In partnership with Auto Trader
Used test: Kia Picanto X-Line vs Suzuki Ignis interiors
These two both combine city-friendly dimensions with tough SUV looks. But which is the better secondhand buy?...
Interiors
Driving position, visibility, build quality, practicality
The Kia Picanto and Suzuki Ignis provide perfectly comfortable driving positions. Okay, neither car offers a reach-adjustable steering wheel, but their wheels adjust for height, as does the driver’s seat of the Picanto. The Picanto also has welcome touches such as a well-positioned central armrest.
Seeing out of both cars is relatively easy, with a standard-from-new rear-view camera in each. The Picanto complements this with rear parking sensors as well.
The Picanto feels plusher inside. Sure, these cars are finished with hard, unforgiving plastics (they’re built to a price, after all), but the Picanto manages to look smarter and feel more robust.
It also gets a leather-trimmed steering wheel as standard from the factory and you can’t get one on the Ignis in our test car's SZ-T spec. The interior of the Ignis is certainly a cheerful piece of design, but you sense the materials used to build it came from the bottom of the bargain bin.
The Picanto has a 7.0in touchscreen presented high on the dashboard, with simple shortcut buttons on either side that let you swap modes easily. The menus are punchy and easy to navigate. Sat-nav isn’t available, but smartphone mirroring lets you use your phone’s sat-nav through the car’s screen.
The Ignis has a 6.2in touchscreen and it also goes without a built-in sat-nav. However, like in the Picanto, you get smartphone mirroring. The screen is sharp and fairly responsive, but the touch-sensitive volume control is a faff to use while driving.
While the Ignis has more space in the front, the Picanto also provides adequate leg room and more than enough head room for six-footers. And you and your passenger won’t feel like conjoined twins, thanks to the decent width of the cars.
There are plenty of storage trays, cubbies and cupholders, too, although the Ignis’s glovebox is pretty pokey.
In the rear, the Ignis is exceptionally roomy for this class. It may be strict four-seater, but three abreast would be nigh on impossible for anyone other than children anyway.
As it is, two tall adults have enough room to be relatively comfortable, whereas it’s a squeeze for adults in the Picanto.
The boot in the Ignis measures up as the bigger one, so it’s no surprise that we managed to fit more into it: four carry-on suitcases. The rear seats also slide and recline (as standard from new), allowing you to fit more into the boot or provide a bit more comfort for your rear-seat passengers. The Picanto managed three cases.
