KIA Cerato

The overall interior of the Kia Cerato can be selected between either an all-black leather upholstery or a dual-tone combination of black with brown leather. While the design looks simple and classy, we would have loved to see more modern features in the cabin.

The driver’s cockpit of the Kia Cerato, comprising of the traditional three-spoke multi-functional steering wheel and simple-looking instrument console with analogue gauges and TFT MID in the middle, looks functional. However, the large free-standing and trapezoidal 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system adds some modernity to the cabin.

The centre console of the cabin of the Kia Cerato has trapezoidal AC vents at the top and a hexagonal housing for the buttons of dual-zone automatic climate control in its lower part. There is a fine silver garnish line running between the infotainment system and the centre console. The Cerato gets a few more likeable features like a powered driver’s seat with memory function, push start-stop button, sunroof, heated and ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel and wireless charger.

The Kia Cerato is one of those modern-day sedans which have evolved and still make sedans look relevant due to their planted stance and sleek styling. The Cerato follows Kia’s latest design philosophy, which is evident in many parts of the exterior.

The front profile of the Kia Cerato has a wide fascia, comprising of a sleeker form of the trademark ‘tiger nose’ grille, which has gloss black horizontal inserts and is garnished with chrome below it. The sides of the grille are flanked with sweptback all-LED headlamps, which come with daytime running LEDs in the segmented pattern. The stylish and sporty-looking front bumper of the Cerato has a wide air dam in the middle, with LED lights in its corners and triangular air curtains on the far corners.

The Kia Cerato has a planted stance from the side profile, which looks good with the traditional sloping roofline and a clean and well-contoured design for the door panels and fenders. The 17-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels look gorgeous and go well with the overall smooth design of the Cerato from the side. Adding more premium appeal to the side profile of the Cerato is the chrome surround for the windows.

At the rear, the Kia Cerato has got wide and trapezoidal LED combination tail lamps with contoured edges and segmented LED inserts. These LED tail lamps are connected to an LED light bar across the width of the boot lid. Here at the rear too, the bumper gets nice design highlights, including the air curtains on the corners and a huge diffuser in its lower part.

Sedans are meant to offer a comfortable ride quality and a poised driving experience, and the Kia Cerato doesn’t disappoint on that front. The overall ride quality and steering are set on the softer side, which helps it in achieving a supple balance in all urban driving conditions. However, we would have loved to see more feedback from the steering at higher speeds.

In the UAE market, the Kia Cerato is offered with two conventional naturally-aspirated petrol engine options – a 1.6-litre petrol and a 2.0-litre petrol, both of which are offered with CVT gearbox as standard. While the 1.6-litre petrol engine produces 126 PS of power and 154 Nm of torque, the larger 2.0-litre petrol engine claims 150 PS of power and 192 Nm of torque.

Apart from the must-have features like six airbags, ABS with EBD, front and reverse parking sensors and reverse camera, the Kia Cerato also comes with advanced driving assistance systems like blind spot collision warning and rear cross-traffic collision warning.

With its simple but sophisticated looks inside-out and decent driving dynamics and performance from the petrol engine for regular usage, the Kia Cerato still marks itself as a relevant sedan according to today’s times.