2022 Kia Cerato hatch review: Sport with Safety Pack

Kia’s Cerato range is here to stay – that’s what Kia told us in June as fewer and fewer car-makers bother with this part of the market to better focus on SUVs. Kia reckons it will probably be the last man standing in the segment and while that’s more a promise than the likely reality – who can imagine a world without the VW Golf? – it will definitely be one of a very few. Kia is pretty good at working a niche.

In mid-2021, before we were all sent to our rooms again (at least in NSW and Victoria), Kia launched an updated Cerato. Same line-up, some mild improvements but very much an if it ain’t broke approach to a mid-life refresh. Visually it scored the sleek new Kia badge, a few styling tweaks and a new set of headlights, but the formula remained basically the same.

With Toyota and Hyundai squarely in its sights, the Cerato favours value and specification, as well as the trump card of a warranty bested only by the thunderingly mediocre Mitsubishi range, the Cerato looks pretty good on paper.

Pricing and Features

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The Sport’s price sticker reads $27,590 ($27,990 drive-away), which is pretty sharp value in this still competitive if shrinking segment. You get 17-inch alloys, sat-nav, cloth seats and “premium” steering wheel and shifter trim (i.e. not plastic), climate control, cloth upholstery, reversing camera, remote central locking, cruise control, power windows and mirrors and a space-saver spare.

Like its Seltos sibling, you can get the Cerato in steel-wheeled S form (as well as the optional Safety Pack) but I think the extra $2100 for the Sport is worth it if you can get there (again adding the Safety Pack). For a start, there is the very nice 10.25-inch touchscreen that is great to use and look at, full of useful (such as DAB+) and/or amusing (sounds of nature) features and is super-classy while going about its business. Weirdly you lose wireless Apple CarPlay, but there are two USB ports to keep your phone juiced.

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On the prickly question of safety, you get six airbags, lane-keep assist, lane departure warning, forward auto emergency braking, lane follow assist, driver attention alert, rear occupant alert, auto high beam and a reversing camera.

The standard forward AEB has both pedestrian and vehicle detection. If you want more, you can add the $1500 Safety Pack, which throws in a reverse cross-traffic alert (should be standard on all of them), blind-spot monitoring, upgraded forward AEB with cyclist detection, forward collision warning and safe exit warning.

Despite my grumbles about the price of the Safety Pack, it still works out cheaper than a similarly equipped Mazda3 and as a hatchback is bigger than both the i30 and Corolla

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Despite my grumbles about the price of the Safety Pack, at $28,590 (or $29,940 drive-away) it still works out cheaper than a similarly equipped Mazda3 and as a hatchback is bigger than both the i30 and Corolla by some margin.

The reason I think it’s good value has something to do with the fact that this car had the safety pack fitted and it was genuinely useful, especially when backing out of our driveway into our narrow, over-parked street. Which explains my die-on-this-hill attitude to reverse cross-traffic alert.

Comfort and Space

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With its long 2700mm wheelbase, the Cerato is very spacious and probably about as good as it gets in the segment following the near-criminal departure of the Ford Focus.

Up front you have two cup holders, a centre console bin, space for a phone under the centre stack and door pockets with bottle holders. The cloth seats are very comfortable and I secretly (well, publicly, as it turns out) prefer the cloth trim to the very pleasant but ultimately less pleasing fake leather of other models. I think it’s more in keeping with the spec.

The back row is pretty luxurious for a car in this segment, walloping just about everything except the Civic

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The back row is pretty luxurious for a car in this segment, comfortably walloping just about everything except the Civic. Which is now twenty grand more expensive. You also get two cup holders in the centre armrest and – joy of joys – air vents as well as a USB port. It’s very comfortable, with good headroom and legroom for me at 180cm.

The hatch has a 428-litre boot, which is a good start but pales next to the sedan’s 502 litres, so if you need more space, the booted version is for you. Kia doesn’t offer a seats-down size, but a good rule of thumb is to triple it and you’re roughly there.

On the Road

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If you’re expecting promising performance – which is fair given the more aggressive look of the car – you’ll be disappointed. This car is all about the bling and not about the zing. Which is absolutely fine because that’s where this car is aimed – low-drama motoring.

The 2.0-litre is an old-stager, with a bit of tarting up to keep pace with various rules and regulations. Power is fine (122kW), torque is fine (192Nm) and the six-speed automatic transmission is still the right one for the job. Although I do expect the CVT from the Seltos to eventually appear in it, which won’t be a bad thing.

Sticking the boot in gets things moving at a leisurely pace but the buzz from the engine isn’t worth it. It sounds like it’s working hard for little reward and that’s about the long and the short of it. It’s right for the segment, though.

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I really appreciate the ride and handling balance of the Cerato. The tyres aren’t too goopy but aren’t noisy either, cheerfully conveying you at highway speeds in genuine whisper quietness.

Understeer arrives early and loudly if you get too excited, but again, that’s par for the course in this segment. Going for comfort is absolutely the right choice and you can really cover a lot of miles in this car solo or in company without having to raise your voice over road or wind noise. I’d cheerfully point this at any of our open borders like (checks news feed) Queensland (checks news feed again) and drive there with little trouble.

The official 7.4L/100km ADR combined cycle figure is possibly a little ambitious, with 9.5L/100km on the clock when I handed it back. Having said that, it’s still just inside my own, made-up 30 per cent over the ADR rule, so that’s not bad.

Ownership

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Kia offers a seven-year warranty with unlimited kilometres, seven years of roadside assistance and seven years of capped-price servicing.

Service pricing is the same between the Cerato's two engine options per interval, but there’s a trick lurking in there in favour of the 2.0-litre that requires servicing every 12 months or 15,000km (less often than the 1.6-litre turbo). You’ll pay between $275 and $623 per service for a total of $2939 over the first seven services. That averages out at just under $420 per service, which isn’t mucking about but is short of highway robbery.

Verdict

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Easy to live with, easy to buy, easy to everything. I reckon if you’re not wanting the turbocharged GT-Line, the Sport is the best of all worlds. The Sport+ is mostly cosmetic stuff with few mechanical differences to really coax me to take the bait. All the 2.0-litre models are quiet and comfortable and with two of them under $30K drive-away, even with the safety pack applied (and you should…), they’re excellent value.

Add to that the seven-year warranty with the costly but capped-price servicing, it’s tricky to criticise this car when knowing who it’s for and why they’re bought in such big numbers.

2022 Kia Cerato Sport hatch specifications