These fake vents have gone too f... wait, what?

"Aremmes" (aremmes)
08/28/2019 at 20:45 • Filed to: Ventlopnik, Kia Rio

I’ve been enjoying the Rio Quinto here in Puerto Rico more than I thought I would. It’s basic, unpretentious, practical, stylish, economical, and peppy. One detail actually surprised me, though, and I only noticed it by chance.

This liner under the front driver-side fender seems to suspiciously not reach all the way to the edge. But what’s that duct work doing there, and where does it lead to?

The top half houses a fog lamp in higher trim levels. Sorry for the overexposure.

Get a load of this fucker here! That’s an actual, real, bona fide, honest-to-dog, functional air vent on the front of the car. Where so many other cars get loaded with enough plastic fakery to make a Pontiac Aztek seem subdued, Kia actually found a use for it. In this case it seems to channel air over the wheel to cut down on turbulence, which along with other details would go quite a ways to explain why I’ve been getting up to 42 mpg out of this car.

Well done, Kia, on making this car feel worth more than its price.

DISCUSSION (16)

Spanfeller is a twat > Aremmes
08/28/2019 at 20:53

Kia be like that. the stonger has it too.

coqui70 > Aremmes
08/28/2019 at 20:59

Attention to detail ... you gotta admire what the South Korean auto industry is doing. If only they brought the Starex/H1 2.2CRD 6-speed manual 4wd to the US. In Oppo Brown of course.

Kinja'd!!!

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > Spanfeller is a twat
08/28/2019 at 20:59

Just the word “st onger” alone brought back a lot of memories that I actually completely forgot....what a time lol

AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC > Aremmes
08/28/2019 at 21:08

My 4-series GC has it as well. I’m curious on what it does, whether to cleanup airflow over the wheels or something else.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Aremmes
08/28/2019 at 21:10

I was surprised to find that my car had actual honest-to-god brake cooling ducts, since it’s not a performance version.

For Sweden > Aremmes
08/28/2019 at 21:11

How is the hurricane?

McMike > Aremmes
08/28/2019 at 21:22

Seen in traffic today.

Kinja'd!!!

Levitas > AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC
08/28/2019 at 21:34

These are known as air curtains in the industry. Basically yeah, kinda helps move air around the rotating tire. Usually aren’t all that effective, but once one automaker added them, everyone else followed.

Aremmes > For Sweden
08/28/2019 at 21:47

We evacuated from Dad’s house on the south coast to the mountains to avoid the storm surge, only to find out that it veered east and we would barely get rained on. The joke in town was that if there had been a flood it’d have been because of all the drunk people pissing their beer on the streets. The hurricane hit VI the most.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Aremmes
08/28/2019 at 21:52

I was pleased to discover the other day that my MINI actually has what appear to be functional brake cooling ducts in the front bumper as well.

SiennaMan > coqui70
08/28/2019 at 22:44

They really are bringing it lately. (I wish car makers could bring more manuals to the US)

For Sweden > Aremmes
08/28/2019 at 23:07

No one should waste Medalla on piss!

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > coqui70
08/28/2019 at 23:12

Careful what you wish for. We get these and they are found in many fleets. They aren’t a patch on the European vans (even the Ford Transit Custom) and the HiAce still outsells it.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Aremmes
08/28/2019 at 23:21

It’s not a brake cooler obviously must be for aero.

coqui70 > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
08/29/2019 at 20:04

Haven’t driven those but was impressed with the toughness of the H1 I drove in South America. It was also surprisingly easy to drive - very carlike in it’s handling and control response.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > coqui70
08/30/2019 at 20:59

No question...but, like i said, there are other vans that do it better.