The city of Dubai is a melting pot (almost literally so in the middle of the year) of cultures. With an overwhelming four-fifths or so of its dwellers foreign and its popular role as a mid-way stopover point for travellers from the east as well as the west, few places on the globe can truly boast of such levels of diversity and colour.
This modern, global city recently played host to the international media test drive of a modern, global sedan – and we were there to experience it in the sun and sand, first-hand. So, if Dubai is where the world meets, how well does the new Kia Cerato meet the world’s needs?
Some old English poet and playwright once questioned the significance of names, but clearly those were pre-Kia days. The C-segment sedan has been known as the K3 in Korea, Cerato in Australia, South Africa and Brazil, Forte in the US and Cerato Forte in Singapore.
Closer to home, it’s been made official that we will call the new car Cerato, that pre-booking has begun and that its launch has been set for July 2, which is not at all far away. The name change seems a curious move considering the success of the Forte nameplate in Malaysia; we suppose this connotes an all-new model.
Now, the Kia Forte was pretty much a game-changer when it burst onto the international scene half a decade ago and into Malaysia in 2009. Successfully playing the value-for-money card with its abundance of standard equipment and class-beating price, more than 20,000 units have found Malaysian homes to date.
Big shoes to fill. But you only have to look at the Cerato to deduce its confidence in dealing with the task at hand. Kia’s American Design Centre in Irvine, California has defected dramatically from the previous car’s now-dated exterior to bring you something a lot more extrovert and contemporary, which will no doubt resonate with younger buyers.
Noteworthy styling elements include the prominent, honeycombed and chrome-surrounded ‘Tiger Nose‘ grille, swept-back HID projector headlamps with LED DRL eyebrows, the striking kick-up lower crease along the body and the warm red glow of the wrap-around LED rear lamps. It really is quite good-looking.
It’s also longer, lower and wider than the Forte, with the wheelbase extended by 50 mm to 2,700 mm and the boot volume increased by six litres to 421 litres. The drag coefficient is down to 0.27 from 0.29, while the bodyshell is 37% more torsionally rigid.
The interior is also a big departure from the Forte’s – there’s a new dashboard layout, complete with a neat driver-oriented centre stack and a new three-spoke steering wheel with buttons and toggle switches for audio, cruise control and hands-free operation.
There is an upscale aura (certainly more than a few rungs up from the Forte), helped along by the inclusion of more soft-touch materials on the dash, door cards and sliding armrest. Also contributing to this is the consistency of feel of the various buttons, switches and knobs – they sink in, flick and turn with equal tactility, which not only heightens the perception of quality, but is a boost to overall ergonomics as well.
The driver’s seat is 10-way electrically adjustable, with two memory settings. It’s air ventilated too (our market gets this in the 2.0 litre variant only), with three blower speeds. With 60:40 split folding back seats, an abundance of cubbyholes and a good deal of room, the practicality box gets a big tick.
Exactly how much occupant room is there? Headroom measures 992 and 948 mm front and back; legroom 1,073 and 913 mm. For the constantly thirsty, there are two cupholders in the centre console and another pair in the rear armrest, as well as a bottle holder within each door pocket.
Left: 1.6 litre Gamma II MPI. Right: 2.0 litre Nu MPI.
Kit, as we all know, is the Cerato’s forte – and disappoint it doesn’t. I’ll just reel some off here: dual-zone climate control with rear air vents and cluster ioniser, wing mirror-mounted welcome lights, auto demister, front and rear park assist, cruise control, sunroof, a 4.3-inch touch-screen with rear-view camera display on the centre stack, a 4.2-inch supervision cluster in the instrument panel – and I’m not even done yet!
On to the bits that make the car move. The two powerplants we sampled that day in Dubai (also the two choices we’ll get) were the 1.6 litre Gamma II MPI and the 2.0 litre Nu MPI. The smaller engine will be familiar to Forte owners, only here it has dual-CVVT, as opposed to single, so it develops 130 PS and 157 Nm of torque – a small jump. Fuel economy improves from 7.0 to 6.8 litres per 100 km on a combined cycle.
The bigger engine, however, is new to the Cerato, producing a healthy 161 PS and 194 Nm of twist. Fuel consumption is quoted at 7.0 litres per 100 km. Both mills are coupled to the six-speed auto ‘box that carries over from the later Forte 6-Speed model.
As you would imagine in the UAE’s most populous emirate, the roads were mostly wide, straight, seemingly endless and starved of inclines, providing little opportunity to evaluate the car’s handling characteristics or ability to take grades. We also had to drive in relatively close convoy, which meant that exploring the further end of the speedometer was out of the question.
Even so, more than a couple of things were evident – we’ll jog through each element of the driving and then sum up. The six-speeder’s gearchanges are not rapid, but the transitions are smooth in most conditions. A spot of do-it-yourself can be had through the steering wheel shift paddles (if you’re at the helm of the 2.0) or by pushing the gear lever into sequential mode.
The motor-driven power steering (MDPS, Hyundai-Kia’s name for EPS) is reasonably precise, with the newly-introduced FlexSteer offering Comfort, Normal and Sport settings. The system is light in Normal, and hilariously so in Comfort.
I settled in Sport for most of the time, which provided the right dose of surface feedback and weight for me, even though I was hardly driving in a manner befitting the name. Of course, Comfort would be good for manoeuvring through tight spaces and narrow city streets, or even parking – but really, steering feel can be subjective, and is certainly up to the individual.
Suspension is taken care of by MacPherson struts up front and a coupled torsion beam out back. The geometry has been revised, and the use of new insulating materials brings refinement up a notch or two – indeed, wind noise is pretty much undetectable up to 120 km/h or so.
While the 2.0 litre Nu undoubtedly packs more grunt, the 1.6 litre Gamma is eager and free-revving, while possessing a certain sweetness that’s difficult to describe. Although at a speed of 110 km/h, the Gamma spins at 2,500 rpm and the Nu at a lower 2,250 rpm, the latter’s operation is a little less refined.
Both powerplants offer more of a smooth and progressive power delivery than one of a sporting nature. I feel the Gamma is more suited to the Cerato’s docile road manners, but if you’re always in a hurry, the Nu’s the one for you.
Brake pedal action is very linear, making it easy to modulate the amount of braking to your liking. Drivers used to cars with a more sensitive pedal may apply less pressure than required at first, but the system is by no means inadequate – when push comes to shove, an enlarged master cylinder and the addition of a tie-rod to the booster collaborate to improve braking performance and feel.
It is for all these reasons and more that the Kia Cerato is on the whole an easy and relaxing car to drive. Add to this a pliant, relatively softly-sprung ride and the car’s focus becomes clear – you wouldn’t really place it in the dynamic, provocative or engaging camp where driving it is concerned (looks, definitely), but if a smooth, refined and comfortable experience is what you’re after, you’d do well to consider the Cerato.
Whilst the Forte was sold in 1.6 EX, 1.6 SX and 2.0 SX trims in Malaysia, we were told during the drive that the low EX trim would be dropped for the Cerato. The Forte 1.6 SX outsells the other two by quite a margin, which gives an indication of the Cerato variant more Malaysians are likely to plump for.
Globally, 10 body colours, four interior colours and four wheel designs (including the five-spoke 215/45 R17 alloys you see here) are available. Spyshots indicate that both our 1.6 and 2.0 litre-engined Ceratos will sit on these five-spoke 17s, with the latter slated to get a sunroof, air ventilated driver’s seat and HID xenon headlamps. A boot spoiler could possibly be a 2.0 litre-only feature, since none of the 1.6 litre-engined cars we drove in Dubai had this item.
Regardless of the variant, however, six airbags, VSM, ESC, fog lamps and welcome lights should be on the local menu, but all is set to be revealed at the beginning of next month. We’ve already had our nation swept by Girls’ Generation, Gangnam Style and Gwiyomi, but the Korean wave is clearly far from over.
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Love everything about this car, except the centre console and steering wheel design. The “apple” shape of the centre console looks a bit eighties and unbalance, and unlike the exterior, theres no solid and tactile feel to it. Im a bit disappointed coz it could hv been a perfect car…
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Holy cow, the interior looks like those old Korean cars designed by Koreans.
exactly, i was expecting the interior is something similar to the kia rio, and better…
I just purchased a current forte this week, ppls are telling me, “why don’t you wait for K3?”… 1: the price out of my budget. And now Forte got lots of promotion and free items. 2: the interior look old. Due to you will spend your time in the car, interior for me, it must look nice. The current Forte interior(with LCD scrn) made me fall in love with the car. 3: personally not prefer the design of K3, it look nice , but feel boring very fast, Forte i had been saw it since few years back, now i saw it, still looking good/hot. Btw, it’s just my point of view.
– interior are moving towards conti feel ( new Hyundai I-series, VW, Peugeot etc). A lot of “profesional review mentioning huge improvement on the interior design and praising on the functional interior design
1. http://www.stcars.sg/guides-articles/car-reviews/holding-forte/a/103332
2. http://www.sgcarmart.com/news/review.php?AID=571&PN=2
3. http://partskor.blogspot.sg/2012/12/test-drive-kia-k3-exteior-2-by-partskor.html
– the moment new model launch , old model will immediate depreciate more than 30-40% ( even you save 5-10% on your purchase ).My advice is, Just top up some money to book on a new one… you wont regret it.. just had a preview in Sgp last week.. its really a great car with a lot of improvement features ( ventilation car seat, classy interior etc)
Most countries are comparing Kia K3 & Elantra vs Civic , Altis and even ford focus and Jetta.. i wonder why most Malaysians still die die want to surpress korean car to B-segment.. I drove Hyundai I30 for the past 4 yrs before i switching to Passat last month ( initial considering I45, but due to huge promotion by Volkswagen Singapore last month ( both cars difference by only $20k, i ended up choosing passat due to the si ai bin feeling to own a conti car).. but i must agree Korea has make a huge improvement on car making on their features; even now i must agree that my I30 is better than passat in term of the interior functionality – steering radio control; useful compartment to put my HP, keys , drink & coins; charger location etc )
..so where are you..dreaming the conti but still looking/comparing the korean brand..don’t drive the car just only for the interior/gadget..
Some people make good decisions. And some people make bad ones.
agree. The interior design is always the weakest part of KIA, and a constant let-down, when the exterior stirs up so much interest in you. Come on, KIA, listen to us, and give us better interior!
In 09 when the Forte 5 speed was introduced, people were rather shocked (pleasantly) by the price and the kit. Push start button, 6 airbags and all were unheard of in 2009 at this level.
4 years on, the Forte continues to sell really well. It has aged well, does not look dated unlike the Corolla Altis. This was the car that could, and did change the Malaysian scene.
Well, good luck Naza with the Cerato. I hope you have learnt whatever lessons from the Forte, and continue to give us a good C segment family car.
Frankly speaking, I don’t feel like this is C segment when I carried this machine on the road.
*typo-its a 4 speed in 2009*
Why not?
I have been in the 09 4 speed one a couple of times. For the price of 85-90k, the 1.6SX felt very refined. It felt better and less fidgety than an Altis, And WAY ahead of dugong Vios.
Of course, this is no Civic, or Focus or Jetta or 3er. Those are much sharper cars. But cars are not all about 0-100kmh times and how sporty it is. It is also about refinement. As a family car, this Forte really holds up well for a family of 4 on a budget. For the price of a Vios top model, you get the 2.0SX which is a really safe and comfy car.
I’d love to hear why you say it’s not a C segment.
And by the way, one cannot carry a car on the road.
he is the truck driver, lol
It would be a hard time for conti/proton drivers to jump wagon to this car because it is not meant for spirited driving. But people can always change their characteristic of driving, from young aggressive manner to fatherly polite driving.
Slow moving car might be sexier than ah beng’s faster one.
but in Malaysian , some people are different.
even fatherly car or mommy’s car like Myvi they mod in ah beng workshop and drove fast.
Myvi is not safe for cornering as the car quite high but for better comfort .
Totally agree with you on the matter. Many Malaysian car owners just don’t understand the true nature of their cars and try to mod their vehicles to the extreme and loves whizzing around on the roads like they are F1 cars and endanger others in the process. I’ve seen mode up Polos racing against the latest bimmer 328i on the Karak highway and Myvis 1.5 stacking it up with a Ford Fiestas. Dear oh dear… These little cars didn’t stand a chance.
This is because fast car like golf or integra are to expensive , thanks due to super high tax by our government , people only affordable to buy myvi and modify become passo.
Passo is a fast car?
passo is not a fast car,but with Yrv k3vet under the hood say bye2 to Polo.
AH beng, then dun mod and race on the road lar. Why bother going fast up to 150 kmph when your are on a 110 kmph limit highway? Why want to mod small little car like Myvi and Kancil that is not meant to be fast in the first place?? So that you can feel proud when you manage to cucuk a bimmer or a more expensive car? If you only afford to buy myvi then stick with your myvi. No matter how you mod, it is still a myvi, why bother going so fast and endanger others?
@namanama you got one? lol
myvi and kancil are too light to be stable in high speed cruising, not really safe.
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BMW 3 Series of Asia?? Well, is good to dream big. Keep dreaming and pretend its a BMW while you drive your Gelato, oops sorry is Cerato.
Dude… Cerato is TOTALLY nothing like BMW 3 series man, can’t even compare the two D:
what you talking la dei??
even haze out there,you really made my day man…hahahaha…you can join raja lawak lah friend!
nice, but i thinkg forte design more macho than this
front the front, less macho ..
but for the rear , more macho if the taillight darker with twin left n right exhaust :)
of course macho lah,copy sedan focus design..hahaha..
I have waiting so longfor this ceraro 2.0. But Why dont gv us the GDI engine. Really a bit disappointed. GDI….atfer 5-10years baru ada di malaysia? Haiz…
I really wish Naza would bring in the ceed along.
This Cerato is nice, but I prefer hatchbacks.
You can check out the K3 Euro
http://paultan.org/2013/03/29/kia-forte-hatchback-is-called-the-k3-euro-in-korea/
The exterior look more excited compare to interior
Exactly! To cut cost, Kia got no choice but to hire different designer. A little bit fake sharp exterior just try to cheat those young buyers.
Are you implying that Peter Schreyer is a cheapo car designer?
Nope, look at the interior design, it’s not as fluidic as the exterior. It looks like the part is taken from other car!
Prefer preve exterior though. Buttons wise cerato wins.
Exactly my thoughts! A somewhat careless and incoherent design effort. Still, the interior is way better than Forte – IMO. The exterior is nice.
However, its sister model, the Elantra’s interior is, as one reader puts it – very Ultraman-lar….. (i.e. toy-ish)!
Based on the specs this is going to mirror elantra’s price range. Hope naza dont give empty promises on the waiting period like how they’re messing about with me for my Rio.
For me, this car exterior look subtle .
Tiger Nose with tame looking body, it has DRL but the shine not as ‘wow’ as the Audi’s or Volk’s DRL , its rear has the Ford Mondeo’s look and almost the same as the 2013 Mondeo’s tail lamp . Still , its a good looking car but its like the design of the front and rear are not fit together as the rear looks more aggressive, but the front look cute.
The interior looks boring and dull looking grey coloured dashboard, the design looks outdated compare to its exterior which looks more futuristic.
The gear knob looks like the old Kia’s and the Media screen are small, but I bet Kia cut the cost for better price between its rival as always.
The rear boot look big as its height, to put big thing but for a long stick does not look fit in there.
But dont judge the book by its cover, it has tons of equipments installed like the 10point electric seat, sunroof and others. Kia’s make its car has all the luxurious equipments without look like one.
cant wait till it reached Malaysia for its price,
no comment on the engine and gearbox , handling as never driven one ..
thanks
well for a casual driver like me, this seem to be a complete package car..glad to become one of cerato owner in next coming week:)…
like if you already placed a booking:)
is it just me but i feel the interior design is awkward. Its as if the designers are not sure whether to put the individual instruments facing the left or or the right.
The design of the interior really looks ugly compare to its cousin Hyundai elantra design. The interior rally cannot match its exterior sporty look. The whole design spectrum of Rio, sorento , cerato really should be redesign again. The design looks so old and out of date.
If you have never sat in an Elantra, you’ll never know how stupid it is in terms of design. The aircon vents are in the wrong plave. The aircon control feels cheap. In fact the ‘piano black’ finish feels worse than the old Forte. I’d say even a Preve has a padded dash at least.
You buy Preve because of soft dash? Better keep your old Wira lah
Everyone has his words
Nah. I didn’t buy a Proton cause of the extremely good for nothing Cam Tak Pro engine. I don’t see the point of buying a leaking, noisy engine in a car.
Even Kia interior looks cheap or what but ppl still go for it but Preve is a different story i mean they have no choice to choose the better cars.
Agree with sudano,cheap plastics feelings.Plastic joints looks like proton I must say.for that kind of price its not worth it.
Clearly you didn’t understand of what he was trying to say. Proton is BETTER with soft plastics. Unlike Japs cars that are full with hard cheapo ones
This k3 is so korean. I felt the old forte look more continental.
K3 is from Korean of coz it looks so Korean! nonsense!
Not sure how many of you have seen live before. It certainly looks cool. In fact their range of cars are pretty awesome. Saw them myself in Seoul Motor Show this year. Kia really has advanced a lot these past few years. Wonder does anyone here heard of the K9 before?
Hard to believe this car was made by the same company which was ridiculed alongside Proton on Top Gear, 8 years ago.
Just 8 years. What will Hyundai-Kia look like 8 years from now ?
What will Hyundai-Kia look like 8 years from now ?
Answer: Kia – Asian BMW, Hyundai – Asian Audi
Meanwhile Proton 8 years from now…er, still the same old crappy Proton…
Meh Preve is so much better. LOL.
If the price is around 120k it’s because it’s more gadgets inside. For those who can live without it and want cheaper price can choose preve/forte instead.
Go check your eyes.
hi paul.
i’m interested in cerato and was wondering if this car have traction control / ESP.
and if it does, does it comparable to other car model/brand.
Thanks
wow rear air cond ! altis, civic, forte, sylphy don’t have that!
Are you sure it’s the dashboard coz i saw in mudah it’s different, lol
Just because MITI telling Naza Kia to price it way higher than Preve doesn’t mean that this Cerato not price competitive.
It shows how fake Preve as global car that’s afraid of open competition.
Weird looking car. Interior looks like its from the 90s. Hideous looking interior.
And i am very sure the engines are no where as good as the Japs. I dont understand who will buy this car. Really a piece of crap
Its a beautiful car and in same league with preve. Who can suggest which one more joyful to drive? I just dun wan a car tht has beautiful skin but drives like an ngv powered iswara.
you already got the answer
Go test drive both these cars and you will see that they are of a different league all together. Trust me, go test these cars with an open mind and “you will be surprised… ” get the hint! ;)
KIA salesman detected!
hi Jonathan, good review. How much of an improvement of this compared to the outgoing forte in terms of driving dynamics?
I currently own a 6 speed Sx Forte and I must say that I am truly enjoying ithe car every time I drive it. The styling and it’s high specifications does grow on you and the interior is spot on for a car of this price. Comfort levels are good and the sound insulation is good enough to stop any extreme noises coming into the cabin.
As of the Cerato, I have yet to see the car in the flesh. But from all the photos and visuals, I notice that the interior design of the car has taken a step backwards and the exterior is a bit too organic for my taste. Designs like these usually doesn’t hold well with the times and age rather quickly. Take the Elantra for example, it looked stunning during its initial launch but as time goes by, you start noticing all its clumsy curves and creases and the awkward designs from its back 3/4 view. Well that is just my humble 2 cents on the topic though and if the new car is to your preference then don’t let my comments deter your decision to place a booking on this new motor.. And bear in mind it’s a Kia, and it has the “Power to surprise!”.
Kia seems to have much trouble with interior design it hardly matches the outside
Great review Jonathan, love the puns!
vios trd sport is 100 times better and have very very hi resale value than this crap and any other cars..its a FACT
For those who complain the ‘ugliness’ of dashboard design base on pic, please go look at the real things before U spit it out like you’re field expert.
For once I also complained at the Almera 1.5 E spec dashboard design base on pic. At the end, I went test drive & bought the car myself (not the doughnut VL spec). The actual one may give you very diff experience than the one U see on your PC screen.
Almera? Don’t even have to look at it, it’s ugly from A to Z.
ok I understand how you feeling,only unique person like you can see the beauty of Almera…lol
Govern Janji ditetapi?
Pricing in UK for last gen and current gen is about the same, but we have a huge gap here.
The most disappointing is the last decade MPI engine.
I like it, hope can buy one.
“Upscale aura”??? Has the desert heat got to the writer? I think the interior design of the Cerato is awful, looks like something from 10-15 years ago. That front grille seems unfinished too, did they copy Chevrolet? I wouldn’t pay more than 80k for this weak effort…
I was reading some stuff about this car, apparently it does not come with a GPS built in to the touchscreen.
You got to use your own GPS (phone, garmin, tom tom…)
What? The Aventador police car didn’t escort you all ah, at Dubai..
for those who complaining the interior, just wanna ask you guys a question; when your driving, your eyes stare at the design of dashboards etc instead of road?
No…i stare at the dashboard bfr i make a purchase
No! I command the dashboard to drive the car… but it never happen… LOL
btw it is a good looking car…
Of course you look at the interior, you operate the switch gear, you check your speed, fuel gauge, work the radio, adjust the air-con, use the glove box, etc…huh? You must own a Savvy to not care about how a dashboard looks…
instrument panel is on dashboard,so you need to look at dashboard lah! duhhh…..
lousy engine. After 500000 km, you will feel the engine getting rough.
500k km?!!!!
500,000 km ÷ 10years ÷ 365days = 136.98km per day!!!
Got any engine can tahan? Tell us…
Yup, got. My proton saga 1.5I year 1989, magma engine already reach 586,333 km without any problem at all. I’m still use until now.
japs tech!
Msian based in Saudi and i bought the car 1.5 months ao. 1.6 Gamma engine in basic option guise which may sound bare to some to but fits my requirement of having a good car from point A to B. Basic means 16′ steel rim with hubcap, manual a/c, no autofold mirror with signal, no parking sensor, no cruise control, no height adjustable seat but it still comes with steering controlled bluetooth and radio.
As Jonathan said the 1.6 engine possesses certain sweetness and I totally agree! Power is there when you need it but the electric steering might take some time to be liked..(mine does not have the 3 steering setting modes).
What I hope for Naza and also other carmakers in Malaysia to stop selling pearl and metallic paint on extra costs (do you really incur more cost?)..here I got mine Snow White Pearl with the same price as normal white color car. Pricewise is SAR57k which is at RM is RM47,500 which might get me MyVi only..
I do agree with your opinion.Im driving a base model car without all the bells and whistles.only came with cd player,power steering and power windows as standard.I love driving it bcoz it got good ride n handling.besides with more kits more thing will go wrong in the long run and these things cost a bomb.mind you this is only apllicable if you keep your car for a long time.
Everyone has their own preferences.So just buy whatever car out there as long you can afford it,you like it and it fulfill your needs.dont listen to others.
You buy what you want not what others want you to buy..its your money.
thumbs up for exterior, thumbs down for interior!
I’m aware that design is subjective, but I’d REALLY like to meet the person who thought that that interior is a step up from the Forte’s.
Still ugly than forte and Civic even City… front no more elegant headlamp this like fly face… rear? sorry already saw it from focus and mondeo….. interior? Bye ~
First glance of Civic on the road look like forte until saw the H logo and the side profile..the side view seriously better than forte… while elantra look after.time look yuck too much curve look like girlly car or china car ~
Front Ugly interior suck rear like focus…
hmmm I prefer the previous Kia Forte is better look inside and out, but for sure this new forte look wider and have a big bhp!..
Eventhough I like the 2014 Toyota Corolla
what with the saggy look door? bmw rectified them, common kia, do your homework.
For the interior,
how would u guys comment on the RM158k’s vw golf?
no much different the way of designing of cerato’s.
but it is still feeling good to sit inside a golf as a passenger.
forgot about the “design”, i would more prefer to those interiors materials used which given a feeling of “solid” instead of “plastic”.
p/s: anyway, i m not a vw golf owner, dont shoot gao me.
in term of design,there’s not much diff its feel using the same language…but for material theres a huge gap.
hope cerato dont price high! Civic is a good car or i will wait for Altis.
Mazda 3 looks better than this Kia Cheaperato
Great review you got Jonathan!
BTW, do we get that awesome blue among the colors offered here in Malaysia?
And the 1.6 powerplant is confirm Gamma? Is it the same with current Forte or got some refinements?
My thought is they going to replace it with Theta II which is much better than Gamma’s.
like mostly – the rear exterior… front exterior is OK… but interior is less attractive…
Not really happening in this thread. Maybe bashers will wait and reload their bullets until the price announced, lol. Then the whole kimchi lovers and haters turn emotional and shoot each others.
nobody likes the interior of this car especially the centre console. If you do you’re minority. The test cars have 2 tone dashbord and maybe that is the wrong color for this design. i’ve seen the all black in other pictures and they are okay.
I did went for test drive last week in Brunei. Men this car is worth to buy. The handling and level of comfy superb. In term of designs, i can tell it’s a lil bit wider than the previous version. I think there’s a lot differences gonna be going on compare to our malaysian version later on.
worth to buy if the price is correct.1.6l for almost 100k seems legit!
Civic still beat this cerato even in more horsepower…. cerato and elantra in huge hp but the weight, gearbox ratio and engine still lose to Japanese manufacturing… in more horsepower but still in the end 0-100 almost behind or juz same time wif Japan car.. driving dynamic also still behind Japanese… even design new altis beat this girlly car …this new forte in USA can’t killed the Civic in already facelift..
indeed,You can put more HP but the main thing is how power delivers to wheels.Drivetrain and handling play most important role for performance.Usually what written on paper wont work in tarmac.
Civic lain kali lah!!! HAha
You only buy car because of 0-100 sprint? Sigh. Generally C segmnent 2.0 / 1.6T cars can do around 9 secs. NOthing to shout about. Furthermore Civic doesn’t have some features available in Cerato.
yes,0-100 is important things to consider,you need it for climbing hills and overtake…lousy Kia drivetrain dont give you great feeling when overtake or climbing hills.
IMHO. What the hell is going on with the dashboard?
Agreed with woohoo.
The kia and hundyai dual VVTI engine still behind honda I-vtec/Nissan CVTC/Toyota VVTI in term of engine refinement. (slow pick up and roar sound when push to high ramp.)
As a C24 serena owner, I have tried the latest SUV Tusan and Sonata and they are still behind despite having a higher HP.
They need to upgrade the engine if wanted to beat the japanese.
Koreans already beat Japs with ‘luxurious’ things in cerato. Japs are left behind with stock under-specced empty car.
Pick up depends on torque and gear transmission ratio…
Kia beats both Altis and nissan sylphy in term of torque and BHP… (pls compare 1.6 vs 1.6 engine…)
you compared them on paper?it wont work on tarmac dude.its not just hp&torque..it comes with whole package..you need to consider kerb weight ratio as well.don’t say shit if you know shit!
Lets face it, this thing for sure way ahead of any car in its price segment, look at what it have , the sun roof, screen, etc etc, the engine, and the look. The downside maybe are the driving experience, wheel control etc but for sure its great for daily drive
Performance/FC is not the strong point for Kia….however for safety n comfort..it is totally worth the price (comparison in Msia)..from a Forte user
Damn…after so many new models from the kimchis, this is a BIG disappointment. interior is outdated and exterior is…not to say it’s ugly but…should have been much better…IMO…
Kia SA told me the price is estimated => 99.8k to 118.8k
despite the so called “outdated” or “can/should be better” interior design, i hv to say the spec of this car is one of the current best offer compared to its price.
i had cancelled my elantra 1.8 booking n made a prebook of 2.0l cerato.
i think ford focus 100 time better in term of spec., tech & quality
I think lambo 100000 times better in term of spec., tech & quality
Ford focus maybe good in M/T but the dual clutch..aiyoyo so noisy maa!!
for the good commenters, i agreed with u &
for the bad commentators, i forgive u.
can someone buy this cerato for me.. :-)
I recommend every critics here should stop bashing and to reserve their time and energy to check out the car or even take the opportunity to test drive it when it is out before putting further comments.
Kudos to Naza for bringing in this car with no changes to the safety features.
More and more car distributors should and must prioritise customers well beings above everything else. Sime Darby, you are a poor example of what not to do in C segment categories. UMW Toyota & Honda Malaysia are equally guilty. Mazda, you can do better too.
Take good care of your customers, and you will have repeat sales. How difficult is it to understand that ?
I hv just made my booking on Cerato! :)
Anyone tell me what colour is best suit for her?
Artic White (like Forte’s) or Bright Silver (like K5’s)? :)
I found the article is hard to read. terrible.
I have read the Cerato reviews and the comments made by various ppl. In my opinion, after comparing price, engine, safety, added gadgets, i choose Cerato 1.6 and had just confirmed the loan with bank.
This car is value for money and looks great.