REVIEW: The. Kia Ray, an adorable, pint-sized petrol MPV, could be exactly the sort of city car Europe needs, says Felix_Page_
Not that it’s an unrefined unit: quiet on start-up and commendably eager to pull away, the Ray happily keeps pace with the army of enthusiastically driven saloons and sports cars that dominate Seoul’s centre , and – though the under-ratioed gearbox rarely has another cog to offer up on kickdown – stops some way short of deafening when under high load. It's not particularly frugal, mind - Kia quotes a downtown consumption figure of 28.
Efficiency and performance gripes aside, the biggest frustration is that the Ray shows just how much is possible in such a small footprint; just as Japan’s kei cars have long sought to offer big-car practicality in bubble-car footprints, so too has the Ray been carefully conceived to make the most of every last available square inch of floorpan and glasshouse.
So why frustrating? Because cleverly conceived urban mobility solutions such as this are few and far between over in our neck of the woods, where they are needed more than ever before. The cheapest new car in the UK is 500mm longer than this , and the cost of producing electric cars at the moment means we’re unlikely to see an EV that’s remotely this compact or affordable for a while.
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