Kia Ceed Review & Prices

The Kia Ceed is the bowl of Corn Flakes of family hatchbacks. Sure, it’s predictable and lacks the chocolate or sugary garnish of some rivals, but it’s tasty, simple, and satisfying. It may not be the most thrilling family hatchback you can buy, but it excels at the solidly sensible family stuff.

On the outside, the Ceed has been mildly upgraded with slightly sharper styling front and rear (which BMW seems to have copied wholesale for the new 1 Series…) while inside there’s an impressive new 10.0-inch touchscreen, which replaces the previous — vaguely disappointing — 8.0-inch screen that previously sat there. Elsewhere in the cabin, there are plenty of soft-touch plastics and high-quality trim. 

The front seats are decent, with plenty of adjustment for tall drivers so everyone should be able to get comfy and there is electric seat adjustment for the top-spec GT-Line S model. Lumbar support, on all models, should keep back ache at bay. 

The rear seats are pretty much as impressive. Space in the back is darn near as good as you get up front, so tall rear seat passengers can sit behind similarly sized people up front. Better yet, the floor is almost flat and the back seat reasonably wide, so it’s possible to get three adults sitting in the back. Even so, a Volkswagen Golf is fractionally more roomy inside. 

However, the Ceed beats the Golf for boot space, with 395 litres of luggage room, which is more than most rivals can offer. The boot floor adjusts up and down too, so you can eliminate the loading lip at the edge of the boot, making it easier to load bulky, heavy items. 

Fold down the back seats and there’s loads of space, sufficient to squeeze in a bicycle if the front wheel is popped off. It’s just a shame that, when you’ve folded down the back seats, there’s nowhere to stow the luggage cover, so that has to be left at home. Or at IKEA…

Kia has trimmed down the Ceed’s engine lineup so that now there’s only a 1.5-litre turbo petrol four-cylinder motor. That’s fine, as it has plenty of power — more so than you get in a basic Ford Focus or Golf — so merging with traffic is easy. 

The engine is also refined at higher speeds, and the standard six-speed manual gearbox shifts smoothly and easily, partly thanks to a nice, light clutch pedal. Fuel economy is good too, and emissions aren’t bad so running costs won’t be crippling. 

The steering is equally light, and that and the good view out make the Ceed a good companion for in-town driving, while the suspension does a good job of making the usual urban lumps and bumps seem far away. 

At motorway speeds, wind noise — mostly around the door mirrors — and road noise do pick up quite a bit, so the Ceed isn’t as refined as it should be, but even the most basic model comes with cruise control and a speed limiter. Higher-spec versions get radar-guided cruise control. 

On a twisty road, the Ceed lags behind the likes of the Ford Focus and Mazda 3 when it comes to driver enjoyment — the GT-Line specification is a badge, not a statement of sporty intent — but there are plenty of safety add-ons including automatic emergency braking and an active speed limiter, which are particularly reassuring for a family car. 

If you’re looking for a safe, well-equipped and comfortable family car and aren’t too fussed about fancy badges or sporty handling, the Kia Ceed makes an excellent choice. To find out how much you could save, check out the latest Kia Ceed deals as well as prices for used Ceeds. You can also check out other used Kias, and sell your current car through Carwow, too.

Kia has always been a brand built on value for money, and while that might have been stretched a bit by expensive electric models such as the EV6 and EV9, the Ceed is still capable of showing some almost shocking price advantages. 

A basic — but still well-equipped — Ceed costs almost £7,000 less than the cheapest Ford Focus, and there’s a similar gap to the VW Golf, in spite of the Ceed having a more powerful engine as standard, and a bigger boot. 

Actually, there are only two similarly-sized hatchback models that can match the Ceed for price. The Hyundai i30 is, unsurprisingly seeing as the two cars are basically the same under the skin, similar in price, but so too is the Skoda Scala, which isn’t as well-equipped in the cabin, but which has an even bigger boot than the Ceed’s. 

The Kia Ceed is comfortable, speedy enough, and easy around town, but there’s too much tyre noise on the motorway

In town

If you spend most of your time taxi-ing the kids between after-school activities or commuting to work through treacly traffic, the Kia Ceed is a great companion. For starters, its turning circle is one of the tightest in this class of family hatchback.

If you don’t think that’s important, wait till you need to turn right at a mini roundabout and you’ll soon find out what a valuable asset this is. It just makes city driving so much easier when you know you’re not going to catch a kerb or scuff one of those expensive-to-fix alloy wheels.

The rest of the Kia’s controls are light and just as much on your side. The clutch pedal doesn’t ask much of your leg muscles, while the six-speed manual gearbox has a simple, undemanding shift. It’s a shame there isn’t an automatic gearbox option for the Ceed hatch, though, as that would make it almost unbeatable in town.

Even so, there’s good all-round vision for the driver and the door mirrors let you see what’s going on without being too big or cumbersome when nipping through tight gaps.

Supple suspension deals with all the usual potholes and speed humps with calm efficiency, while the Ceed’s seats are supportive and comfy. You get seat height adjustment for the driver’s chair, as well as electric lumbar movement in both trims and height and reach movement for the steering wheel. Heated seats are standard on all but the basic Ceed 2 model, as is a heated steering wheel.

On the motorway

Getting up to speed in the Kia Ceed is not a problem, as the 1.5-litre turbo petrol revs keenly. It does need a few revs as you pull away to avoid it feeling sluggish, though.

On the move, the six-speed gearbox has a light, accurate action, and the Ceed is very stable and sure-footed in crosswinds or as you pass trucks on the motorway.

The one thing that spoils the Ceed’s overall talents as a long-distance cruiser is the amount of tyre noise kicked up at higher speeds. It means you need to raise your voice to chat to a passenger or turn up the stereo volume a bit more than ever feels good for your ears.

On a twisty road

Kia has come up with a superb balance between comfort and agility with the Ceed. It deals with the rat-a-ta-tat of poor roads really well, so the car is comfortable and poised.

Along with the surprisingly quick-acting steering response and decent feel, the Ceed is a lot sportier in its outlook than most cars in this sector.

However, it’s not quite on a par with a Ford Focus when you push harder along twisty roads. Drive like this and the Kia shows it’s happier to drive more moderately.

Still, the 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine likes being used with revs showing on the dial, but also keeps quiet when you just want to get to your destination with minimum fuss.

Kia has made the Ceed’s cabin plusher and posher, and there’s lots of standard kit. However, some hatchback alternatives still have the edge when it comes to overall design

Kia has upped its game in the Ceed’s cabin, which means it looks and, more importantly, feels a good bit plusher than it did before. This is down to a lot of soft-touch fabrics and plenty of padding in places like the door’s armrests and the centre console lid. You even get a bit of padding on the dashboard’s covering, so it all gives a much more premium impression.

This sensation carries over to the seats, which are trimmed in fabrics that lift the interior ambience above the usual drab grey and black assault on the eyes of most cars in this class.

The driver’s seat comes with height adjustment in all models of Ceed, and you also get electric lumbar adjustment included. However, only the top spec GT-Line model comes with heated front seats and steering wheel.

Taller drivers will appreciate how far the steering wheel can be pulled out towards you, and it also moves for angle, so there are no issues with any driver finding the perfect seating position in the Ceed.

All-round vision is among the best in this class, and every Ceed comes with rear parking sensors and reversing camera. You also get cruise control.

As for storing all your worldly possessions, or at least what you need in the car, the Ceed provides small door bins but they can handle a one-litre water bottle. There are cup holders in between the front seats, with an oddments tray in front of the gear lever. Further back is a lidded cubby, and the glovebox is just about big enough to cope with the owner’s manual and not much more.

Space in the back seats

There’s been a lot of thought gone into the back seats of the Kia Ceed. The result is it all just works without you having to think about it, which is the mark of good design.

There's plenty of room for rear passengers’ knees and heads, and you can fit three adults across the bench, though the styling of the Kia means those in the outer two seats will find their heads brushing the upper door frame where it curves in.

Still, the person in the middle seat gets sufficient space for their feet and the raised cushion doesn’t compromise head room.

There are wide-opening rear doors and enough space for a full-size rear-facing child seat. It’s also a breeze to locate the two ISOFIX mounts on each of the outer rear chairs.

Boot space

There’s a lot to like about the Kia Ceed’s boot, not least the generous 395 litres of load space it dishes up in its usual configuration.

Not having a load lip makes it easy to slide in heavy bags through the large tailgate opening, and you get a couple of bag hooks. There are also tie-down points and a 12-volt power point in here.

Folding the 60-40 split rear seat is one of the easiest operations of its kind in this class of car. Just pull the catch and push them down. This leaves a long, flat load floor with up to 1,291 litres of space for those exciting trips to the local dump.

Kia has made the tech inside the Ceed as easy to use and good-looking as the rest of the car, though it does have its quirks

There are lots of soft-touch surfaces now inside the Kia Ceed, which lend it the appearance and ambience of an Audi or BMW. This is more than skin deep, too, as all of the controls have a precise feel, so when you hold the steering wheel or change gear, your hand is resting on leather in any of the Ceed’s trim levels.

The Ceed chooses a different path for its main instrument cluster to the direction most cars in this sector are heading. Where so many now have an all-digital dash display, the Ceed retains two large, round analogue dials for speed and engine revs. OId fashioned? Not when the clocks look this good and show this vital information in a clear, quick to read manner.

In between these two dials sits a 4.2-inch digital info cluster, which you can configure with the steering wheel buttons. You can also use these buttons to operate the main infotainment screen, as well as the cruise control, hands-free phone connection, and various other features. There is an optional 12.3-inch digital instrument screen, but that’s reserved for the top-spec GT-Line S model. 

In the centre of the dash, mounted up high, is the 10.3-inch touchscreen that is standard across the Ceed range aside from on the most basic model, which still has to make do with an 8.0-inch screen.

The big touchscreen has been improved a lot over the previous Ceed and it now has a much crisper display and graphics, and it’s much quicker to respond to your finger’s movements.

Kia provides Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to let you connect your phone to the infotainment system. With an Apple phone, the display uses the full width of the touchscreen, but Android Auto still comes with a blank space on the right-hand side for some reason, which seems a waste of the screen.

Kia could also do with improving the sound quality of the stereo in the Ceed. It has six speakers, but it sounds quite weak and tinny, almost as if the sound is coming from the bottom of a deep, dark well.

Beneath the infotainment screen are the heater controls, which are all very simple and quickly understood. With rotary dials for the temperature, it takes no effort to adjust the heat as you’re driving.

The 160hp 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine in the Kia Ceed delivers the same fuel economy and emissions regardless of which trim you choose. Both the 3 and GT-Line ride on 17-inch alloy wheels and offer impressive 49.9mpg average consumption. On the smallest 16-inch wheels, the Ceed has CO2 emissions of 129g/km.

Those figures are decent enough in isolation, but they are not as good as a number of other petrol-powered rivals. If you then look at the economy and emissions from small family hatches like the Ford Focus and Seat Leon that registers closer to 70mpg, the Kia begins to look a bit behind the curve, let alone compared to hybrid rivals such as the Toyota Corolla. 

However, the Ceed offers 0-62mph in 8.4 seconds according to the official figures. Achieving this in the real world needs careful balancing of the engine’s revs off the line, and nobody drives like this anyway. More relevant is the smooth power delivery of the Ceed’s engine on the move that allows you to leave the car in a higher gear for much of the time to maximise economy.

Whichever Kia Ceed you choose, it will come with six airbags, two ISOFIX child seat mounts, automatic emergency braking, and Lane Follow and Keeping Assist. There’s also a driver attention warning in case you feel drowsy at the wheel, Leading Vehicle Departure Warning, and hill start assistance. Both trims also have Forward Collision Avoidance that can spot people and cyclists.

Kia routinely finds itself at or near the top of reliability surveys, and this seems more than justified when talking to owners. The cars are very reliable and Kia is confident in its products, so it offers a superb seven-year/100,000-mile warranty as standard with the Ceed. Only Toyota can better that with its 10-year warranty.

Kia finished third overall in the most recent Driver Power owner satisfaction survey of the most reliable car brands, behind only Tesla and Subaru.