Kia cee'd review
by David Finlay (24 September 2009)
It seems odd to be writing a launch review about the new Kia cee'd considerably less than three years after the original came to the market, but much work has been done on the car lately and it's worth taking another look at the range. In approximate order of significance, all models have been given revised exterior styling, upgraded interiors, thoroughly worked-over suspension, a new vehicle stability programme, hill-start control and, for certain models, Kia's ISG stop/start system, all of which can be regarded as improvements.
There has been no change to the body shapes (so the wretched rear visibility will still be with us until whatever replaces the cee'd comes along, at the very earliest) but there are changes to the front end, which give the hatch in particular a notably more sporty look, along with LED-effect rear light clusters. I wasn't bowled over by the new front at first, but it's growing on me, and I suspect that the pre-facelift cee'd is quickly going to look rather old-fashioned once the new one becomes a familiar sight on our roads.
Inside, the cee'd gets the Soul's four-spoke steering wheel, complete with remote control switches for the audio and trip computer (and Bluetooth and cruise control, if applicable), the centre console has been redesigned, and the trim materials have been upgraded.
It's all quite effective, though Kia's claim that the effect is of "travelling first class while paying an economy price" flirts with hyperbole - the cee'd still does not really feel like a premium product in its sector.
The suspension revisions are, we're told, the result of listening to feedback both from customers and from those scurvy knaves in the motoring press. When the first cee'd came along, much trumpeting was made about the fact that this was a Kia designed by Europeans for Europeans who would drive it on European roads.
Jolly good - but European roads include everything from beautiful German highways you could calibrate a spirit level with to ungodly stretches of Belgian pavé, with average UK conditions coming somewhere in between. And the fact was that the cee'd did not ride well in this country.
Much of the development of the new cee'd was devoted to attending to this problem. Kia's suspension engineers at the company's European base in Germany were made fully aware of what British roads were like, and some UK employees were involved too. Much the same process was applied to the Soul right from the start, but it didn't work well, and the Soul still needs some attention. With the cee'd, though, the result has been a triumph.
The UK press launch of the new car was held in Liverpool, and I had not got anywhere near the city limits before the improved ride made itself apparent. Thereafter, in the surrounding countryside, the cee'd just kept on impressing me. It might be stretching things a little to suggest that its ride is now class-leading, but it is certainly very competitive, and vastly better than that of the old car.
This has been the upshot of careful work with the springs, dampers, anti-roll bars, bushes and steering. It has not simply been a case of making the suspension so soft that bumps are absorbed but cornering becomes impossible. In fact, although the difference here is not quite as evident (because the cee'd was always good in this respect), the handling is also better than before.
Kia has now shown that it knows how to do this sort of thing properly, and if there is a pang of regret that it didn't get it right first time then at least we can be happy that it has got it right now.
If forced to offer one criticism I would say that the turn-in is actually a little too sharp for comfort in the SW, which starts feeling quite top-heavy if you enter a corner vigorously. But while saying that I'm also surprised that the day has come when the SW might be considered a more sporty drive than it needs to be.
All cee'ds come in three trim levels - called 1, 2 and 3 - and with a choice of 89bhp 1.4-litre petrol, 124bhp 1.6 petrol and 89bhp and 113bhp 1.6 turbo diesels. Complicating things slightly, there is another version of the 2 called EcoDynamics, which has the ISG (Intelligent Stop Go) system.
I drove a five-door hatch round a twisty route devised by Kia through central Liverpool, and the engine did indeed stop when it wasn't required and start when I pressed the clutch pedal.
By current standards there is nothing especially clever about the system, but it certainly had an obvious effect (a colleague whose attention to detail in these matters is nothing short of eye-watering discovered that the engine was on shutdown for 11 and a half minutes out of 45), and it improves combined economy and CO2 emissions to 67.3mpg and 110g/km in the case of the three-door pro_cee'd and the five-door hatch, and to 62.8mpg and 119g/km in the case of the SW.
Only the fact that similarly-sized Volkswagen Golfs and SEAT Leóns with CO2 emissions below 110g/km will be along next year casts a cloud over this achievement, though both are likely to be more expensive than the cee'd.
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