Kia Procee’d 1.6 GDi SE Ecodynamics

Now that it’s run in, I’ve taken to stretching the Kia’s 1.6-litre petrol engine further along its very range, an activity it pursues smoothly but without much punch until you have the crank singing at a good 4000rpm or so. You then feel a little of the verve implied by the Procee’d’s lightly sporty demeanor, although a good everyday diesel will show it dust out of every bend. You have to work this car a bit to turn it speedy, and that inevitably has an impact on its fuel consumption, which has drifted downwards from 38.1mpg to 36.3mpg. Despite this, I reckon 40mpg is feasible if acceleration temptations are resisted; that isn’t bad for a petro-fired machine of this size.

Kia Procee’d

That target will be a little easier to reach if I avoid turning off the automatic stop-start system, which I’ve taken to doing lately in heavy traffic because it occasionally misbehaves with the odd failed restart. As mentioned in my first report, I’m planning to have this investigated once I’ve isolated what triggers it – there appears to be a pattern – but I haven’t done enough traffic miles since to deduce what prompts a silent starter motor.

This is the Kia’s sole glitch, in a car that’s notable not only for being robustly constructed – as you’d hope of a product with a seven-year warranty – but also for its pleasingly high standard of finish, from the flashes of piano black to the dashboard’s soft-feel textures. At least as satisfying is the Kia’s plentiful equipment list, which runs to a Bluetooth phone-pairing system that easily ingests my mobile’s contact list. It’s a challenge that frequently defeats the systems of other cars. Such details are necessities of modern motoring life, as is a sat-nav that’s easy to use and provides full postcode navigation, although I’ve yet to find a way of silencing its voice.

Kia Procee’d side

Unfortunately, there’s no way of silencing the Kia’s tire roar at speed, either – one of the few dynamic shortfalls of daily significance. It doesn’t bore into you like Porsche 911 surfing coarse asphalt, but there’s enough of a penetrating hum to have you toggling the stereo’s volume switch to hear speech at motorway speeds. Blame the Procee’d’s fashionably fat rubber for the intrusion. That same rubber provides reassuringly sticky grip through corners, however, and it’s matched to well damped body control that has an aura of sophistication to it. There’s accurate steering to complement it, although its assistance occasionally feels distinctly electronic. Unlike the road noise, however, this mild failing is easy to ignore.

Kia Procee’d back

It’s a car with very few rough edges, this Kia, although that’s true of many of its competitors. What sets this Procee’d apart is its style, its completeness and its quality. If you bought one, I’ve repeatedly found myself thinking, you’d feel that you’d made a particularly shrewd choice.