2022 Kia Cerato GT Hatchback 1.6 Turbo 7-DCT Review

Australians seem to have an obsession with anything automotive and sporty – there are sporty versions of almost every car on the market, with various parts of the car designed for a harder and faster look. Enter the 2022 Kia Cerato GT, which is just like a regular Cerato but with the sporty dial turned up a bit. The Cerato GT has been available for a few years now but for the 2022 model year Kia decided to update this ‘warm hatch’ to make it more appealing for a wider range of buyers. Does it do so? Let’s find out.

The Cerato GT offers something that not a lot of brands offer – here is a mid sized hatch that can seat five reasonably comfortably but is also good fun to drive on a twisty road. But crucially, it’s also easy on the hip pocket – it doesn’t cost $60,000, or even $40,000 drive away. So why aren’t more flocking to this car? Well, it does have some downfalls, so let’s find out what they are and if they are enough to make you consider shopping elsewhere.

Pricing & Equipment: 8.0/10

Sitting atop the 2022 Kia Cerato range, the Cerato GT costs $35,790 plus on-road costs ($37,990 drive away), in either sedan or the hatchback we tested. Unfortunately the Cerato GT is not the same $32,990 drive away bargain as it once was as pricing has crept up – like almost every other car on the market – in recent years.

The Kia Cerato model the GT comes with every feature available in the Cerato range, including 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED lighting, dual-zone climate control with rear vents, keyless entry and start, heated and auto-folding exterior mirrors, a 10.25-inch touchscreen with satellite navigation, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio, an eight-speaker JBL sound system, an electric driver’s seat with memory functionality, leather upholstery with heated and cooled front seats, wireless phone charging, a sunroof and a rear centre armrest with cupholders.

Safety kit includes six airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert (both with braking), lane keep assist with lane trace assist, driver attention monitoring, rear occupant alert, safe exit assist, tyre pressure monitoring, auto high beam, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera and an alarm. 

While we do think that the 2022 Kia Cerato GT hatch is well equipped it does miss out on some features. We would like to see the addition of an electric passenger seat, a digital driving display, automatic wipers, a heads-up display and a heated steering wheel. No automatic wipers in an almost-$40,000 car is inexcusable, in our opinion.

The only standard colour available on the 2022 Kia Cerato GT is ‘Clear White’ while ‘Aurora Black’, ‘Horizon Blue’, ‘Mineral Blue’, ‘Platinum Graphite’, ‘Steel Grey’, ‘Runway Red’, ‘Silky Silver’ and our test car’s ‘Snow White Pearl’ (white) come at a further $520 cost. Black leather with red stitching is the sole interior colour.

The direct rivals for the Cerato GT are the $35,990 Mazda3 G25 GT auto, the $36,520 Hyundai i30 N Line Premium auto and the $35,290 Volkswagen Golf Life. These cars offer less performance than the Cerato GT (bar the i30 N Line) but offer more of a luxury focus. The Cerato GT undercuts most of its rivals in pricing (except the Golf Life, which is $500 cheaper, though much less well equipped). The closest rival we would say would be the i30 N Line Premium hatch which is $740 more expensive and for the extra money you get an extra airbag (seven vs the Cerato’s six), red seatbelts, partial digital dials, a seven-speaker Infinity sound system, a panoramic glass sunroof, auto wipers and remote start. The i30 N Line Premium is better value for money than its cousin, in our opinion.

Performance & Economy: 8.0/10

The sole engine choice for the 2022 Kia Cerato GT is the familiar ‘T-GDI’ 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, which has been seen in various Hyundai Kia products locally. The engine produces 150kW of power and 265Nm of torque and power is sent to the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission – these outputs are identical to the i30 N Line, but more than the Mazda3’s 139kW/252Nm and Golf’s 110kW/250Nm.

The engine is quite strong when you’re caning it on a back road and it also emits a great noise through the dual rear exhaust. It does feel more peppy than the 2.5-litre engine in the Mazda3 and the 1.4-litre engine in the Volkswagen Golf, as its higher outputs suggest. One downside of this engine is that there is a little lag low in the rev range – you put your foot down a little bit to get that gap in traffic, but it takes a slight moment for the engine to respond.

The automatic transmission in the Cerato GT is a dry-clutch dual-clutch unit, and while dual-clutch transmissions have come a long way, we think there is still some way to go. When taking off from a standstill there is a little delay in putting your foot on the accelerator and the car moving, it also revs quite high before engaging the clutches, making for a not very smooth experience. Funnily enough, putting the car into eco mode and its more relaxed acceleration helps this. Once you are on the move, the transmission does get a lot better as the shifts are quick and precise and the paddle shifters are responsive.

The claimed average fuel consumption for the 2022 Kia Cerato GT is 6.8L/100km and we achieved 8.5L/100km, which we were happy with as this 1.6-litre engine can be thirsty. The mechanically similar i30 N Line has a claimed average fuel consumption figure of 7.1L/100km (0.3L/100km more than the Cerato), while the Mazda3 G25 claims 6.6L/100km and the Golf claims 5.8L/100km. Both figures are superior to the Cerato, though they don’t offer the same performance. The Cerato GT will happily use 91RON fuel and has a 50-litre fuel tank.

Ride & Handling: 7.0/10

To put it bluntly, even though it has independent rear suspension unlike the torsion beam of lesser Cerato models, the ride of the 2022 Kia Cerato GT is just too firm. We have experienced many ‘sporty’ cars and we understand that most performance-oriented cars have a firmer ride, but the Cerato GT takes it too far as it is uncomfortable on a day-to-day basis. Going over small speed humps and potholes in the road is jarring and makes you wince. Even on a road that looks smooth, you still feel every bump and undulation in the road. We liken the ride to a Hyundai i30 N in sport mode, although the ride is more justified in the N as it is a proper hot hatch not a warm hatch.

Once benefit to the harsh ride is that the Cerato GT corners flat no matter how fast you take corners. It is a very capable performance car for being a sub $40,000 hatchback. The Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres do a fantastic job of maintaining grip through the corners and are good in the wet as well. The steering is meaty and perhaps a touch too heavy, but it’s an otherwise entertaining car to drive. Only the loud road noise levels further hurt both it.

Interior & Practicality: 8.0/10

Like the regular Cerato range, the GT’s cabin is not the most luxurious in the world, but it’s well built and offers a good mix of tech. There is also a sense of the Cerato GT’s sporty nature in the cabin. The leather sports seats with ‘GT’ embossed into the headrests, the leather sports steering wheel again with a ‘GT’ badge at the bottom of it, the red piping and accents all throughout the interior and the carbon look alike portions of the dash and door panels make you feel like you’re in something special.

The quality of materials used in the cabin of the 2022 Kia Cerato GT isn’t fantastic. There are a lot of hard plastics used throughout the interior and the fake stitching on the dash does look, well, fake. The leather used on the seats and the steering wheel however is decent quality – they feel great to touch and make the Cerato feel more expensive than it is.

The interior storage in the 2022 Kia Cerato GT is rather good for the segment. There is a slot in front of the gear knob for a phone and a wallet, a shelf above that which is the wireless smartphone charger, two cupholders are behind the gear selector and next to that is another place to store a wallet or a set of keys, there are also deep door bins, a generous glove box and a nicely sized centre console. 

The 10.25-inch centre screen in the 2022 Kia Cerato GT is intuitive and very easy to navigate. There are touch sensitive shortcut keys under the screen and even a ‘favourite’ button that can be configured to do a number of things – we had it set to go to the Apple CarPlay screen. Apple CarPlay looks great spread across the whole screen – though we wish it were wireless like the smaller screen – and the inbuilt navigation is easy to set and use too. The ‘premium’ JBL sound system isn’t great though as there is a lack of bass and overall power.

Unlike some rivals, sitting in the rear of the Cerato hatch isn’t an uncomfortable thing to do, even as an adult. There is much more knee and head room than the Mazda3 hatch and it also feels more spacious than the Volkswagen Golf. Two adults and a child would fit comfortably in the rear. Features include a centre armrest with cupholders, air vents, door bins, a single USB-A charging port and some map pockets.

Opening the boot of the 2022 Kia Cerato GT hatch reveals 428-litres of cargo space with the rear seats still in place. Compare this to the small 295-litres of cargo space that you get in the rear of a Mazda3 hatch and it is rather large. It’s even big compared with the 395L Hyundai i30 N Line Premium hatch and the 374L Volkswagen Golf Life. There is a cargo blind in the rear of the Cerato GT and you can also see the subwoofer in the rear, as well as some extra storage underneath the boot floor and a space saver spare wheel.

Service & Warranty: 8.0/10

Being a Kia, the 2022 Kia Cerato GT comes with the brand’s seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is two years more than you get in the Mazda3, Volkswagen Golf and Hyundai i30. There is also up to eight years of roadside assistance if you service the Cerato through Kia during the warranty period. The Mazda3 and Hyundai i30 have five years of roadside assist whereas the Volkswagen Golf only comes with 12 months.

The Cerato GT requires being serviced every 12 months or 10,000km, which is the same as the Hyundai i30 N Line and the Mazda3 – the Volkswagen Golf can hold out to every 12 months or 15,000km. Servicing the Kia Cerato GT for five years/50,000km will set owners back $1,890, which is slightly higher when compared to the $1,700 that the Mazda3 costs to service over the same period. The i30 N Line Premium hatch will set owners back $1,495 over the same five year/50,000km period and the Golf Life will cost a staggering $3,141 over five years/75,000km.

2022 Kia Cerato GT Hatch DiscoverAuto Rating: 7.8/10

The 2022 Kia Cerato GT sits in a market that appeals to a younger market, someone who wants a little performance and a lot of equipment, but also some practicality for a reasonable asking price. The Cerato caters to this market very well, in our opinion. It offers a lot to buyers – lots of equipment, a spacious cabin, a strong turbocharged petrol engine, lots of tech and an all-important sporty feel throughout.

It’s not perfect, however, and we’d be checking out the i30 N Line Premium before committing to the Cerato GT. Why is that? Well, the Cerato GT’s ride quality is just too firm for our liking and could be enough to make people walk away from this capable hatch. The dual-clutch automatic transmission also needs finessing as it can be quite jerky at low speeds and unrefined. But the attributes of the Cerato GT are otherwise still there, and we think it’s worth consideration if a warm hatch is what you’re searching for.