Overview

The Kia Proceed (or the Kia pro_cee’d if you stick to Kia’s punctuation strategy) is a three-door, sportier looking version of the Ceed (or cee’d) hatchback. Together with the five-door hatch and the Sportswagon estate, it’s the third model in the second-generation Ceed line-up.

Read our first drive review of the 2019 Kia ProCeed shooting brake here

A three-door hatchback, it’s the sporty version but still highly affordable and aims to build on the success of the first Proceed. A low roofline, frugal engines, room for manoeuver on price and of course Kia’s seven-year warranty make this rakish hatchback an attractive proposition.

Sleeker looks

The design cues of the new Proceed mirror those of the five-door Ceed, but a lower roofline along with a restyled tailgate are enough to make it a far more alluring car than the regular model.

It’s the same width and length as the five-door but its roof is 40mm lower and nearly all of the body panels are different – it’s really only the headlights and a few other bits of front body structure that are shared with the regular car. The changes add up to a big difference, making the Proceed a genuinely attractive car in the metal.

At the front, the Proceed gets the so-called ‘tiger nose’ grille also found on the new Carens and the new Picanto, together with large headlamp clusters housing LED daytime running lights.

Bland driving experience

Although it’s certainly not a performance car, the Kia Proceed is one of the sportiest models Kia has yet produced. There’s also a hotted-up version, the Proceed GT with a powerful 1.6-litre turbocharged engine covered in a separate review, but if that’s too much there’s the 1-litre ecoTurbo engine and the GT Line trim introduced in 2015.

The driving experience doesn’t quite match those sleek looks; it’s safe and stable but rather uninvolving. For an engaging drive, you’d be better served by more established rivals such as the SEAT Leon SC, VW Golf or Ford Focus.