Kia Proceed (08 on) - Review

For a car with sporting aspirations it's a surprise to find a 1.4-litre engine in the line-up. With just 104bhp it struggles to provide meaningful pace and can get noisy when worked hard - which it invariably needs to be. The other petrol is a 1.6-litre with 124bhp - it's quiet and smooth but like the 1.4-litre lacks pulling power and is more suited to relaxed cruising rather than back road blasts. The diesel range is more impressive - there's a 1.6 CRDi available in two outputs and a range-topping 2.0 CRDi. The smaller unit has a standard output of 89bhp but a higher power 113bhp version can be specified. This is a lively, easy-spinning unit that delivers power in a smooth, refined manner for effortless progress. It's economical too averaging 59mpg and emits 119g/km of CO2 (when fitted with the standard 16-inch alloy wheels), so road tax is cheap. The range-topping model is the 2.0 CRDi which is only available in Sport trim. Producing 138bhp it has a punchy nature and performs strongly too with a 0-62mph time of 10.1 seconds plus this is the only model to get a six-speed gearbox (the rest make do with a five-speed).

The Proceed may look more sporty than the standard five-door Ceed but both cars feel the same from behind the wheel. That means the Proceed is an easy and relaxing car to drive, but not particularly exciting. The steering is nicely weighted and there's good grip too. Unfortunately body control could be better and it doesn't feel quite as agile or sure-footed as you'd expect a sporty-looking three-door hatch to be. The gearchange of both the five and six-speed gearboxes is a little disappointing too. It feels woolly and on the diesels there can be a slight turbo lag between changes which is frustrating in town driving or on twistier roads