Approaching the Kia Cerato with the question about the best car in the world

It would be a mistake to think that in Dubai everyone drives only supercars: Cerato goes on sale here too. And the largest sales markets for the new sedan are the USA (the predecessor was called Spectra here, and the newcomer is called Forte), Korea and China (in both countries the car is called K3). Versions for different markets differ not only in names, but also in dimensions, suspensions, engines and much more.

Kia says the Cerato quota for Russia is 20 thousand cars. It also applies to third-generation cars, but may be revised due to increased demand.

Analysts of the Korean company calculated that more than 50% of sales in the C segment are sedans, 38% of cars are sold with automatic transmissions, 85% of purchased cars are equipped with 1.5 and 1.6 engines (1.8 and 2.0 — 12%). That is why the optimal new Cerato for Russia is seen as a sedan with an "automatic" and a 1.6-liter engine.

In photographs, the sedan looks portly when viewed from the side. However, when examined live from human height, the Cerato is quite sexy — a sturdy build is perceived as an indicator of health and a guarantee of quality offspring. The stamping along the bottom of the doors is on point. By the way, the overhangs were reduced: by 15 mm in the front and 5 mm in the rear.

The newcomer has a solid rear, which is visually even more raised by the black insert at the bottom of the bumper and is lined with sharp edges. The Cerato's rear is not a question, but it stands on edge!

According to Kia, the development of the "third" Cerato took three and a half years and cost $250 million. The new sedan will be sold in almost 130 countries.

Due to lowering the floor level by 5 mm, the front seats have become closer to the ground by 26 mm, and the rear ones by 20. Thus, the interior height from the seat cushion to the ceiling is 992 mm in the front and 948 in the rear.

Above the head, the Koreans managed to win back an additional 4 mm, but a driver taller than average touches the ceiling trim with the tips of their hair. In the photo — Autoreview correspondent Igor Vladimirsky, height 186 cm. With the sunroof closed, the hair on his crown reached the ceiling.

In the Ceed, the driver's seat is arranged more interestingly, but in the Cerato's interior, apart from laconicism, there is nothing to complain about: no obvious ergonomic miscalculations were found, and there are no defiantly cheap elements.

A 4.2-inch TFT LCD display is equipment for top trim levels. The small screen at the top of the center console is surprisingly readable and does not glare in the sun.

There are three "soft waves" (as the special effect is called) on the front panel and each door. The designers drew inspiration from nature: dunes, circles on water, mollusk shells. It must be admitted that the relief brings liveliness, which will not be superfluous in Russian trim levels with the only fabric upholstery option. We will be offered two color schemes: solid black or two-tone gray. By default, the fabric is coal-colored (Comfort trim), the second option is also black — this is a higher-quality knit (Luxe, Prestige), and the top has a knitted combined upholstery (Premium).

The connectors for connecting to the audio system are in the right place — in a two-liter compartment with a closing curtain in front of the gear lever. A good storage for a phone, and there is also a USB port. You can also carry small items in door pockets, in a two-tier box with a volume of 5.8 liters between the front seats, and, of course, in the glove box, whose size has been increased by 30%, to 8 liters.

The Cerato steering wheel turns with adjustable effort — this is the Flex Steer feature, which allows you to change the power steering modes with a button. Switch to Comfort — the wheel turns with all possible lightness; switch to Normal — the steering becomes normal; choose Sport — it will be stiff. This function affects nothing except the driver's mood — the steering wheel makes an unchanged 2.96 turns from lock to lock.

The previous-generation sedan looked like a suspicious security guard; the new one stares like an angry guard of an arthropod colony. The front end turned out faceted in the designers' hands. In the sense that the headlights and grille hint at the compound eyes of an insect. The mood is combative, the spirit sporty, the look hungry. The Kia emblem has popped out of the "tiger nose," making the front bumper look underfed as well.

Both transmissions prepared for us are six-speed, also celebrated by Hyundai, but modernized. Working the manual gearshift is a pleasure; driving with the proper automatic, occasionally intervening with the paddle shifters (this is called Sport mode), is another.

The area under the driver's feet doesn't make you feel cramped. There's another hint of sport here: the accelerator pedal, while being suspended like the others, has a floor-mounted pivot.

Overall, the back is not bad. The central tunnel protrudes very little, and you can seat a third passenger by sacrificing the armrest with cupholders. The seatbacks fold in a standard 60:40 split.

The Cerato's trunk has grown by six liters — to 421 liters. Kia was quick to announce that this is one of the best figures in the segment, but it's quite the opposite. The Focus has a trunk volume of 475 liters, the Astra 460, and the Cruze 450 liters.

The Cerato will be supplied to Russia in ten colors. The base paint is plain white. Then there are seven "metallic" options (red, golden, gray, beige, silver, blue, and bright blue) plus two "pearl" options (white and black). Kia once again emphasized that it doesn't charge extra for "metallic" and "pearl."

Kia dealers expect educated men aged 27–33 to come to their showrooms — these will be highly qualified professionals who value design, are "in trend" with modern technologies, enjoy outdoor activities and travel, and get a kick out of driving. The portrait of the ideal customer, as we see, is not at all original.

Kia engineers admit that the design of both suspensions (McPherson struts at the front, torsion beam at the rear) has not fundamentally changed, but they say they have carried out modernization to improve handling, ride comfort and increase energy intensity. Now the front suspension is mounted on a new reinforced subframe. Wide L-shaped lower arms are equipped with new bushings of increased diameter, and the steering mechanism is shifted forward by 15 mm. The Koreans also boast that the CTBA rear suspension is exceptionally compact and has allowed to reclaim additional space under the floor.

The engines with multi-point injection, according to the developers, can boast of a lightweight block and cylinder heads made of aluminum alloy, a crankshaft offset relative to the cylinder axis (to reduce friction), a low-noise timing chain, variable intake/exhaust valve timing and a plastic intake manifold with variable geometry. The two-liter engine was specially derated for the Russian market so that buyers would pay less transport tax.

The main features of the upgraded manual transmission, the manufacturer calls multi-cone synchronizers, low-noise gears with optimized tooth profile, a new reverse gear shift fork, hydraulic clutch drive and low-viscosity transmission oil, thanks to which the transmission does not require any maintenance throughout the entire service life of the car. As for the six-speed automatic, it is said to be very compact and allows to reduce fuel consumption by 12% compared to automatic transmissions of traditional sizes.

In the third Cerato, the share of parts made of high-strength steels reaches 63%. In the diagram, pink highlights new reinforcements made of ultra-high-strength steel (150 kgf/mm²) — these are, in particular, the middle pillars. Blue marks elements with an index of 60 kgf/mm²: these are side members on both sides of the central tunnel, reinforcing beams in the doors and other parts. Green shows parts made of steel with a strength of 45 kgf/mm², and gray — of ordinary steel. Among other things, the Koreans report that the torsional rigidity of the body compared to the predecessor of the Cerato has increased by 37%.

Excessive noise and vibration, problems with ride smoothness are usually denoted by the three-letter abbreviation NHS (noise, vibration, harshness). What helped Kia engineers improve noise and vibration insulation is shown in the diagram. The results of the fight against NHS are as follows: at idle, the level of vibrations transmitted to the steering wheel and floor of the cabin is reduced by 2 dB, noise in the cabin has decreased by 1 dB (up to 38), and the background during acceleration is reduced depending on the model by 1–2 dB. The noise level in the cabin at a speed of 110 km/h does not exceed 65 dB (on almost any scale this indicator is interpreted as “noisy” and approximately corresponds to a loud conversation).

The first generation — a sedan called Kia K3 — debuted in South Korea in 2003. The successor to the Kia Sephia model (also known as Mentor, Shuma, Timor) for other markets, the Koreans decided to launch in 2004 under different names. In the Old World, the car (now available also as a hatchback) was presented as the Cerato, and in America it continued to bear the glorious name Spectra.

The new product inherited a lot from the related company Hyundai — the car shared the platform with the third-generation Elantra (McPherson struts at the front, double wishbone at the rear) and received engines of the Beta II family: petrol fours 1.6 (105 hp) and 2.0 (143 hp). The Cerato was also equipped with three CRDi diesels. Gearboxes — five-speed manual and four-speed automatic.

The car had a very successful price-quality combination and became a real bestseller in some markets: sales of the first Cerato were record-breaking — 1.23 million cars, which is over 200 thousand units per year and 28.5% of Kia's global sales. To consolidate the success, in 2006 the Koreans carried out a restyling: the car got new bumpers and lighting.

The second generation of the model, presented in 2008, was called Kia Forte in many markets. The car retained the name Cerato in Russia and a number of other countries, for example, in Australia and Brazil. Moreover, while in the States the hatchback modification was still called Spectra (Spectra5), in Europe sales of the car in this body were curtailed due to the timely arrival of the Ceed — so that they would not compete with each other.

The Koreans stated that the second Cerato is built on a completely new platform, which will form the basis of the next generation of the Hyundai Elantra sedan (such a return of the debt). Having McPherson struts at the front and a torsion beam at the rear, the second-generation sedan for the non-American market has petrol engines 1.6 (126 hp) and 2.0 (150 hp), working with six-speed manual or automatic.

According to data at the end of 2012, sales of the previous Cerato exceeded 1.21 million cars (in 2011 alone, 445,000 units were sold — 17.9% of Kia's global sales), and the Koreans have reason to believe that the record of the first generation will be repeated, and maybe even broken. Regarding the third Cerato, no such ambitious plans have been heard yet.

In the Californian city of Irvine, there is a branch of the Korean company — Kia Motors America, which is an integral part of the HATCI technical center (Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc.). It operates a design studio headed by American Tom Kearns (pictured). It was his team, which performs up to 85% of Kia's corporate design programs and produces a show car per year, that created the appearance of the third Cerato — of course, under the control of the legendary Peter Schreyer.

The authors of the project did not comment on their work either at the time of the leak of sketches in July 2012 (see illustrations) or after the premiere of the Cerato at the Los Angeles motor show. The silent designers had to be answered for by PR specialists, who noted in the car's exterior an “aura of elegance”, and in the interior — a “motif of ebb and flow”.

Before leaving for the city, the organizers scared us with aggressive driving of Arabs and bloodthirsty police, but in fact everything turned out to be no worse than in Moscow. The roads in the Emirates pleased with impeccable quality and surprised with strict speed limits with “sleeping policemen” in the most deserted corners. We managed to look at the tallest skyscraper in the world only from afar, but in the desert we met lonely camels and furious cyclists. We also drove along a huge and completely empty autobahn (six lanes in each direction) and were passengers of an open electric car that brought us to a paradise oasis. As a result, we for some reason arrived at a ten-meter monument in the form of an arrow pointing to the sky — this monument was erected in honor of the city of Sharjah, which in 1998 was elected by UNESCO as the cultural capital of the Arab world. Dubai is definitely worth visiting again and exploring properly.