Kia reckons it has spied an opportunity with the new Ceed SW, its first estate car that follows the well-received five-door hatchback – while the market for the latter is pretty crowded, not that many manufacturers have ventured into the lower medium estate sector.
Rivals include estate versions of Ford’s Focus, the Vauxhall Astra and Peugeot’s 307. Of those the Ceed has a significantly bigger boot than the Focus – both rear seats up and seats folded flat – and is a larger and more practical than you’d expect a sub-£15,000 car to be. Kia has also engineered in some useful storage bins for smaller items underneath the boot floor.
A 1.6-litre petrol and two 1.6 diesels are available. The 120PS petrol is the weakest, needing to be.
