Test drive Kia Ced 2007 - 2009 hatchback

"Soviet man" on the test of European Kia

I was born in the Soviet Union and lived in this state all my childhood. Stereotypes live in me, and not all of them are useful. If you ask me to name the fruit, then I will say an apple, they will demand the river will say the Volga. And if someone asks the question of what you think about the Korean car, then I will answer cheap. And such an notorious person as I was entrusted with the Korean Kia Ced test, which is also collected in our Kaliningrad.
Of course, we are all used to the fact that Kia makes inexpensive machines that do not differ in honed handling, have a dubious design and a simple interior. And Korean cars were never considered prestigious. All this was well known to KIA leaders who decided to make a truly European car. And it seems that they did it. At least Ceed became the first Korean machine to earn five stars on the Crash tests of EURONCAP. And, in addition, Kia Ceed reached the final of the European contest car of the year-2008. He failed to win there (we recall, he celebrated the Italian Fiat 500), but the fact of getting into the final seven says a lot. After all, before, nothing like this happened to Korean models.
So what do we have? And we have a truly decent car. At least there are no complaints about his appearance. Ceed does not look like a traditional faceless Korean. If you remove all the nameplate from the car, it is unlikely that a specialist will realize that he is in front of him. See Ceed yourself beautiful, modern, and it can even be called stylish. Of course, capricious critics, which are always enough, will say that the design of the CEED is not so original and it is full of borrowings. This is so, but only partially. Moreover, if you think properly, then all claims to the appearance of CEED are largely related to the origin of the machine. Well, the people (including me) do not believe in the fact that Koreans can make a beautiful car, and that’s it.
The salon is what really allows you to put Kia Ced to one level with European analogues. One has only to say that the Koreans have never used a good soft (!) Plastic in this class in this class. Previously, only serious European companies spent money on this, and, say, Japanese golf class models are traditionally finished with tin. But in fact, the softness of the plastic is secondary. More importantly, the salon is made truly high quality, and sitting in the car you feel some thoroughness, which before all Korean cars were not enough. I liked the chairs that in their profile are no different from the seats installed on German cars. There are no questions for ergonomics, even the steering wheel is regulated in two planes! In general, sitting in CEED is convenient, all buttons are at hand, and the luggage volume is also quite decent for this class. Flaws? You can find them. The main claim to Ceeed applies to the fact that something is missing in it. There is no one of its chips, your style.
Under the hood of the car we tested, a new gasoline engine with a volume of 1.6 liters was hidden, which produces quite decent 122 hp. Moreover, this is not the only engine that is placed on the CEED sold in Russia. There are three more power units: 1.4 liters (110 hp), 2.0 l (143 hp) and even a 1.6-liter diesel (115 hp).
It would be stupid to expect a car with a 1.6-liter atmospheric unit of some fantastic dynamics. However, it was surprised that no complaints arose to the engine. When driving around the city, he did not annoy at all, but, believe me, in this case, this is the most positive characteristic. 122 horses are enough for driving around the city, and it is not even required to be especially promoted. The wheel of Kia Ced 1.6 can not be a particularly rapid motor to calmly overtake any some truck. Moreover, not only in the city, but also on the highway. Of course, on the highway after 120 km/h it feels that the motor is working with stress, but there is nothing to be done under the hood of 1.6 liters. Moreover, not only a machine with a 1.6-liter engine and mechanics looks worthy on the road, but also with an automatic machine that is almost not stupid. And I liked the fact that the engine works quite quietly and even with high speeds the sound from under the hood is not too annoying.
And what about handling, because Korean cars, unlike Europeans, have never been different in this exercise. KIA CEED also does not affect the ideal behavior on a winding path, but still it looks noticeably more advantageous than many other Corean machines. The main thing is that the controllability of CEED is confident. At high speed in the bend, the car tenaciously holds asphalt, the car moves without problems along its path. And not only on a perfectly flat highway, but also on an asphalt ordinary for Russia with small (at best) pits and joints. In general, not bad, very good, although you can complain that CEED lacks sports, it has no gambling character. Kia Ceed does not make the heart beaten when you are driving.
But in Kia they can answer this reproach with a smooth move. According to this indicator, Kia Ceed is better than many indigenous Europeans or Japanese. Moreover, the chassis KIA not only knows how to smooth out small pits. CEED calmly digesting the bedridden at a speed of about 60 km/h!
To be honest, it was very uncomfortable for me to write this article. On the one hand, the mind said that Kia Ced turned out to be a very decent car, but the unconscious was against the fact that the Korean competes on equal terms with Europeans. But we will rely on facts, and not on our complexes. So, the car is beautiful, comfortable, has a very worthy interior decoration, a rather quiet and powerful engine, and the suspension is also at the level. But it remains to find out the most important thing how much this car costs, and what competitors offer for this money.
We will immediately say the CEED equipment pleases. Even the simplest CEEDs with a 1.6-liter engine have six airbags (there is one equipment with a 1.4 liter engine and two pillows), ABS, electric package and air conditioning. Not bad at all! Moreover, if you want to save money (and the Koreans buyers in most cases do not like to spend extra money on the Pont), then you can dwell on the basic configuration called LX, because it already has everything you need. Unless it is better to pay an additional 20,000 rubles. For a package of options, consisting of cast discs, fog lights, heating seats and decorations of the steering wheel, gearbox pens and a handbrake lever.
The most modest 5-door hatchbacks with a 1.4-liter engine (110 hp) cost from 474,360 rubles. But attention should be paid to a car with a 1.6 liter engine (122 hp) in the LX version. It costs from 500 088 rubles. or $ 21,777, and CEED 1.6 LX with the above set of options will cost 519,384 rubles. A lot, quite a lot. But there is also a CEED with a 2.0-liter engine (143 hp) and even with a diesel engine of 1.6 liters (115 hp), which are even more expensive (the coolest CEED universals cost 652,484 rubles. $ 27 357).
Well, how much do competitors cost? Moreover, we will not consider simple Koreans now. We turn our eyes immediately to the Mazda3 popular with us. This car is in the back of the hatchback with a 1.6-liter engine with a capacity of 105 hp. and mechanics in the average set of Touring, which has no cast discs (our CEED has 520,000 rubles. They have), costs 527,000 rubles. A machine with a 2.0 -liter engine, 150 hp, will cost 608,000 rubles.
Opel Astra in a decent Cosmo configuration with a 1.6 liter engine (115 hp) costs 537,000 rubles. We also mention Peugeot 308. This very worthy Frenchman with a 120-horsepower engine of 1.6 liters costs from 498,000 p. (equipment for 524,000 p. Already exceeds CEED there is a 2-zone climate control and ESP).
This is where the main problem of evaluating CEED pops up, which prevents me from sleeping calmly. On the one hand, 500,000 520,000 rubles. For a Korean car, this is a lot. Well, I’m not used to the fact that the KIA car is almost as much as Europeans. Still, while the image of the Kia brand loses to European and Japanese manufacturers.
But the position of the heart should be recognized to demand low prices when Kia produced the cars that were simple as a drum, which in all respects lost to competitors. Now is another matter. Ceed is a completely adult car. Therefore, it costs almost as much as Mazda3, Opel Astra and many other decent models. And another ten years will pass and, believe me, it will come to the point that the price of KIA models will be equal to the leaders of the world auto industry. Indeed, at one time, the Japanese considered everyone cheap consumressure ... Yes, and the place of Koreans in the automobile hierarchy has someone to occupy the Chinese are almost ready to throw to the west.
 
D. Smolyanov
 

Source: Auto.mail.ru