Kia XCeed drive by Steve Rogers
Safety aids are part and parcel of modern cars and
barely noticed.... until they save your bacon.
Here is one such tale. I was side parked in a quiet
street in the French city of Reims preparing to reverse. I thought the street
was one way and started my move once a car in the opposite lane had passed. At
that point the car emergency braked coming to a dead stop. In my mirror I
watched a car cruise by so without cross traffic alert I would have broadsided
that car.
Of all the collision stoppers this is the most useful.
Drivers should be able to react to what is going on in front, but behind can be
a different story and here it came to my rescue.
Suffice to say XCeed is well off for collision warning
features.
What of the car? It was launched three years ago as an
extra to the Ceed range and is a half hearted nod to an SUV on the basis that
the suspension has been raised so it sits a little higher and comes with body
armour bumpers, wheel arches and roof rails. It is also more expensive than the
standard Ceed.
Asked back in 2019 was the model really needed a Kia
executive replied: “We don’t build cars people don’t want.” He got that right
because XCeed, which had a mild update this year, now accounts for 50 per cent
of Ceed sales, helping the range to third in the sales table behind Sportage
and Niro.
Apart from the higher ride height and slightly longer
body this is just a variation on the theme and shares everything that is good
about the Ceed. Plug in hybrid has been introduced with a 1.6 litre engine but
my test car was the tried and trusted 1.5 litre petrol turbo. It’s zippy,
without the adrenalin rush of a hot hatch, but proved to be surprisingly
economical returning 49.9mpg over the best part of a 1000 miles and was
regularly in the low fifties cruising the long, quiet French roads.
I should say this is a user friendly car for driving
in Europe because the headlights will not dazzle drivers so there is no need
for those stick on deflectors, and the digital speed display in the driver’s
binnacle can be quickly switched to kilometres.
You get a good feel for a car on a long drive and my
impression was that someone with a clear vision has looked at the dashboard and
said ‘how can I make this as user friendly as possible’ and has smashed it.
The driver display is crystal clear, steering wheel
buttons easy to master, there is even a switch to knock off the lane departure
warning. On most cars you have to scroll through menus on a touchscreen.
Annoying.
The large central touchscreen is supplemented by
clearly marked quick keys along with a perfectly laid out physical display for
the heating controls. You could do worse than make this the perfect model for
all cars.
XCeed is easy rather than exhilarating to drive, it
handles well enough without too much body roll and is comfortable, coping with
just about everything our roads throw at us. My only issue was with the clutch
balance which neither my wife nor I could manage smoothly pulling away in first
gear.
XCeed is a decent sized family car, a small increase
in length adding a few more litres to the boot space while doing nothing for
back seat legroom which is no better than average.
Kia cars are always generously equipped and if you go
all out with the GT-Line S you are well catered for right down to heated outer
rear seats and powered tailgate.
Is it worth spending the extra for an XCeed? Probably
not because you can get everything, bar the bling, on a comparable Ceed, but 50
per cent of Ceed owners think differently.
Nothing much to dislike then but if I was to be picky
I look at the stunning Sportage and EV models and ask isn’t it time the ageing
Ceed family got some of that razor sharp styling?
Fast facts
XCeed GT-Line S
£30,395 starts £22,995
1.5 T-GDi 158bhp; 6sp manual
0-62mph 8.7secs; 129mph
44.8mpg combined
143g/km. 1st tax £230
Insurance group 17
Boot 426-1378 litres
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