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Between a rock and a hard place
In 1992 we ran a head-to-head between a Kia Pride and a Skoda Freeway to discover which was the best. We know what you're thinking: that's a bit like trying to decide whether being burnt or drowned is the best way to die! But after much deliberation we decided the Skoda was the lesser of the two evils. So just how bad was the Kia? Read on.
The Kia Pride van was basically a kit Mazda 121, assembled in South Korea. It looked just like the hatchback car, but without the rear side windows or seats. It was powered by a 1.3-litre petrol engine, which produced 60hp and 118Nm of torque, and got the thumbs-up from us. We were "impressed by its lively character", which was "entertaining to drive" and "ensured a respectably quick
journey time".
It was fuel-efficient too, returning 49.3mpg — not bad for an early 1990s petrolpowered van, and some 13mpg better than the Skoda. It stopped well too, thanks to a decent set of anchors. We liked the spacious cab and comfortable driving position, which was deemed better than the Skoda's. We had plenty of praise for the large number of creature comforts. Standard features that got us excited back then included a rear wash/wipe,
remote tailgate and fuel filler releases, internally adjustable door mirrors and a rev counter.
The business end also got our approval, with a respectable 375kg payload, plastic floor liner and a steel load restraint.
Incredibly, we even waxed lyrical about its external appearance, especially the "eye-catching electric-blue paint and white-walled tyres".
So, if the Kia Pride was so great, how did it lose to the Skoda Freeway?
It was all down to the "chronically under damped ride", which led to an alarming amount of body-roll and induced travel sickness in our road testers. Adding to the overall unpleasant experience was the "strong petrol smell that persisted throughout the test". Nice.
Although we didn't say it, you know we were thinking to ourselves, what do those South Koreans know about building vehicles anyway? They'll never catch on over here!