radio presenters.

Battling boredom on long stretches of dead-straight road is a much easier task with a decent audio system, and while it’s not world-beating, the Cerato’s system is still competitively punchy.

Most of the trip on the way up was via the Hume Highway with detours along the way to take in a pie at Benalla, stop for a look around the Ettamogah Pub, check out the B11 Submarine in Holbrook, and pay respects at the Truckers’ Memorial in Tarcutta.

For long-legged cruising, the Cerato helped out - the SLi’s standard cruise control being a must-have. Particularly so when over the border into NSW: there, the first roadworks sign indicated 125 kilometres of ‘men leaning on shovels’, with roughly as many speed limit changes along the way.

Straying off the Hume and heading into the Snowy Mountains revealed that even on the winding uphill climbs, the Cerato managed a respectable fuel economy.

After returns of 6.7 l/100km on the flat, the mountain stretch saw a still comfortable 8.1 l/100km thanks to a combination of sensible gearing and (just) enough torque to maintain momentum uphill on the long climbs.

Inside, the Cerato offers plenty of space for its relatively compact exterior dimensions. To make it look truly small though, try parking the Cerato alongside the six pipes that feed the Tumut 3 hydro electric power station at Talbingo.

Each is large enough to drive a double-decker bus through and the Cerato looks just about the right size to loop-the-loop through the pipes. Never got the chance to test that theory out though.

Then back to Gundagai, a brief stop at the ‘dog on the tuckerbox’, and it was back onto the Hume and headed for the siren’s call of Canberra.

From here on the Hume looks more like it’s supposed to: dual lane carriageway paved in concrete and as smooth as glass.

Ditto for the roads around Canberra. The over-capitalised spending in and around the national capital really puts other parts of the nation to shame. If every road in Australia were like this, suspension tuning would very quickly become a lost art.

Enough of Canberra, the bright lights of Sydney beckoned. Once again it was back onto the Hume, through Collector and past the Big Merino at Goulburn.

It was by this stage that the thought occurred that the Cerato could possibly do with another gear. With a six-speed transmission there’d be less of that buzz on the freeway – not loud, but ‘there’ - the result of the engine spinning at around 2800 rpm at 110km/h.

Economy for the long flat sections though was recording a pleasing 6.2 l/100km. That figure, while good on its own, wouldn’t be any worse with a taller top gear.