NEW PRO CEE'D*

The design cues of the new pro_cee’d mirror those of the five-door cee’d and cee’d Sportswagon, but a lower roofline along with a restyled tailgate are enough to make it a far more alluring car than the regular cee’d.

The pro_cee’d is the same width and length as the five-door cee’d but its roof is 40mm lower and nearly all of the body panels are different. It’s really only the headlights and a few other bits of front body structure that are shared with the regular cee’d. The changes add up to a big difference, making the pro_cee’d a surprisingly attractive car in the metal.

At the front, the pro_cee’d gets the ‘tiger nose’ grille also found on the cee’d, the new Carens and the new Picanto, together with large headlamp clusters housing LED daytime running lights.

Although it’s certainly not a performance car, the pro_cee’d is the sportiest model the Korean brand has produced so far.

Peter Schreyer, Kia’s Chief Design Officer and head of the company as a whole, has this to say: “You know from a single glance that this is a car you want to drive, not just own. Kia is on a distinctive design adventure and the all new pro-cee’d spearheads this forward-looking journey.”

Like the cee’d, it is available with an optional Flex Steer system that has three operating modes – comfort, normal and sport – allowing the driver to vary the level of steering assistance and the weight of feedback.

Engine line-up

The engine range is a straightforward choice between Kia’s 1.6-litre GDi petrol engine and its 1.6-litre CRDi turbodiesel. Both are fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, although a six-speed automatic transmission is available with the diesel engine if you plump for the top-level SE trim level.

We expect the diesel to be the most popular – it could well take sales from better-known brands.

The previous model had a good reliability record and that, added to low insurance and a frugal diesel engine, should keep running costs down. The only thing that might put buyers off is that Kia is still seen by some as a budget brand, which means that many will inevitably opt for a Volkswagen Golf, SEAT Leon or Ford Focus.

Can this stylish new pro_ceed take on the heavy hitters? Read on for our full Kia pro_cee’d review.