THE NO.1 CEED

The third generation of the KIA is at the top of its game and is more straightforward

EVER since the KIA cee’d made its debut in 2007, I’ve had to check literally every time I write about it just where that blasted apostrophe goes. Is it cee’d, or ce’ed?

No more. As the third generation of the car hits the road, the apostrophe is gone, and so too is the lowercase spelling. The new badge proudly announces the car as the CEED, and I never need worry about it again.

What does it mean anyway? Well, this KIA was designed in Europe and is built in Europe for European customers and KIA says the name stands for Community Europe and European Design, which feels just a little contrived, but we’ll run with it.

The deleted apostrophe is not the only change for the better.

The Ceed (I’ll go upper and lower from now on!) still has the tigernose grille common to the entire KIA family, but some of the styling cues from the performance model, the Stinger, have migrated to this C-segment hatchback, including glossy black elements on the air intake. The shoulder lines have been flattened.

The window line on the previous model rose gently from front to rear, but now the baseline is perfectly horizontal, while the window shape loses the ovoid outline from the last generation and puts a half-moon shaped glasshouse there instead.

Also consigned to history is the three-door version of the Ceed.

Only the five-door hatch and wagon now will be offered, while a shooting brake version of the car will debut at the Paris Motor Show in October and go on sale towards the end of the year (it looks like it will be stunning in the metal).

The car comes in 12 colours, with Track Red being my favourite, though the Orange Fusion specific to the GT Line version is sure to be a headturner too. Depending on the trim level, it also comes with new ‘ice cube’ LED lights in front, while the indicator lights front and back also now are LEDs.

Perhaps the biggest leap forward, though, is in the interior, which has a sophisticated premium feel.

There’s a large floating infotainment screen (I’m not wild about them, and prefer them integrated in the fascia, but this one is less obtrusive than most) and all the controls for it, and for the air-conditioning, have been angled slightly towards the driver for more intuitive use.

Particularly tasty are the optional fabrics available for the seats and, unusually, you also can specify heated and ventilated rear seats as well as the two in front. It really is a very comfortable environment, and raises the bar for KIA.

Cargo space in the estate model also has been improved, from 528 litres to 625, second only in the segment to the Peugeot 308, though that car has less legroom in the rear as a consequence.

In fact, this actually is more space than you’ll find in many cars in the bigger saloon D segment, including the Opel Insignia, Ford Mondeo and Toyota Avensis.

The rear seats fold 40:20:40, with a load-through element, and optional rail system for the boot to keep smaller items in place.

The Ceed will go on sale here on the first of August, with four engine variants and four trim levels.

There’s the existing 1.0-litre 118hp petrol engine and new 138hp 1.4-litre diesel and 134hp 1.6-litre diesel too, and a new 138hp1.4-litre petrol version on the way too.

Pricing will start at €22,695 for the 1.0-litre petrol and €24,995 for the 1.6 diesel in K2 trim (16-inch alloys, halogen headlamps, leather wrapped steering wheel, cloth seats, seven-inch infotainment, Bluetooth connectivity and reversing camera).

K3 adds LED lamps front and rear, wireless phone charger, electric parking brake and half leather seats, with pricing at €24,295 and €26,595 respectively.

THE 1.0-litre K4 petrol version adds 17-inch alloys, eight-inch display, parking distance warning, auto temperature control and de-fogger, and Bluetooth with voice recognition for €25,695.

Finally, the top-of-the-range 1.4-litre petrol in K5 trim costs €28,595, and gives you those heated and ventilated seats, heated steering wheel, smart key and push button start, blind spot collision warning and other bits and bobs. Fuel consumption varies between 3.8 and six litres per 100km, and emissions between 99 and 137 grams per kilometre. A mild hybrid version will follow later.

As for driving it, well, I tested three of the variants in Portugal during the week, on track and in the mountains of the Algarve, and the 1.6 diesel is especially impressive, smooth, quiet and responsive.

On all versions, the handling feels a lot tauter than before, especially on the track at the Algarve International Circuit (it actually was a go-kart track, so full of tight twists and turns).

All in all, it feels like a car that has grown up a lot, not least by losing that maddeningly juvenile apostrophe!