Did the Kia Koup coupé pull off a coup?

The first ever proper coupé Kia was cleverly called “Koup”, complete with creative red & black badging of the letter K to signify the pun.

Replacing the awkwardly-named Kia pro_cee’d (the sporty hatch version of the cee’d) the Cerato Koup was introduced in 2009 – it quickly became known as the most affordably priced new coupé on the market. 

Not so clever was the 2-litre engine… it was too weak to do justice to the sharply angled sporty-looking Cerato Koup.  In 2011 the Koup was upgraded from a 5-speed manual or 4-speed (yes, that old) automatic to 6-speed gearboxes for both, but engine unchanged.  Drive was better, though not coupé enough.

For several years the European-sourced cars have been adding turbo-charged engine choices due to its usably increased torque and power, and better emissions and consumed fuel amount.  Eastern country manufacturers such as Kia have, for whatever their reasons, not brought out any petrol turbo. 

Kia now debuts its first petrol turbo as the T-GDi engine, with a displacement of 1.6 litres.  A much better match – turbo engine with coupé shape.  152kW and 265Nm is much more fitting of its sporty car intentions.  The exhaust sound is also tuned to produce an especially sporty tone.

To reduce fuel consumption and lower CO2 emissions when cruising at speed, both 6-speed transmissions feature high top-gear ratios, and low first-gear ratios that enable drivers to fully enjoy the new Koup’s off-the-line performance.

The increased wheelbase allows for a more spacious cabin and elongated 2-door layout, which, along with upgraded equipment and more refinement/performance, gives a more elegant sense.

Interestingly, Kia opted to not go for the typical hatch-type coupé as per MINI Coupé, Renault Mégane, Opel GTC, Toyota 86, Volkswagen Scirocco and the like.  Instead it sticks with the classic 2 doors + conventional bootlid design… the 3-box.  The only other similar layouts are the Audi A5, BMW 2 and 4 Series, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class coupés.  This tells of Kia wanting to set Koup apart from direct rivals, by aiming straight for premium territory.

The Koup’s driver-angled cockpit, sweeping centre-stack curve and carbon-look trim all help to create a sporty feel.  For comfort, an organ-type accelerator pedal is fitted, which more closely follows the natural movement of the user’s foot, while front seat belts are fitted with extended guides to put them within easy reach of the front seat occupants for easier fastening.

Active safety technologies on the new Koup include 6 airbags, active headrests, Isofix child seat anchors, ESC (Electronic Stability Control), HAC (Hill-start Assist Control), VSM (Vehicle Stability Management), front and rear parking sensors, and HID (High Intensity Discharge) xenon headlamps with built-in LED daytime running lights.

At launch in January 2014, the Koup models entered the market at R 334 995  for manual and R346 995 for an automatic and now at R 341 995 for manual and R 353 995 for automatic. Second time around, Koup again achieves the most affordably-priced proper 2-door coupé.  The next coupé up is BMW 220i at just over R 400k.

Having maintained those prices as at time of writing, Kia is serious about its power to surprise even coupé buyers with its more powerful and competitive turbo car… and that gives the Koup coupé a coup.