Would I buy this car? Yes! Yes! Yes!
I know I started this review with the question I have to answer at the end, but I would really buy this car. Why? Let’s talk about it!
The looks … it’s like a mini Porsche Panamera and it happened once or twice while I was testing the car that people said the following on the street - “Look, a Panamera!". But no, it is not a Panamera, it’s a Kia ProCeed that looks absolutely brilliant! To be honest, I don’t think that there is something I would change. For me, the car looks perfect just the way it is right now. Especially the white color with red accents, they are perfect (for my taste).
Because the back of the car is the one that is creating a lot of fuss, I’ll start with it. From the beginning you’ll notice that the rear window is inclined a lot and that eats quite a lot of space from the trunk, but it looks better than the Kia Ceed SW. Then you’ll notice the light bar that travels from one side to another, which looks really good, but I don’t really understand why is it broken in the middle and not continuous?! Whatever, because the taillights look awesome (which by the way, comes in Full LED as standard)! The exhausts, they’re not completely fake, but kind of fake. The big chromed ornament is not connected with the exhaust pipe, but it’s not a fake ornament because if you put your hand inside, you’ll find the pipe.
On the side of the car the first thing you’ll notice is the side skirt with a red line that makes the car look really sporty, but then you’ll notice the 18 inch wheels that look really nice with a red center cap.
As for the front of the car, the very first thing you’ll notice is that the car is way more aggressive than the normal CEED - the bumper has a red line at the bottom and there’s a big GT logo on the front grille. Also, there’s something special about the front grille. The back of the grille is painted in red, so when you look at it from the side, it gives the grille a kind of 3D effect. Loved it! The headlights are not very different from a normal CEED, but these ones were full LED lights.
Moving to engines and performance, there’s only one engine available for the ProCeed GT – the 1.6 T-GDi which is a petrol engine with turbo that produces 204 HP and 265 NM of torque. As for the gearbox, there are 2 options available on this engine, a 6 speed manual transmission and a 7 speed Dual Clutch Transmission (7DCT – Automatic). The car we tested had the 6 speed manual, which was great and easy to shift, but I would choose the automatic any day of the week.
There are 3 more engines available for the normal ProCeed – 1.0 T-GDi with a 6 speed manual gearbox that will produce 120 HP with 172 NM. The other 2 options are both available with a 6 speed manual or 7 speed dual clutch transmission (7DCT – Automatic). The engines are 1.4 T-GDi which is a petrol turbo that produces 140 HP with 242 NM and the diesel version is a 1.6 DSL turbo diesel with 136 HP and 320 NM. As a suggestion, don’t buy the 1.0 T-GDi, but one of the other 3 versions available, 1.4 T-GDi, 1.6 T-GDi or the 1.6 Diesel. If you want the 1.0 T-GDi, but the Kia Rio.
Even though this is a sporty car, the ride quality is really impressive. In Cluj, one of the main roads in the city has a portion of a couple hundred meters that is really bumpy. As it is on one of the main roads, I drove on that part of the road for more than 10 times with the ProCeed and let me tell you that the car feels really well built and comfortable. The seats have plenty of lateral support, lumbar support and quite a lot of foam which makes them comfortable and nice to sit in.
The steering wheel is not too big nor too small, so for me it was the perfect size and enough grip and great feeling due to the perforated leather on the sides of the wheel. It also looks nice and the GT logo at the bottom gives you a special feeling. As for the buttons, in my opinion they are good enough. You can control the screen from the cluster, the media and some of the safety features. The rest of the buttons for safety features, such as electronic stability or Lane Keep Assist are on the left side of the steering wheel, located on the dashboard.
This car came equipped with quite a lot of options, such as heated seats, 8-inch infotainment screen with the upgraded JBL sound system, Apple CarPlay and Android auto (didn’t try the Android Auto), Bluetooth, dual climate zone, automated parking and a special SPORT button that makes the throttle more responsive and the exhaust sound more sporty with pops and bangs. The only feature I didn’t like was the stick on the right side of the driver with some numbers on it. I would prefer the PRND stick.
Continuing with the interior, the overall quality is really good for this price range and you won’t find cheap plastics where you usually touch the inside of the car. The panoramic sunroof looks really nice and it is pretty big, even though the opening is not so big, but it is ok.
Room in the front is really good, if you’re not a tall person. The seat sits pretty high and if you have the optional panoramic roof, it eats a lot into the head room, so you might have some issues. Room in the back is decent and I had some people climb in the back and they were comfortable. Also the trunk size is pretty good for this type of car with 594 liters.
3 things I really like about the ProCeed GT:
-
The design of the car, especially the back of it. Really good job, Kia!
-
The ride is really comfortable and didn’t sacrifice too much of the handling.
-
It comes as standard packed with a lot of features (18 inch wheels, Full LED Lights, high beam assistance, forward collision avoidance assist, automatic parking assist, lane keep assist, driver attention alert, rear view camera and many more)
3 things I really don’t like about the ProCeed GT:
-
The visibility through the back window is really bad because of the design. I didn’t like that, but I can’t complain too much because I like the design of the car.
-
The front seats being too high in the lowest position.
-
It suffers from Rev Hang - rev hang is when the engine speed doesn’t immediately drop once the clutch is actuated, and instead descends very slowly, as if there were some form of restriction. (info from here)
If you’re interested in the regular Kia Ceed, you can find our review here.
Would I get this car? As said at the beginning, definitely yes. I might need a roof rack because we travel with a lot of luggage, but yes, I want this car.
Price of the tested model: ~28.500 Euros (VAT Included)
Engine and Gearbox: 1.6 T-GDi turbo petrol unit with 204 HP and 265 NM + 6 speed manual gearbox.
Thank you Kia Cluj for lending us the car!
Photos by: Clau Morar
Comments