MOTORING SEPTEMBER - Kia ProCeed GT Line + Aston Martin

Best described as “stunning” the Aston Martin DB 12 Volante was literally ‘uncovered’ to Europe at Salon Prive, Blenheim, on Wednesday 30 August.  Just two weeks earlier it had been revealed at Monterey Car Week in California.  Get in the queue if you have a spare £200,000.

Developed in parallel with the DB12 coupé, the convertible model benefits from Aston Martin’s focus on structural stiffness of the car’s underpinnings, in a bid to enhance refinement and driver engagement.  Buyers can choose from black, red, blue or “Black and Silver” for the fabric of the roof. Aston says that the sleek rear of the DB12 Volante “puts the lumpen efforts of package-compromised rivals to shame”.  SEE BELOW


George Loveridge - Driving Around for Travel News Update. 

We are currently in a time filled with hybrids and electric vehicles. Existing models from manufacturers are being stripped of their internal combustion engines in favour of electric platforms. Kia, however, has decided to keep the Ceed lineup filled up with petrol, for now anyway. Let’s take a look at the best-looking of the bunch.

The Ceed has been around since 2006 and has always been a sub-standard compact family hatchback. Notably, the Ceed featured on BBC’s Top Gear as their ‘reasonably priced car’ and was often mocked. Now though, Kia has a brace of Ceed models under their belt. The trio consist of the Ceed, XCeed, and Proceed. Ultimately, they are all very similar mechanically, but all appeal to different people. The Proceed then is what appeals to me at least!

Here we have a baby estate car or shooting-brake. It sits on the same chassis as the standard Ceed but has this beautifully curvy rear end instead. At just 1.4 tonnes it is admirably proportioned. You get body-coloured bumpers, side mouldings and spoilers. After all, this is the GT-Line! Arguably, the focus point is this car’s rear end, what with its full-width LED tail light, privacy glass and integrated combination lights. However, there are other welcome additions to the exterior of the ProCeed. The front features a narrow top grille, accompanied by a lower grille which takes up most part of the front end. Along with LED headlamps and Kia’s new logo, it does look very smart and aggressive especially in this shade of Phantom Black. This GT-Line version also benefits from 18-inch alloy wheels which fill the arches nicely.

The ProCeed’s best attribute from the outside is its biggest downfall from the inside. Such a harsh roofline does impact overall headroom inside. Nevertheless, myself at 6ft tall found it very comfortable behind the wheel, but less so with the headroom, which was minimal. Plenty of space in the rear.

Being a top-of-the-range Kia, the ProCeed is very well equipped with Kia’s, Hyundai’s and Genesis’ latest infotainment system which just does the job so fantastically well without kicking up a fuss. Offering a panoramic roof, dual zone climate control, heated and ventilated seats you have a grand feeling with such a sophisticated system in a sub £35,000 hatchback.  It’s the same as the £60,000 EV6 Kia or £90,000 Genesis.

From behind the wheel, you get access to a leather sports GT-Line steering wheel which feels great to use. The wheel itself is not cluttered with buttons unlike on other models. Furthermore, the gearshift paddles sit behind the wheel and fall in a comfortable position for operation. You also get the option to change gears with an automatic gear shifter located in the centre console. Speaking of which, the overall design is very sensible and well thought out. A wireless charging ‘bay’ houses your phone, with room spare for USB and USB-C ports. Moreover, you still get a 12V power supply.  A central arm rest intrudes the handbrake somewhat, but this is less of an issue in an automatic.  The rear passengers benefit from the USB and hugging heated half-leather, half-cloth seats.

As a drive, the ProCeed does stand out. It isn’t exciting, but it is certainly enjoyable. The 1.5 litre 158bhp engine makes a nice enough noise and does get a shift on when you ask it to in sport mode. With the addition of a 7-speed DCT gearbox, changes are scarily unnoticeable when you’re doing normal driving. However, there is a slight delay when operating the paddles, most likely a signal ‘error’ rather than the gearbox itself.

Torgue is plenty with 253Nn available from the petrol unit, and does give confidence to load the car up should you require it. You also get typical front wheel drive handling characteristics, which means that you can chuck it into a bend and see it through right until the end without worrying about what the rear end is doing. Understeer could be persuaded if trying too hard.

Overall, the ProCeed GT-Line offers an exciting drive with welcome convenience.

If you are a family man/woman and like something you can drive spiritedly, then this could be for you.

If you’re just after a reliable good-looking workhorse, then the 594-litre boot is fine, and with the back seat down grows to 1,545-litre.

There are just a few sticking points if you look carefully.

The interior boasts an 8-speaker surround sound JBL system, which left a lot to be desired. Also, on a car badged as ‘GT’, can we at least have real exhausts rather than a fake plastic diffuser? With aluminium pedals, bucket seats and flappy paddles, it would really be nice to have actual exhausts as the latter just confuses the identity of the car. With that said, you could easily adapt to ProCeed life, especially with Kia’s legendary 7-year warranty.

Price as tested: £32,270
Lead in price: £21,420
Average fuel consumption:  53.3mpg
Range (fuel):  585 Miles
Engine size: 1.5 Litres
0-60: 8.8 Seconds

Performance 8
Handling 7
Transmission 7
Noise 9
Economy 9
Ride and Comfort 8
Accommodation 9
Styling 10
Brakes 9
Finish 10

TOTAL =86%

www.kia.com/uk/new-cars/proceed

Index/Home page
 

READERS' COMMENT

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 200 words maximum

No one has commented yet, why don't you start the ball rolling?