Talk about delight being in the detail. Kia’s Cerato GT has always been a compelling package on paper: a very warm (if not all the way to hot) 150kW from its turbo engine, nice chassis and generously practical interior. Not to mention a very sharp price.
It’s a matter of taste of course, but you could argue a lot of the above was undone by the Cerato looking a bit… funny. It’s ostensibly a five-door hatchback so should have looked perfectly normal, but the stretched roofline and droopy front/rear styling also made it look a bit awkward.
Now get a load of the facelifted model, which is exactly the same body shape but has gained some of Kia’s new-gen Blade Runner-type detailing at the front including LED headlights, alloy wheels with a design that seems to push the spokes right out into the wheel arches and suddenly… it looks kinda cool.
It’s still a good drive, too. The 1.6-litre turbo sounds pretty gruff but comes on strong, and the dual-clutch gearbox of our test vehicle seemed to work a whole lot better than that in the last Hyundai Kona N Line we drove (which has a very similar mechanical package).
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Interesting to note that the turbo is actually more economical than the naturally aspirated 2.0-litre used in the more mainstream models (6.8l/100km versus 7/4l); so don’t feel too guilty, although also remember it asks for 95-octane fuel. It’s in the “zero band” for Clean Car feebates, so no fine. But no rebate either.
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The chassis of the GT is very different to your average Cerato thanks not just to firmer tune, but the addition of multi-link rear suspension in place of the torsion beam used on lesser variants. Seems extravagant, but it’s a platform-specific Kia-Hyundai thing: models with this 1.6-litre turbo powerplant (Kona N Line, i30 N Line among them) get the fancy rear underpinnings.
It’s a good day-to-day car, although you have to accept a pretty firm ride on bumpy urban roads. It’s a sporty car, but not that sporty; we wouldn’t mind if Kia dialled it back a bit. Brakes have also had a boost in the new model, to 305mm front and 284mm rear discs.
Cerato is technically a small (like, Corolla-class) hatch, but the cabin and rear seat in particular are vast. Four adults, easy. The boot has a pretty decent appetite at 428 litres as well.
The cabin has gained a new driver information display and a very swish 10.25in infotainment screen.
It’s generally very well kitted out anyway, with the GT getting a D-shaped steering wheel, full leather if that’s your thing (other Ceratos have synthetic trim), eight-way power adjustment for the driver’s seat with two memories and heating/ventilation for the front chairs.
One thing hasn’t changed from the old car. It’s still too easy to overlook the GT as a dress-up, or mildly fluffed family Cerato. But the quantity of engineering advance over the rest of the family (power, dual-clutch gearbox, suspension) makes it a truly worthwhile flagship. At $42,990 it’s also something of a warm-hatch bargain.
KIA CERATO GT
ENGINE: 1.6-litre direct-injection turbo-petrol
POWER: 150kW/265Nm
GEARBOX: 7-speed automated dual-clutch, FWD
ECONOMY: 6.8l/100km, 176g/km (3P-WLTP)
PRICE: $42,990
