In search of the imposter: the Kia Rio "Sport-Pac"

"zipfuel" (zipfuel)
05/13/2020 at 23:39 • Filed to: kia, Kia Rio, wrx, WRC, Targa, Rally, 4runner, Toyota 4Runner, The Kia Rio is the Greatest Car Ever Made, Subaru, Subaru WRX

I am trying to find out if any these have survived.

Many years ago (~2007-8 I’d guess) was trawling Autotrader.ca for cheap manual cars when up popped a relatively new Kia Rio with a hood scoop, big wing and a body kit.

It would have looked like this except in white or tan.

Waaait a minute...

My first thought was that some cretinous owner had gone mad with the eBay accessories but the ad assured me this was how it rolled off the lot.

What you see here is the rare Kia Rio “sport pac”

As a big fan of homologation and other random hot specials I was intrigued, had Kia slapped a turbo on their entry level car and created a budget rally rocket?

In short, Nope! The only mechanical upgrades were slightly lower suspension and alloy wheels; the hood scoop was as fake as a Buick’s ventiports but I guess the wing was real.

This was basically an appearance package released to cash in on the popularity of the tuner style from the Fast and Furious which came out in 2001.

I grew up watching Colin McRae and later Richard Burns (RIP both) ripping up rally stages in blue Subarus with gold wheels so I get the appeal. In fact it was pretty common to see blue base imprezas with those wheels and wings addded in the UK back then.

The sport-pac originated in Australia and is credited to a marketing manager who saw the popularity of high performance sport compacts and in particular the WRX/STI so decided to offer a dealer installed package for the Rio sedan that mimicked it.

Seems legit

Here’s a contemporary Australian car mag piece where they actually did a side by side comparison - it’s an entertaining read.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

It sounds like the package proved quite popular and so was rolled out to other regions including Canada.

I managed to find some contemporary griping on the WRX forums about it (I hope the commenters have aged better than some of their comments....)

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

And to prove I’m not going mad, here it is at the Montreal autoshow.

This must have been circa 2002/3 because in the background you can see the Rio RX-V wagon that Kia ran in the inaugural Targa Newfoundland that year. Driven by autowriter Bob English and “local radio personality” Ken Ash, I cannot find much on the net about this car despite reading lots of coverage on later Kia runs at the targa on wheels.ca. [Particularly one where the driver “money shifted” their Kia Koup so a local dealer swapped a motor out of a car on their lot to get them back in the race next day!]

That is quite incongruous

My efforts to find an example of the Rio sport-pac for sale have also come up empty, in fact there are barely any early 2000s Kia Rios left for sale at all. The RX-V wagons seem to have more longevity due to their utility but I guess the sedans were disposable.

I hope there are a few of these tucked away and being lovingly cared for as they represent a foreshadowing for some of the legitimate performance bargains that Hyundai/Kia are now making (Stinger, Genesis, Veloster N etc).

With 20:20 hindsight I’d say these cars were as aspirational for Kia as they were for the the wannabes who bought them. Kia had only been in Canada a couple of years at that point and were generally regarded as lowest common denominator worldwide. Fast forward to the present and Hyundai/Kia are a major force in the car market and seem like one of the few manufacturers that are expanding their enthusiast car lineup while others just push more and more SUVs.

The WRX fanbois may have mocked these gussied up econoboxes when they came out but Subaru haven’t competed in the top flight of the World Rally Championship for over a decade while Kia’s big sister Hyundai won the constructor’s championship last year!

I hope a few Sport-Pacs survived to have the last laugh.

Road salt likely took most of ours, wonder if there’s more left in Oppostralia?

Let me know if you see one.

DISCUSSION (15)

dogisbadob > zipfuel
05/13/2020 at 23:54

the head gaskets are better than the real thing :p

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > zipfuel
05/14/2020 at 00:05

Nothing on Carsales...

I remember the dealer option and they were popular for about 15 minutes. The truth is though...the car was a bit of a turd. And a fragile one at that.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > zipfuel
05/14/2020 at 00:35

I’m sure there are lots of special editions of cheap undesirable cars that have 0 remaining examples left. This actually may be one of them. Good journalism here.

Come to think of it I can't remember the last time I saw one of that generation. There are plenty of the next gen still kicking around though.

2021 : hold my beer BAT here I come

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > zipfuel
05/14/2020 at 00:51

I’d be surprised if they sold even 100 of them in Canada. You can find the odd ‘07 Hyundai Accent SR for sale surprisingly .

Goggles Pizzano > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com
05/14/2020 at 01:06

More than 40 years of watching cars like a hawk and I’ve not seen or heard of this. M aybe I mistook it at the time for a bad mod job.

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > Goggles Pizzano
05/14/2020 at 01:37

Very possible. 2003-2006 I’d argue would pretty much the height of the hand me down Hondas with fart cans. I possibly could have seen one but thought it was some goof job as well .

T his Kia is pretty buried ‘ tuner’ meta. I was always more familiar with stuff like the limited sport compacts like MazdaSpeed Protege, Ford Focus SVT, VW Golf R32 . Only the odd pipeline knowledge on appearance packs like the Tsunami Celica, Civic Reverb and aforementioned Accent SR .

pip bip - choose Corrour > zipfuel
05/14/2020 at 04:31

i’ve just looked locally here in OZ and i can’t find any sports pacs for sale

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com
05/14/2020 at 07:04

I still seem some Accent SRs for sale here and there! I own an ‘09 Accent hatch and really love it...it’s peppy enough and been incredibly reliable.

Wouldn’t mind finding a set of the 16" rims from an SR at some point...

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > zipfuel
05/14/2020 at 07:50

I’ve seen these around the internet, but never one in person...always thought they were just ‘some guy trying to make an STi lookalike’ - had no idea they were a factory thing!!!

zipfuel > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
05/14/2020 at 09:04

The owner of the last remaining example knows what they have and will be asking at least double market value . So $ 3,000 firm

zipfuel > pip bip - choose Corrour
05/14/2020 at 09:14

Bummer, you were my only hope Obi Wan Kenobi

pip bip - choose Corrour > zipfuel
05/14/2020 at 09:19

can’t recall when i last saw one either.

zipfuel > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
05/14/2020 at 09:40

While searching for Kias and Targa Newfoundland I came across this car.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2536299/2002-kia-rio

Friend/neighbor/cousin/gym-teacher of yours?

zipfuel > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
05/14/2020 at 10:04

Yeah I think at the time I looked into if there was any potential to boost the power to make it match the appearance. It become quickly apparent nothing on that car was overengineered....

UserNotFound > zipfuel
05/14/2020 at 12:16

This entire post I’ve been trying to figure out if this thing is just a bad photoshop.