First 7500 km Check-up

Last October 1, I have brought my Kia Picanto to Kia Pasig for its first 7500km check-up. I go there as early as 7:45 AM just to be first in line but there are already 3 cars that arrived first. Luckily for me I was able to schedule my Kia Picanto's first check up and be serviced first after they have opened at 8 AM.




They drained the oil and replaced the oil filter with a new one. A kia picanto engine only uses 3 Liters of oil according to them. They clean up also the air filter and the aircon filter. They checked the front disk brakes and cleaned it also. The procedures done was stated on the Preventive Maintenance for the first 7500 km.



All lights are checked and they also do a test drive on my kia picanto just to make sure that everything is working fine. They also do a carwash for my picanto but it was raining hard that day so I think it's worthless. After 1 hour and 45 mins, i'm good to go with my newly changed oil car.

Replacing the stock speakers

Yesterday, I have decided to replace the stock speakers of my face-lifted Kia Picanto. I can't enjoy the mp3's in my Ipod for the stock speakers lacks fidelity and cannot handle higher volume settings. I visited Autogadget located at Meralco Ave. just near in our office building and browsed their line up of speakers for sale. I was accompanied by Mr. Jefferson Quimbo and recommended me the JBL GT5-650C speakers. According to him, the JBL GT5-650C delivers good sound clarity and one of their best selling speakers.




The JBL GT-650C comes with a separate tweeter and a crossover connection.

Another pair of speakers that caught my attention was the Pioneer TS-A1672S. It's a three way speaker and it's ideal to be placed at the rear doors of my Kia Picanto.





I bought the two pairs of speakers and have them installed. The installation was free of charge.






They dismantled the doors and the headunit. It took them some time to remove the rear door covers because of the manual window roller lock was hard to remove.



They modified a wooden spacer for the front speakers because it does not fit on the one used by the stock speaker.




The pioneer speakers fit perfectly on the spacer used by the old speakers. I thought that there's already a wire in place inside the rear doors, good thing that the pioneer speakers already came bundled with wires that can be connected to the headunit.

It took them almost 3 hours installing all the two pairs of speakers. After all was done, I hurriedly tested my new sound set up and immediately connected my ipod to my Kia Picanto's headunit. The sound output was superb and the sound clarity was so fine that you can almost hear all the musical instruments used in every songs played. You can set the volume at a much higher setting without hearing any unnecessary noise coming from speakers.




It's a two-thumbs up for Autogadget Ortigas and I will surely recommend this store. Mr. Jefferson Quimbo was very accommodating and their staffs are all kind and courteous. They answered every questions I asked and they surely know what they are doing. You can visit their place at #88 Meralco Ave. cor. Julia Vargas St. Ortigas center Pasig City. They are just along Metrowalk inside Gold Park and just beside Reyes BBQ.

Added features for Picanto

I have talked to my Sales Agent lately and informed me that the new P560,000 price tag for manual kia picanto came with an upgrade. The new faced lifted picanto has an all power window, 60/40 fold backseat and rear wiper. Not bad for an upgrade and I think it's reasonable for the price increase as long as they can give P10-20K discount.

Reaching 5000 Km

Last July 25, my Kia Picanto has reached the 5000 Km mark. My picanto is still doing well and still runs like it was still fresh and new.

Picanto price increase

After 3 months when I bought my Kia Picanto, its price was increased from P500K to P540K. Maybe the demand for fuel efficient car was one reason for the price increase. But I have noticed that the Hyundai counterpart, which is the Getz, was still priced at P488K. Well in fact, picanto is much fuel efficient compare to the Getz because it's more lighter. And when I checked out the Hyundai Getz before, the deal was not good that's why I have bought the Kia Picanto because after I have done some calcualtions, it came out that the Kia Picanto was more bang for the buck aside from its being a fuel efficient car.

If your planning to buy a Kia Picanto, you must find a good deal. Try asking different dealers so you can compare the packages they can offer included in the Kia Picanto. I have also read from tsikot that a dealer can give as much as P50K in subsidy when you trade in your old car. So if your old car values at P150K then they can subsidize up to P50K more on top of it so it will be up to P200K that you can use as a downpayment. Not bad at all for it can compensate the price increase on the Kia Picanto.

Stickers for my Kia Picanto

I have bought a customized sticker yesterday from SM Megamall. This sticker cost me P130.00.



I have put also the Imac logo sticker that came with my Ipod.



"Child on Board" sticker was the first one i have placed on my kia picanto.

Going to Subic Via SCTex

Last Saturday, we've travelled to Subic and it's the first time my Kia Picanto drove to the north and my first also. We drove to NLEX and the roads are far much better compared to SLEX. I've enjoyed driving through NLEX and I got to admit that I drove beyond the 100Km/h speed limit and I'm glad I was not caught...hehehe..

We exited at Dau and there we entered SCTex or the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. Driving through NLEX was a good experience but driving in SCTex really amazed me. The road was consisted of 2 lanes on both sides and the scenery was beautiful. There are hills that has been carved out to make the road pass through it.








There are only few cars in SCTex and some cars really drove fast. I also tested the speed of my Kia Picanto and I have reached 150Km/hr on my speedometer. I think this speed was the maximum for the picanto because the engine sounds differently upon reaching 150Km/hr and the RPM reached 5000. I took a picture of my meters but I only got a clear shot on reaching beyond 140Km/hr.