• Solid build quality and lots of standard equipment
• Design lacks a little flair
• Ergonomically excellent

How is the quality and layout?

The Kia Proceed’s interior doesn’t exhibit the same sense of style as its exterior. This is actually quite good news, as it’s nearly identical to the standard car’s – a model of common sense and clarity.

The instrument panel in particular is superbly easy to read, with a large speedometer and rev counter flanking a clear information panel. All text is high-contrast white on black, making it easy to see what you’re looking for at a glance.

Ventilation and climate controls are easy to operate and fall close to hand, and unlike some manufacturers Kia’s resisted the temptation to put them on a touchscreen – they’re all physical buttons. The touchscreen interface itself is fitted to all Kia vehicles, and it too is very clear to operate, albeit slightly dated-looking. It does offer both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, however, so if you’re not a fan of the standard interface it’s very easy to replace it with something a little more smartphone-friendly.

Infotainment and tech

The Proceed has Kia’s latest connected infotainment software. The thing to write home about is the app – called UVO. It’ll tell you the usual stuff, like if your doors are locked or if you have a flat tyre, but Kia has engineered something beyond the car into it too – and it involves augmented reality navigation.

When you get to your destination, the app offers you two options – continue via Google Maps, or via augmented reality. Choose the latter and the app uses your phone’s camera to show you where to go in real time. It works well and is really easy to use.

It’s especially helpful as lots of European cities, like London and Barcelona, continue to pedestrianise built-up areas.

Comfort

• Easily-adjustable driving position
• Comfortable and supportive seats
• Ride comfort suffers a little with larger wheels

The ProCeed sits lower than the regular Ceed, and is also fitted with larger wheels as standard. Both of these items have a detrimental impact on ride quality, especially around potholed roads in town where the ProCeed can feel a little brittle over bumps.

It settles down to an excellent motorway cruiser, however – that slinky bodyshell also improves refinement by cutting down on wind noise.

Worth a mention are the seats, especially on top-spec GT models. They’re not quite as body-hugging as you’d find in a full-blown hot hatchback such as the Hyundai i30 Fastback N, but they’re still very supportive and comfortable. Electrical adjustment on some models makes getting comfortable even easier, and there’s lots of reach and rake adjustment to the steering wheel, too.