2016 Kia Cerato Koup REVIEW | 1.6 Litre Turbo – A ‘Zingy’ Coupe With An Unbeatable Warranty
IT WEARS ‘CERATO’ ON ITS RUMP, BUT THE 2016 KIA CERATO KOUP IS MORE THAN MERELY A TWO-DOOR VERSION OF THE FOUR-DOOR SEDAN SHARING THAT BADGE.
Interior styling is, however, shared between coupe and sedan. But the Koup gets longer, frameless doors that are the sports car equivalent of long, sexy legs, while the rear-end boasts a shorter bootlid and racier horizontal tail-lights.
The Cerato Koup range starts from $24,190 plus on-road costs, but that’s for the underpowered 2.0 litre manual. It will cost $4000 more to buy the 1.6-litre turbo and another $2200 to option the six-speed automatic as tested here. That makes for a $30,490 (plus orc) coupe package.
Vehicle Style: Small sports coupe
Price: $30,490 (as tested, plus on-roads)
Engine/trans: 150kW/265Nm 1.6-litre 4cyl turbo petrol | 6sp automatic
Fuel Economy claimed: 8.0 l/100km | tested: 10.9 l/100km
OVERVIEW
The availability of an automatic transmission and sourcing from South Korea has saved the Kia Cerato Koup from extinction. Its blood-brother, the Kia pro_Cee’d GT, has just been killed off because it was manual-only and made in the Czech Republic.
We mention this because the pro_Cee’d GT has been hailed for its style and performance, where the Cerato Koup traditionally has not. And, so far this year (to November 2015) the pro-Cee’d has outsold the Koup, 371 sales versus 228 units, so clearly the cost for Kia Australia of sourcing from different factories is the bigger issue.
So is the Cerato Koup worth a look?