The Cerato, also known as K3 in South Korea, effectively replaces the Kia Forte, and through the styling makes it look practically new.
A tad of the Forte still remains in the form of the Cerato’s long hood and short boot lid.
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The nose of the Cerato prominently displays Peter Schreyer’s latest generation “Tiger nose” grille that blends nicely into the front bumper; rising towards the hood and windscreen then gently flowing towards the rear to give a respectable aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.27Cd.
Up close, the Cerato certainly looks different, it’s easy on the eyes and rather appealing for the masses.
Boot capacity comes with 482 litres worth of space, which will allow up to four golf bags along with four boston bags to fit inside.
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The Cerato is offered in two variants (both with a 4-cylinder naturally-aspirated engine), coming in the form of a Gamma 1.6-litre or a Nu 2.0-litre engine.
Though for this particular media drive, we managed to experience just the 2.0-litre variant.
The entry level Cerato comes with a 1.6-litre engine, providing a respectable output of 128bhp at 6,000rpm while maximum torque of 157Nm is achieved at 4,850rpm.
The 2.0-litre engine, on the other hand, gets 159bhp at 6,500rpm with 194Nm of torque 4,800rpm.
Both engine variants get mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox that gets the front 17-inch alloy rims, dressed in 215/45 tyres.
To help differentiate the two variants, the 2.0-litre Cerato gets a pair of front fog lamps, a rear boot lip, sunroof and a pair of HID headlights with auto levelling feature rather than a set of halogen lamps.
The interior of the 2.0-litre variant gets leather seats instead of fabric and a more vibrant multi-colour supervision cluster instead of a dot matrix LCD display.
But that’s not all, approach the vehicle with the key fob and the car literally lights up.
The wing mirrors also unfold with the puddle lamps located under them illuminating the ground beneath the front doors.
The pocket lights located behind the door handles light up to their position in the dark.
Other than these items in mention, everything else from the dashboard, aluminium pedals, 10-way electrically adjustable driving seat with memory, leather wrapped steering wheel, six-speaker audio headunit with Bluetooth connectivity, cruise control, push start button, glove box cooler and rear-view camera remains across the variants.
In terms of passive safety, the Cerato comes with six airbags, anti-lock braking system, Electronic Stability Control, Brake Assist System, Traction Control System and Hill-start Assist Control.
Within the confines of the 2.0-litre Cerato’s cabin, the seats are plush enough and there’s much comfort to be had and having two memory buttons for the seats is something drivers would certainly appreciate.
With a dashboard that’s now certainly refined and soft to the touch, a 4.7-inch TFT-LCD colour touch screen head unit lies snugly installed; cutely displaying our radio channel with large buttons for clumsy fingers (or thumbs) to locate.
One of our favourite features was the 2.0 variant-exclusive Air-Ventilated Driver Seat that blows cool air through the perforated leather cushion and backrest.
Getting our 2.0-litre Cerato up to speed was effortless for the spirited engine and the transmission shifts the gears nicely.
Prodding the throttle will get the engine screaming but surprisingly enough its shrieks weren’t all that too intrusive, suggesting that improvements have been made to its Noise Vibrations and Harshness (NVH) reduction.
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Although the Cerato’s bodyshell has been designed with a low drag in mind, mild wind noise caused by wing mirrors was apparent at cruising speed.
The Cerato did soak up the shocks well although some will find their way into the cabin, the suspension setup is also tuned to provide for some sporty handling.
In a nutshell, we’d go so far as to describe the Cerato’s handling as almost neutral, which makes it praiseworthy for a car fitted with a rear torsion-beam suspension system.
Besides the good driving and handling impressions, the Cerato also feel much upscale compared with the older Forte line-ups.
Another premium feature is the Flex Steer system that allows three different steering feel of Comfort, Normal or Sport.
But taking a look at the new 2.0-litre Cerato in its entirety, we can’t help but feel drawn into its feature-packed value proposition, especially the driver’s leather perforated and air-ventilated seat that certainly puts a touch of luxury into the Forte’s replacement.
Available in Naza Kia Malaysia showrooms now, the 1.6 and 2.0 variants come with five-year/unlimited mileage warranty and prices of RM99,888 and RM118,888 respectively.
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