Kia’s new arrival is an XCeedingly good addition to an already superb line-up of incredible cars
Mr Kipling makes exceedingly good cakes. Kia makes exceedingly good cars – so much so, they have named their latest model the XCeed.
It joins the Ceed range as the fourth car in the line-up and in the launch colour of Quantum Yellow looks not unl ike the golden shade of Mr Kipling’s rather good Battenberg cake. Sadly, there is no pink that would complete the theme.
Stylish and built for the city, the XCeed continues Kia’s almost faultless assault on the car market, creating yet another well made and good-looking car.
The First Edition launch model is the top of the range and even with every system and feature flung into it, it still comes in at less than £30,000 with the firm’s seven year warranty.
Kia’s European vice president of design, Gregory Guillaume, has flattened out the grille on this car so it no longer has the tiger nose that Peter Schreyer made famous and which came to signal the new bold and adventurous direction being taken by the Korean manufacturer.
For truth is, they do not need this signifier any more. This is a new confident Kia buoyed by the almost 100 per cent positive reaction they get to each new car that appears on the forecourts.
Models like Sportage and Sorento have already become UK classics. The XCeed is likely to follow in their wheel ruts.
It is a sporty car with a long nose and attractive headlights. There is a lower air intake at the front, then the lines sweep back to a rear hatch with an integrated spoiler and a skid plate te emphasising the sportiness.
The First
Edition comes with a panoramic c tilting roof and electric ctric blinds. There is a sportyorty antenna, sleek roof bar and iin thithis model,dl ththe whole lot sits on 18in alloys.
Inside, Mr Kipling would be even more full of superlatives. Developed in Europe for Europe, the XCeed features body coloured interior touches on the vents and doors, there is yellow stitching on the cloth and faux leather seats and this is coupled with alloy sport pedals and a leather clad steeringstee wheel andan gearstick. TheT effect is sensational.sen ThisThi XCeed has not sacrisacrificed style for substance eitheither.
It isi theth mostthihigh-httechh car yet with Kia’s new UVO Connect onboard, which lets you monitor all the car’s systems from your smartphone and even prepare your car by remotely heating it from your home. The system also delivers live traffic information, weather forecasts, points of interest in the area in which you are driving and the location of your car should you – as I have in the past – forgotten where you’ve parked it.
The First Edition comes with either a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine and a six-speed manual gearbox, or you can specify it as a seven-speed automatic – which I loved.
It was smooth, alert and responsive – just what you need for exceedingly good city driving or forays into the country for some exceedingly good blasts around the heather.