2013 Kia Rio SX Sedan Review

It’s becoming somewhat of a joke now that all the cars I review are red. Even traveling across the country to upstate New York, the powers that be are delivering me those shiny red vehicles my way. When I arrived at the hotel and grabbed the keys from the front desk, I walked out to the parking lot that wet night in Albany to find a 2013 Kia Rio SX Sedan sparkling scarlet right back at me. To boot, the car had California plates, it was perfect!

Now this week it was just going to be three of us.  My husband and I brought my son to NY for a baseball tournament but we still needed some space since we’d be toting around our 2 large suitcases, 2 backpacks, a carry on, purse, and his bat bag.  The trunk took our suitcases and bat bag pretty nicely while still having room in the back seat.

It was about a 2 hour trip from the airport to Cooperstown and I was glad to see that along with plenty of room to sit comfortably with ample foot room, my son (5’3″) had plenty of room to stretch out and nap after the 6 hour flight!   I keep reading about how it’s a compact car, but only if we’re really talking parking spots.  Sure my son didn’t drive while us adults sat in the back, but for a family, having 3 kids in the back would be okay!

The look of the car is sporty, stylish, and really kind of sexy if I have to say. I’m always teasing about these red cars, but that color mixed with the black trim and black and silver wheels, plus it’s curved lines it really makes a statement on the road.  And, I don’t mean to the cops, I hope!

The Rio has Kia’s dual front, side, and curtain airbags as standard, as are anti-lock brakes and stability control. This was our first experience with a Kia in weather.  By that I mean, it rained quite a bit in New York and knowing that the car’s 17 inch low profile wheels and tires gripped the road was so refreshing.  We explored back roads from Cooperstown to Richfield, to Herkimer to Utica and Oneida and back and with the windy roads and wet weather, the Kia handled really well!

Bluetooth, navigation, and the rear view camera are always nice bonuses for us.  Being in a new place and not knowing the roads, it was useful, but often the navigation doesn’t pick up too many “off the beaten path” country roads.With Eco-boost we were fuel efficient and got about 33 mpg for our entire trip, average is about 28 mpg City/36 mpg Hwy.  I always check the dash and how many miles we have until empty, it’s like a game to me and it’s really a great feature.

We enjoyed the Rio thoroughly and found it to be a great car to drive!  I would choose it if I was going to rent a car on a trip due to all the great features, gas mileage, and performance.

We were loaned a car for a week to facilitate this post, all opinions our mine.