Kia Pro cee'd
Kia has undoubtedly come up with a great-looking three-door hatchback and coupled it with value for money in terms of specification and that fantastic warranty
The Kia Pro_cee’d is the sexy face of the Korean manufacturer’s acclaimed five door family hatchback, the Kia Cee’d.Both cars share the same wheelbase, but differences above have created two distinct cars.
The Pro_cee’d is 15mm longer and 30mm lower than the parent car which helps create a coupe-like appearance with genuine sporty appeal and a hint of the Audi A3.The driver and passenger doors are 245mm longer than on the five-door version, while a roof spoiler, new fog lights, oval exhaust pipe and side belt line rising to the rear wheel arches all contribute to deliver a convincing sporty look. It looks especially good in white.In fact only the front wings and bonnet come from the five-door model and the rear looks completely different, supporting Kia’s view that this is a significant model in its own right rather than a five door with a couple of doors removed.Step inside the car and you are greeted by the same interior as the Cee’d.The lowered roof, larger doors and a more shallow windscreen (starting slightly lower down the car) are the main indications this is a different car to the Cee’d.Overall, there are fewer interior differences. The Pro_cee’d shares the same bulbous central console housing audio controls and air-con found in the five-door while the warm, orange illuminated information display is dominated by the central speedo, flanked by rev counter on one side and fuel/temperature gauges on the other.
Sharper drive than the Cee’d
Like the Cee’d, the Kia Pro_cee’d features fully independent suspension for improved ride and handling. However, Kia has sharpened the handling on the lighter Pro_cee'd by retuning the electronic power steering as well as the suspension.We found the ride very comfortable. Our road route took us over poorly maintained roads and only the worst lumps and bumps were communicated to the driver with the car handling most uneven surfaces well.The handling was also noticeably sharper than the Cee’d and especially when coupled with the five-speed 124bhp 1.6-litre diesel model made for engaging driving.
Economical motoring
Despite Kia focussing more on style than in any car previously, motoring will still come pretty cheap with the Pro_cee'd.The broad range of engines will help buyers choose their tax bill.Our favoured engine, the 1.6-litre diesel also produces the lowest emissions – 126g/km CO2, and an annual tax bill of £115. The highest comes from the automatic 1.6-litre petrol which produces 166g/km. The 89bhp 1.6-litre diesel ensures greatest distance between fill-ups, returning 60.1mpg, this drops to 50.4mpg for the 2-litre turbodiesel, 46.3mpg for the forthcoming 1.4-litre diesel and 44.1mpg for the 1.6-litre petrol.Insurance is group 5 for the lower-powered 1.6-litre diesel and 1.4-litre petrol, group 6 for the higher-powered 1.6-litre diesel, group 6 or 7 for the 1.6-litre petrol, dependent on trim and group 9 for the 2-litre turbodiesel sport model.Being a new model means reliability is unproven by customers actually buying this car and driving it but that headline-grabbing seven year warranty is a big reassurance.And when it comes to safety, the Pro_c’eed has yet to undergo EuroNCAP crash testing. However, Kia is confident of a good rating following the five stars awarded to the C’eed.The car benefits from six airbags, anti-lock brakes, electronic brake force distribution, Brake Assist and, on Sport trim models, electronic stability programme.