Shift into super thrift gear with Picanto

The new Picanto's claimed thirst is 4.3l/100km. Photo / Supplied

Kia bills the new Picanto launched last week as New Zealand's most economical conventional petrol-fuelled car. The manual model uses stop-go, in which the engine cuts off at junctions and refires when you re-select first gear to pull away, assisted by a specially enhanced battery and heavy-duty starter motor. The result is a claimed thirst of 4.3l/100km, without the need to pay road-user chargers that boost the cost of running an equally frugal small diesel car.

At 1248cc this is a bigger engine than before, with more power - now peaking with 64kW at 6000rpm and 123Nm at 4000rpm - mated to either that manual or a four-speed auto transmission. Picanto only weighs 850kg, which should make for perky round-town performance. This is the latest chapter in Kia's dynamic design philosophy introduced by German design chief Peter Schreyer. It's 60mm longer than the outgoing car with a 15mm increase in wheelbase to boost cabin space - front leg room is up 36mm and the boot's bigger, at 200 litres.

The Picanto costs from $18,590, including stability control, ABS brakes, hill-start control, six airbags and air con, while the higher-spec cars add goodies like Bluetooth hands-free phone control, fog lights, reverse-park warning sensors and a knee airbag.