by Seán Creedon
Last year Kia did us all a big favour by dropping their infamous apostrophe for the new version of their Ceed.
The late Con Houlihan, who always said that you couldn’t trust anybody who would misplace an apostrophe, must be looking down with approval from ‘above,’ if there is somewhere higher than Lyrecompane, a place close to Con’s heart.
Now the Korean car company is really embracing European spelling by dropping the ‘underscore’ in the new version of their classy looking ProCeed.
This is the third version of the ProCeed, but in its first incarnation the name for the station wagon version of their Ceed looked like an e-mail address when it was called the pro_ceed.
This is a very long motor and Kia don’t call it a station wagon or estate, but a ‘Shooting Brake.’
Shooting Brake was a name traditionally reserved for a horse-drawn car and was later adopted by car companies like Mercedes to boost the appeal of some of their niche models.
Kia, who last year brought us their sporty-looking Stinger, are obviously intent on moving upmarket at every opportunity and rightly so.
In the second version of the ProCeed the car was transformed into a sporty and pacy looking motor, thanks to a roofline that was lowered by 40mm to give it a much sleeker look. Now the big change is that instead of two door diesel, you get a four-door classy looking car with a petrol engine.
The front has been restyled to align the car closer to the Stinger, while it’s a slightly longer that the Kia Ceed Sportswagon, but significantly lower.
The rear windows are sloped to give the car a coupé look. It’s lower, longer and sleeker than the Ceed five-door hatchback and Sportswagon.
This car was designed, developed, engineered and built in Europe and it really is a surprisingly long motor.
Naturally the boot is huge and there are different compartments in the boot to store various items. And the good news is that underneath also those storage areas is a proper spare wheel.
Only available in petrol, a 1.4-litre with 140 brake horse power. With GT-Line specifications, there are lots of extras like: Lane Keeping Assist (LKA), forward Collision Avoidance Assist (FCA) and Driver Attention Warning (DAW).
Inside the seats are very comfortable and my good wife who is the best judge of car seats in our house, was very happy with the comfortable front passenger seat.
I had no complaints either from the rear seat passengers, but I had to remind them to put on their seats belts as we got a ‘beeping sound’ if they didn’t buckle up.
The ProCeed is set low, which makes it very easy to load shopping and other items into that spacious boot. I liked it and so did all the family, but I did think that it might have been a little bit thirsty.
My test model came in infra-red colour and it certainly ‘stood out from the crowd’ in the supermarket car park. The other colours available are Blue Flame and Deluxe White.
Prices start at €28,945. Only available in petrol, a six speed manual. Road tax is €280.
And if you need reassurance it’s good to know that Kia is of course the home of the seven-year warranty.
