First 7500 km Check-up

Last October 1, I brought my Kia Picanto to Kia Pasig for its first 7500km check-up. I went there as early as 7:45 AM just to be first in line but there were 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

3 months after 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 calculations, 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 traveled 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 have been carved out to make the road pass through it.








There are only few cars in SCTex and some cars are really 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.

TheCarBlogger: Korea: Six months waiting list for Kia Morning

While browsing the net, I have stumbled upon this article regarding the Kia Morning(Picanto) in Korea:

TheCarBlogger: Korea: Six months waiting list for Kia Morning

Weekly Rise of Gasoline Prices

It's been a month since the gasoline prices increases every week, specifically every 12:00 Midnight of Saturdays. We experienced a 1 peso increase per litre for unleaded gasoline and it's now P52.07 a litre as of today. Price increase of gasoline in the Philippines was greatly affected by the prices of gasoline per barrel in the Asian market and the fluctuation of the US dollar against the Philippine peso. A lot of people complained from the surging prices of the gasoline because it greatly affects many businesses. A lot of owners of those cars with high-powered engines and higher gas consumption have felt the difference in the gas prices compared before and opt to sell their cars to purchase a more fuel efficient one.

Maybe I'm one of the lucky owner of a fuel-efficient car as of today and when even unleaded gas reached P75 per litre mark, I might cope up and still use my Kia picanto going to work every day, but beyond that....I don't know if it will be more practical...

Fuel Consumption Going to Tagaytay (Alfonso, Cavite)

Last Saturday, we travelled to Alfonso, Cavite via South expressway and we passed through Tagaytay via Sta. Rosa Exit. The road condition in south expressway was very bad and my Kia Picanto experienced many pot holes and uneven roads. Well I'm kind of worried of my Picanto's suspension and shocks and I'm hoping that it can handle the road condition it undergone. It took me almost 3 1/2 hours of travel from our place in Angono going to cavite. I averaged 60Km/h mostly on the expressway and even reached 110Km/h on the speedometer. We stayed in Alfonso for almost 2 days and we travelled back and forth to Indang during our stay.

My picanto only consumed more than 1/3rd of the full tank based on the gas meter. I just gassed up yesterday with another full tank and after recording the Km and the Liters I came up with a hefty 14.1 Km/Li!!

My Kia Picanto's Spoiler

I've bought a new spoiler for my Kia Picanto and have it installed. The oem spoiler for picanto was too small and unnoticeable so I chose a more sportier type of spoiler.

Reaching 1000 Kms

Last Saturday, I've reached 1000 Kms on my Odometer and I have computed my fuel consumption. I have fueled up 14.56 Liters of unleaded gasoline and I have reached 200 Kms before the fuel warning light flashes. So as we do the computation 200/14.56 = 13.73 Km/li. The fuel consumption improved and I'm happy for that. My next target will be 15km/li but sometimes I floored the accelerator to much and maybe some changes on my driving habits might help reaching my target consumption.

New Horns and Subs

I took the opportunity of the holiday yesterday and we have gone to Banawe to replace the stock horn of my Face-Lifted Kia Picanto. I found the stock horn was not that loud and has been ignored all the time. I planned to get the loudest Mitsuba horn priced at P2500.00 but my wife advised me not to get it. The mitsuba horn was too loud for her and it may also penetrate inside our kia picanto so I choose from the different brands and models available. Upon testing the different horns I came up buying the Stebel Magnum. The sound of stebel magnum was not that loud compare to mitsuba but it will suffice what I want: the honking will be noticeable and much louder than the stock.

The installation of the new horn requires removing the front bumper. The original horn was placed in the middle part of the bumper and it was only a single piece. The Stebel magnum came in pair, one for high and the other for low honk. The pair of horns was placed on the driver side just below the headlight.



The horn that I have bought was only priced at P599.00 + P300.oo for the installation and it left me a budget that I can add in buying a subwoofer. I've been eyeing for the NBN Compact Amplified Subwoofer for it will fit perfectly just below the seats. I have no plan of getting a much bigger amplifier for it may used up the trunk space available. The trunk space of the kia picanto is not that big so getting a larger subwoofer was out of my list.





I have tested the nbn subs and the bass it reproduced was fine for me. It came also with a single tweeter and volume control for both the subs and the tweeter. I ask the installer to place the subs below the passenger seat and have it adjusted on my preferred setting. Some tweaking on the headunit's equalizer is needed for a better sound output.

Fuel Consumption

I loaded up 21.46 Liters of unleaded gasoline on my Kia Picanto 2008 and after days of use I have recorded 243.1 Kms on my odometer before the fuel warning lighted on. So as we do the math, 243.1/21.46 = 11.328 Km/L. Not so bad for mixed city and highway driving, actually it's more on a city driving while using the aircon all the time. Soaring prices of gasoline helped me decide to buy the Kia Picanto as it claims to be a very fuel efficient car. Well i'm expecting it to reach 13-14 Km/L on city driving but it doesn't meet what I have expected. Maybe after I reached 1000 Km on my odometer then it will be more fuel efficient as I am still breaking-in my Kia Picanto.

Going to Antipolo

Yesterday, Me and my wife planned to have our Kia Picanto 2008 blessed in Antipolo Church. We are also celebrating the 1st birthday of our son, Alric, and it would be a perfect timing for the blessing. We came from Robinsons Galleria were my baby boy had his first haircut and we also bought a new stroller that we can fit in the compartment of our kia picanto. Going up in Antipolo was an easy task for our picanto. Running on 3rd gear on steep roads while having 3 passengers; my wife, my mom and my mother-in-law plus our baby boy. I never imagined that the small engine of the picanto can climb up in higher gear without any vibrations. When we arrived at the church we found out that the parking lot was under construction and we have no choice but to park the car outside the vicinity. We cannot find any good parking space near the church's entrance so we just decided to have our kia picanto blessed next week.

What's on the inside?

This morning, I took pictures on some of the interior features of my Kia Picanto 2008.


Here is the glove box. If you'll notice there's an additional compartment above the glove box. My wife already placed her hair brush there. She is also ranting about the lack of mirror on the sun shade on the passenger side that's usually present on some cars. Maybe when we go to the mall we'll find a mirror that we can place on it.




The head unit that came with my Kia is a JVC brand. It's an Ipod ready HU via Auxilliary port.


Here are the manual controls for the aircon


Just beneath the aircon controls you can see the two cup holders where I placed my Ipod and another compartment where you can place coins. Kia also removed the cigarette lighter and just leave the socket that can be used in charging my Ipod, well that's fine with me because I'm not a smoker.

Under the "Hot Hot" Sun

After reaching work, I have to park my Kia Picanto 2008 on the open parking of the client. It was raining yesterday and I thought that the weather will still be cloudy but at exactly 12:00 PM, it was scorching hot! I have thought getting my Picanto a paint protection and while browsing the web, I have stumbled upon the website of Big Bert's and they are offering the Optiguard New Car Paint Protection for a price of P4500 for small vehicles. Here is the link of the service they are offering:
http://bigberts.com/optiguard.htm

Our New 'Face Lifted' Kia Picanto 2008

Today, we got our brand new "facelifted" Kia Picanto 2008 model. We chose the "Blue Diamond" color because of its uniqueness and most of all, the dust and dirt accumulated are not that noticeable to light colored vehicles.

We got our unit from Kia Taytay Branch. Thanks to our sales agent, Mr. Glenn Lloyd Guevarra, he gave us a very good package and a lot of freebies aside from the standard ones they gave. For those interested in buying a Kia vehicle, you can contact Glenn and he will surely assist you. He knows almost all the ins and outs of all the Kia cars they are selling. You can reach him at 286-2030.

It gave me a hard time driving out from the Kia Taytay Branch with my new ride because the clutch pedal was so soft and deep. I was used to drive my father's Mitsubishi Lancer and the 'feel' on the clutch of both vehicle was far too different. But after driving it for almost 5 minutes, I got a hang of it.



Me and my wife gone straight to our work after we got the unit and I have tested the picanto in south expressway going to Sucat. From its 1100 cc engine, I was amazed how fast the picanto can run. Maybe because of the lightweight body of the picanto helped its engine to run smoothly and fast.