As a small family car, the Kia Ceed came out in 2006. It was exclusively released in Europe to replace the Kia Spectra and is available in three body styles: five-door hatchback, five-door station wagon, and three-door hatchback. In line with being released just for the European market, the Ceed is also the first car from the South Korean car manufacturer Kia to be designed and built in Europe. This is also the reason the car is named as such, a reference that uses the European Economic Community’s initials plus ‘ED’ for European Design. The European Economic Community is referred to as CEE in some areas and that’s what Kia used in this case. The extra ‘E’ in the name was simply dropped to make it more sensible.

Pros

The Kia Ceed is undoubtedly one of the best from the South Korean car manufacturer, taking a huge step away from the usual line of undercutting competitors to gain advantage that Kia has done for so many years. Today, the Ceed is stylish, even more compared to the Hyundai i30 that shares the same platform with it and other vehicles in the same class. To show that Ceed is serious about taking on rivals, it is also priced at a range towards the top of its class and yet Kia expects to sell tons more than they have ever done before.

But Kia doesn’t stop to impress on the outside. Inside, the Ceed is just as remarkable. There’s real quality in every inch of the interiors and you can expect soft leathers, luxurious textures, chrome fillets, and the classiest TFT dials in top-of-the-range models. Lesser trims will, of course, be less stunning but they are no lesser proofs of the quality that Kia has committed to in making the Ceed.  Add in spaciousness (SW boot capacity is at 528 litres which expands to more than triple that number when seats are down) and the Ceed becomes a real contender in its segment.

A car is meant to take you places and go places you will when you have a Ceed because it’s incredibly fuel efficient. Fuel economy is rated at 68.9mpg for the 1.6-litre 126bhp CRDi, for starters. This number gets bumped up to 76.3mpg when you’re on EcoDynamics form. Carbon dioxide emissions are also impressive at 109g/km (97g/km under EcoDynamics mode) so the Ceed may be a good consideration if you’re looking for a company car.

If you’re looking for a car that’s quiet and just comfortable enough, spacious, and practical, the Ceed should be a good fit for you.

Cons

While offering 1.4- and 1.6-litre engines on both petrol and diesel looks like the Kia Ceed has its bases covered, performance is average unless you get one of the range-toppers. Even the 1.6-litre CRDi with 126bhp is modest on the road.

It’s truly a great big step for Kia to come out with the Ceed, but it’s still not up to par with some of its rivals in Europe. For one, its multi-link rear suspension still needs some fine-tuning. Its 17-inch wheels also don’t offer much comfort and going for the 16-inch alternative won’t do you much good either.

The history of the Kia Pro Cee’d is quite interesting. This visually striking 3-door car evolved from the Kia Cee’d, Kia Motors’ first European made car and only available for Europeans. The Cee’d was designed in Frankfurt by a team headed by Miklos Kovác and manufactured at the Teplička nad Váhom, Slovakia factory of Kia. It was originally introduced to the European market in December of 2006. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Kia got the European Economic Community’s acronym EEC (CEE)  and included ED to denote its European design.

The Kia Pro Cee’d made its debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show of 2007 and was made available to the European market in 2008. The Pro Cee’d is the 3^rd model of Kia’s 2^nd generation line up of Cee’d automobiles. The sportier, but quite affordable model will be on sale to UK buyers spring this year, 2013.

Kia’s move from the five-door hatchback to this sporty looking Cee’d model is the Korean company’s response to the style-conscious bent of the European market. Kia’s closest rival for this new 3- door model of Cee’d is the Hyundai Veloster, Vauxhall Astra sport, the Volkswagen Golf and the Volkswagen Sirocco. All share the sportier look of a three-door hatchback.