2023 Kia Rio Reveals Us What $17,500 Will get You in In the present day’s Market

Typically I’m wondering if Kia remembers that it nonetheless sells the Rio, one of many least expensive new vehicles you should buy in America. For 2023, the Rio adjustments virtually nothing in any respect, apart from being $400 dearer once you tally up hikes to MSRP and vacation spot. Oh, and it will get a brand new oil stage sensor this yr, ostensibly for causes. If I simply purchased a 2022 Rio, I’d really feel like fairly the chump proper now.

Jokes apart, the Rio is price acknowledging if solely to remind ourselves what roughly $17,500 will get you in the present day. And since Kia simply introduced pricing for the 2023 iteration, now’s the right alternative. All Rio trims include the identical 1.6-liter, 120-horsepower four-cylinder with a constantly variable transmission. Remarkably, in addition they all have wi-fi CarPlay and Android Auto by way of an 8-inch touchscreen.

Step up from the bottom $17,645 LX mannequin to the S model for $18,285, and ever-generous Kia throws in keyless entry. Sure, that’s proper — the Rio will get wi-fi cellphone projection commonplace, however not a key fob. Different options within the lap of luxurious embrace cruise management, a sliding armrest, and 60/40 split-folding rear seats with adjustable headrests.

For the apex of the Rio expertise, you’ll have to cough up one other $1,800 for the Know-how Bundle — a vaguely named assortment of facilities that covers every thing from driver help stuff, like lane-keep help and ahead collision avoidance; to rear disc brakes; to a 4.2-inch instrument cluster show. That gear group pushes the Rio simply over the edge to $20,085. Those that need the five-door hatch can’t have the LX, and pays one other $300 for the S.

Again in 2021, our outdated pal Raph stated the Rio “could be the perfect automobile Kia makes today.” That was not faint reward, as a result of he additionally stated Kia makes numerous good vehicles. Like him, I’m astounded you can get CarPlay in a car this low-cost now. However I additionally keep in mind about 10 years again, when my dad and mom helped me, a contemporary school scholar, lease a base-ish Focus hatch with a sticker someplace within the neighborhood of $18,000. And that had disc brakes, 40 extra horsepower, and an exterior that appeared far much less tragic. The bar for the most cost effective potential mode of transportation could be rising, however I’m unsure anybody’s getting extra for his or her cash.