2009 Kia Rio - Review

Comparing small cars head to head leads to some surprising results. Here's an example: if you'd told me that a Kia would come out on top of a Chevrolet among subcompacts, I'd have told you that you were a couple of eggs short of a dozen. That's what the reviews at TheCarConnection.com say, though--so let’s look at the two newest players in the five-door sub-compact market, the 2009 Chevrolet Aveo5 and the 2009 Kia Rio5 in depth.

I love America as much as the next person born and raised here, so let us examine the basics of the Aveo 5 first. TheCarConnection.com (TCC) overview page of the 2009 Chevy Aveo 5, which oddly enough is being manufactured in South Korea by Daewoo, tells us that this little gem comes in at a base MSRP of $11,695 (see the MSRP for other trim models here) . For this amount of coin you get what reviewers have called a decent sub-compact car that will suffice if you are going on grocery runs and need to carry the occasional four passengers. The interior has been pretty well received even though it relies heavily on hard plastic. However, the metallic grain, satin chrome trim and leather-like finishes give the car a more upscale feel, especially in the sub-compact class. All of this is packaged in a relatively well styled exterior that will wear the signature Chevy split front end (first seen on the new Malibu) for 2009. The list of standard features is few, but that is to be expected with a base sub-compact car; the standard features include a tilt steering column, AM/FM stereo with AUX jack, front and side airbags, tire pressure monitoring system, Onstar with 1 year complimentary, 3 year/36K warranty and a 5 year/100K powertrain warranty. Lastly, it achieves good MPG marks with the 107-hp, 1.6-liter four-cylinder coming in at 27 mpg city/34 mpg hwy with the manual transmission. TCC gives the Chevrolet Aveo 5 an overall rating of 5.8 out of 10. Don't let that number fool you though, they give it an 8 out of 10 on comfort and quality. To see a full line of reviews from the TCC check out the Chevrolet Aveo review page.