Kia ProCeed 1.6 CRDi GT-Line
By Tim Saunders
Estate cars are passé. Look around, there are shooting brakes everywhere.
This term is used for estates that resemble more of a coupe in terms of style and panache.
The latest such offering is the ProCeed GT Line from Kia, an elegant and eye-catching design for sure. There’s room inside for five adults and there’s a nice large boot, which swallows the Friday night food shopping with ease.
“Proceed with care,” laughs eldest daughter Harriett (8) – she’s a clever little rascal. Her comment does make me question, though where do these car names come from? Type Ceed into Google and beside the Kia link there is one to the Common Entrance Exam for Design. I’m not even 100% sure how to pronounce this name. Now if we were talking Seed I would know where I stand and it could relate to anything from gardening to tennis.
It is laden with goodies such as a heated steering wheel and heated front seats as well as all the usual electric windows and power folding heated wing mirrors.
The engine stop start in this car is extremely reliable, which makes for quite a surprise for me. Usually I find that this technology is wholly unreliable in the majority of vehicles I drive.
While there is a cruise control, it’s a standard version rather than the more sophisticated type that automatically slows or accelerates the vehicle. This means that it cannot be relied upon to stick rigidly to speed limits and if a gear change takes place the cruise control has to be reset. However, there is also a speed limiter and this should prevent speeds being exceeded.
Externally it scores well, the rear is particularly attractive with hints of Porsche about it.
Inside, the leather seats are relatively comfortable. Both Harriett and I find that there’s a bit of a curve in the seats where we would prefer straight backs.
Push the start button and there is a little welcome tune that I find irritating and Caroline says, “Ah, it sounds like the washing machine.” Is this really what Kia wants to achieve?
The driving position is good and the six speed manual gearbox is pretty smooth. This particular vehicle only has a couple of thousand miles on the clock and so the brakes haven’t been bedded in properly yet meaning that stopping can be a little jerky on occasions much as I try to be as gentle as I can.
I take it for a run to London on what is usually a quiet and non eventful Sunday. Not so this time round. It’s worse than Friday night rush hour, probably a combination of Extinction Rebellion, roadworks and half-term.
After enduring the 50mph speed restriction on the M27 we crawl onto the M3 where for a brief period we make it to 70mph. The 1.6 diesel unit is both gutsy and reasonably frugal. In time the traffic halts and it’s like a car park. We are using the sat nav, which seems fairly reliable and even alerts us to the slowdown asking if we would like a detour. Caroline refuses. I think it could have helped us. Anyway to save the peace I give in and sit in the queue.
We discover that on the other side of the motorway no less than eight cars have crashed into each other and that two cars on our side of the motorway seem to have crashed as a result of watching the misfortunes on the other side. Some nice new cars written off. This doesn’t surprise me though. I see countless motorists looking at their mobile phones as they drive. Add to this noisy children and the bleeps that cars like this Kia make. It is unnecessary that when I move between lanes the Kia beeps to warn me that I have gone over the white line. Now come on, I am not an imbecile who can’t drive. I’m not straying over the line because I’m inebriated or tired. Is this really necessary? No, it isn’t. There is a lot to be said for peace and solitude when behind the wheel, a haven to concentrate. And this is the key, motorists must concentrate 110% when they’re behind the wheel. They are driving a killing machine and manufacturers must assist them to do so safely.
It takes us the best part of three hours to reach the capital, from Hampshire, around an 80 mile journey. Thankfully we arrive in once piece and spend a few hours with Caroline’s uncle at his care home in Kensington.
The return journey highlights another issue for me. While the Kia has automatic headlight control the headlights do not automatically come on when it gets dark and so I have to do it manually.
Returning home I reverse down the driveway with ease thanks to the reversing camera.
