Cee'd of success

Jun 29 2009 Alistair Coull & Val Jessop

KIA designers perplex the visual senses with the estate version of its cee'd hatchback range. The estate is labelled SW (Station Wagon or Sports Wagon, you choose), but there's a bit of everything thrown into this European pretender.

It certainly looks chunkier and taller than it should for an estate - and its solid shape and demeanour even suggests some American DNA, viewed from certain angles.

But when you've surveyed the Korean load-lugger from every perspective more intently, it does look very European, with tendencies to the Germanic.

With Europe offering a tantalisingly lucrative market for medium sized estates, it's exactly what Kia hoped for: a European-looking estate with which to seduce the Brits and Continentals. It looks as though it could well suc-cee'd!

The Teutonic touches are hardly surprising, although the SW is built at the Zilina plant in Slovakia, it was designed in Germany.

Sporting a European nose and front, the SW is taller and longer than the hatchback version, but where it differs from the Euro-clone estates is at the back.

Designers have created a distinctive tailgate by extending the rear lights to the roof and integrating Z-shaped pillars and wraparound rear windows which morph into the tailgate's glass area.

The tailgate hinges are positioned as far into the roof as possible, which makes for a huge tailgate opening. It also means less room is needed to open the tailgate, so even if some idiot invades the SW's rear parking area, you're still likely to be able to access the boot.

The 1.6 petrol test car wasn't very athletic. It's not that it hasn't a decent amount of power, but it takes a time to get the SW to react. Once it musters the revs it has decent staying power.

The Korean felt less energetic than its 0-62mph official sprint of 11.1 seconds, but the SW made up for the lacklustre performance with good handling and the estate feels solid and reassuring.

Point it into corners even with the gas turned up and there is no drama. The Cee'd remains composed and the steering is light and made for relaxed driving.

The GS entry model, sadly, does not include stability control found in the higher-trimmed LS model.

Even so, the GS boasts 16-inch alloys, air-con, roof rails, central locking, electric front windows, CD player with MP3 compatibility and USB port with iPod connection.

The cabin looks and feels well-built and the fascia is neat and easy to engage with while, for the first time, Kia has swapped the indicator from the right side of the steering wheel, to the more orthodox left.

A smart, practical and spacious hold-all, the 119mph Cee'd has a combined fuel figure of 43.5mpg. With an industry-leading 'bumper to bumper' seven-year warranty, it's a hard package to beat.

- Val Jessop

THE cee'd has been a huge success since it was launched as a hatchback a couple of years ago. Built in Kia's factory in Slovakia, it's as well built as its mainstream European rivals. It's also the first Kia to really go beyond the cheap 'n' cheerful approach so it's not just its affordable price that makes it desirable.

Now Kia are challenging the compact estate market with the SW - or station wagon. It is a thoroughly practical small family car and it looks the part too, with its wide tailgate and roof rails. It's far from cutting-edge but its no-frills approach is quite appealing

The test car came with a 120bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine which runs out of steam on long inclines and lacks mid-range pull. It comes in two trim levels, GS and LS, and although it doesn't undercut its rivals by as much as ultra-cheap Kias of the past, you get a lot of equipment for the money, whichever version you choose.

The cee'd SW is obedient, utterly user-friendly - but in no way exciting to drive. The manual gearbox only has five gears but in a car like this, who needs a sixth gear?

With a seven-year warranty, Kia also has to be pretty confident about the car's engineering and build quality. Korean-built Kias have generally been mechanically reliable, if cheaply trimmed and sometimes shoddily-finished.

Those problems have been solved: the materials and plastics in the test car's cabin were of a decent standard, the plain design and black dashboard helping towards a more upmarket feel, and all the panels fitted neatly.

This is a car built to a price and there are some cost-cutting touches - but no worse than in many European rivals.

It's also worth remembering that the cee'd is low-tech in its electronic and electrical systems compared to competitors like the Renault Megane, Citroen C4 or Peugeot 308 and is more likely to be glitch-free. There's less to go wrong, and it's tried and tested technology.

The cabin is well laid-out, with easy-to-read dials and simple controls and a good driving position with excellent visibility all round.

The hatchback cee'd has a rather hard ride, but the SW is more softly-sprung, coping much better with poor road surfaces. The front seats are multi-adjustable and well-shaped and the cabin is roomy.

The rear seats split and fold, though to get them to fold completely flat, the seat-bases need to be tumbled forward, which can't be done if the front seats are pushed too far back. But they do the necessary, giving up to 1,664 litres of load capacity, and there are a couple of under-floor storage areas in the 545-litre boot.

- Alistair Coull

FAST FACTS

Kia Cee'd SW 1.6 GS 5dr

Price: £13,545

Mechanical: 120bhp, 1,591cc, 4cyl petrol engine driving front wheels via 5-speed manual gearbox

Max speed: 119mph

0-62mph: 11.1 seconds

Combined mpg: 43.5

Insurance group: 6

CO2 emissions: 154g/km

BIK rating: 16%

Warranty: 7yrs/ 100,000 miles