I bought my used 2014 Kia Cerato Koup Turbo auto about 3 months ago, it's my first car and I have enjoyed owning it very much so far!
While doing research and coming up with a shortlist, I had rivals such as the Mazda SP25, Polo GTI and Veloster Turbo in mind.
However I decided against them as they each had more personal gripes than the Koup Turbo which also had very low KMs, the "Touring" option pack and remaining factory warranty to boot.
My car is in the Racing Red colour and looks are subjective but I prefer looking at the rear of the car more than the front. The dual exhausts and defuser design gives off a subtle but definite sporty vibe, the LED lights also look awesome at night.
Driving it is an absolute joy, the engine has a great sense of urgency and it handles very well in the corners for a front driver.
One negative in the driving department is the rear torsion beam suspension which is quite apparent on Australia's poor roads making the cabin crash around a bit if not creeping over road imperfections with care. If it was fitted with a multi-link setup I believe it would have improved the comfort and handling an appreciable amount.
As a city daily driver which is what I mainly use it for, it is easy to live, good quality materials are used throughout the cabin and even the back seats are quite usable, comfortably seating 4 or even 5 in a pinch. There are even rear air vents! In a coupe! O-o
In the front, the seats are supportive and relatively well bolstered, as mentioned my car has the Touring pack which is the only optional pack available for it. This provides a 7" touch screen with Nav and DVD player along with dual climate control air-con and full leather seats.
The big screen and reversing camera makes parking a cinch even for crappy parkers like myself.
Little quality of life features like mirrors with puddle lights that automatically unfold as you approach the car gives it a classy and welcoming feel.
The engine and transmission are paired quite nicely with the option to manually make pretty quick shifts using the paddles making overtaking and highway merging a non issue. The auto is also a traditional torque converter type making them pretty bulletproof and allows you to creep indefinitely without worry in slow moving traffic.
However fuel economy suffers as a result, I get low-mid 10L/100km in city driving. Luckily the car takes 91RON which somewhat alleviates the cost of filling up.
My car only has about 34K KMs so I can't comment definitively on reliability so far but I did some research before buying and couldn't find any known major issues the Hyundai-Kia 1.6T engines could have.
However I have bought my car to my local Kia for two fixes under warranty.
The first is a faulty head unit which is causing a high pitched buzzing sound on all sources. That is still on order to be replaced. The second is the oil pan gasket needed to be resealed as it was seeping oil slightly. The service department handled it well, so no complaints there.
All in all I am overwhelmingly enjoying my Kia Cerato Koup Turbo and have no regrets. From the time I got gutter rash on my rims the second week owning it and then finding out my car had a full sized spare to replace it with, (Yay!!) to watching a movie in my car with a mate and seeing the hilarious the reactions of confused passerbys.
This car has ticked a big majority of my boxes and then some!
P.S To Melissa if you're reading, can you show me in the direction of the Kia enthusiasts crew? Love cars and would love to join the group!
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