After the lean times came the fat of the land as people had money to spend and a range of bright new goods to buy… choice was all.
More than 40 years on, those fledgling consumers would be astounded at the range of choice enjoyed by today’s.motorist, as car launch follows car launch, with manufacturers constantly honing their competitive edge.
So, Kia have taken on a mega challenge in offering us yet more choice in the toughest market sector of all… the family hatchback.
Here the likes of the VW Golf, Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra rule the roost, with mighty strong offerings from Toyota and Honda, too. The fact that Kia has chosen to take on all-comers at this level with the oddly-named cee’d shows a great degree of confidence in their motor. A confidence that is far from misplaced.
But before we get behind the wheel of the cee’d, there’s the matter of the name. Kia came up with the title as a reference to the European Economic Community, known as the CEE in many member countries.
And as the car is their first to be designed and built in Europe, specifically for the European market, well… I leave it up to you to judge.
Behind the name there’s a very capable car. I’ve driven all of the current Kia range with the exception of the Rio, and had the Cerato, which the cee’d replaces, on test for a month.
The new car is a country mile ahead of its predecessor and adds great appeal to a range that already prospers with the big four-wheel drive Sorento and the roomy Sedona people carrier.
Taking a bumper to bumper tour of the exterior, first impressions are positive. The car offers clean, coherent lines which were developed in the company’s Frankfurt design studio.
The clean design theme is carried through to the interior, where materials, fit and finish all help to give the car a high-quality feel. No shiny plastics and garish ?fabrics here, thank you.
The dashboard design is pleasing, with all switchgear falling easily to hand and there is an integrated, simple-to-operate music system, a big improvement on the fiddly slotted-in units fitted in earlier south Korean cars.
The cabin feels spacious and rear-seat passengers reported plenty of room, thanks to the long wheelbase, wide track and tallish roofline. The rear seat splits 60/40 to allow for flexible load-carrying but the luggage area with the seat in place is plenty big enough for day to day tasks.
The driving experience is rewarding, the car taut and responsive in corners, steady and quiet at motorway speeds.
The ceed’s big plus is its turbo diesel engine. The 115 bhp unit has bags of torque, and not just in the mid range, making the car feel truly perky from low revs. There are four engines to choose from, two petrol and two diesel, the unit in my test car being the more powerful of the diesels by 25bhp.
The level of standard equipment is high, with even the entry-level S having aircon and air-cooled glove box, plus an MP3-ready radio/CD player, six airbags and two-way steering column adjustment.
The top spec LS version I drove boasted climate control, half-leather upholstery, electric, heated door mirrors, rear electric windows and fog lamps.
In a week of mixed driving, from motorway hauls, commuting and Lakeland lanes the cee’d was a hit.
Surely the true measure of a motor is whether you look ?forward to getting behind the wheel. I most assuredly did and I reckon the car, with its seven-year warranty, bodes well for Kia’s continuing Euro push.
Even the name began to grow on me!
What do you think? Have your say.
Tech specMake/model: Kia cee’d LS CRDi.Technical: 1600cc turbo diesel engine with six speedmanual gearbox.Performance: 0-62, 11.5 secs; top speed, 117mphFuel: 60mpg (combined)Emissions: 125g/kmInsurance:Price: £14,245.
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