What's the news?

Kia's second generation cee'd goes on sale in about a week. Designed, engineered and built in Europe the Ford Focus rival offers more space, equipment and economy than before. It will be followed by SW (estate) and pro_cee'd (three-door) versions towards the end of the year.

Exterior

The cee'd has grown a little longer (by 50mm), but is slightly lower and narrower than its predecessor (10mm each). The body is more aerodynamic than before and Kia claims to have worked hard to ensure tight panel gaps and improvements in 'perceived quality'. Although not visible Kia says that the new body is 51% more rigid and attention has been paid to the door seals to cut out noise.

Interior

High quality materials are used for the interior along with damped sun visors, lidded cubby holes and red ambient lighting. The audio system is integrated with the dashboard and the head unit can store 600Mb of music data. There is more head-, leg- and shoulder room in the cabin and the 380-litre boot is claimed to be the largest in its class.

Mechanicals

Four engines are offered: two petrol and two diesel units in 1.4- and 1.6-litre capacities. Direct injection features on the 1.6 petrol, which develops 135hp and 164Nm. This engine can be ordered with Kia's first dual-clutch automated manual transmission. All 1.6-litre manual cee'ds come with stop-start to improve fuel efficiency.

Data

According to Kia's figures the 1.6 manual petrol model is the fastest accelerating with a 0-62mph time of 9.8 seconds; although the diesel version has a higher top speed (122- versus 118mph). The 1.6 diesel is also the most economical with 76.3mpg on the EU combined cycle and 97g/km CO₂ emissions (in base '1' trim - the 2, 3 and 4 grades use slightly more fuel but still sit in VED band A). Prices range from £14,395 to £23,595.

John Lambert - 23 May 2012