From the 2015 Chicago Auto Show, Cars.com's Kelsey Mays takes a look at the 2016 Kia Rio.
Transcript
(upbeat music) Kia hopes to stir new interest in the Rio it's subcompact entry-level car with some visual changes midway through the current generation. Let's take you through them.
Now, the Rio, like a lot of subcompacts, is a fairly narrow car, but Kia hopes that these changes here will actually make it visually seem a little bit wider. First and foremost, this lower section near the bumper. This opening here has been redesigned. The fog lights are now circular fog lights. They sit in these kind of chrome bezels here, different from the more rectangular fog lights from before. The grill has a new insert that Kia says it's supposed to sort of realign with some of its other cars here. It actually has only four real openings. One here, here, there, and there. The rest of it's closed off and kind of a fake. Rear, not very much has changed back there. Subtle changes on the inside include a slight redesign of the center controls just kind of the shape around them. Some subtle things like satin accents here around the air conditioning vents. There's a new EX design package. We're in a car with that right here at the auto show. Things like leatherette and cloth seats. So some gray stitching here around the steering wheel. No more little cubby up here in the center part of the dash. That was kind of a convenient area to store a phone or something like that, but still lots of storage in the Rio. A big area here ahead of the gear shift, and nice that there's a covered center consol here. You don't always find that in subcompact cars, and still a huge glove compartment. Big enough to fit both of my shoes. I'm not super wild about the styling changes to the Rio. Given last year's Rio actually looked pretty good. Fortunately, there's a Rio hatchback has a little bit more dynamic styling in the front end with its updates. But the hatchback and the sedan will go on sale in the first quarter of 2015. (car engine roaring)
