Kia ProCeed review

The first Kia ProCeed, you might recall, had two fewer doors and more punctuation in its name than the car you can see here.

With this latest version, Kia replaced the 'Procee'd' with a sleek five-door wagon designed to show that an SUV or crossover isn't the only option for stylish, practical family motoring. It joins the five-door Ceed hatchback and Ceed Sportswagon estate in the South Korean manufacturer's line-up.

To achieve its svelte look, the ProCeed is 5mm longer than the Sportswagon and its roofline is 43mm lower, while its belly sits 5mm closer to the ground for extra sporty poise. In the family car arena, only Mercedes does anything similar, with the A-Class-based CLA Shooting Brake, but Kia’s offering is an awful lot cheaper.

Mainstream Kia is aiming to pull off the same trick as premium Mercedes when it comes to pricing, too. The CLA Shooting Brake is more expensive than other CLA and A-Class models, and, likewise, the Proceed is pitched upmarket of the rest of the Ceed line-up.

There’s just one trim level and one engine offered for the ProCeed, and it costs more than the Kia Ceed hatchback and Kia Ceed Sportswagon estate. So the question is, does it offer more than just added visual allure to justify the extra expense?

Also, how does it compare with the best estate cars you might be looking at, including the Ford Focus Estate, Skoda Superb Estate and Volkswagen Golf Estate? We'll answer all your questions in this comprehensive Kia ProCeed review, which covers performance, interior quality, running costs and more.

Remember, if you decided you want to buy a ProCeed, a Ceed, a Ceed Sportswagon – or any other make and model – we can help you find the cheapest price with our free What Car? New Car Buying service. It's a good place to find the best new Kia deals.

The only choice of engine in the Kia ProCeed line-up is a turbocharged 1.5-litre petrol with 158bhp, and you get it with a six-speed manual gearbox.

The engine can suffer with some initial hesitation at low revs, and despite being more potent on paper than the equivalent 1.5 found in the Volkswagen Golf Estate (0-60mph takes 8.3sec), you need to thrash the ProCeed for a quick burst of pace. It's reasonably flexible once you’ve wound it up, though.

The gearbox feels slightly notchy and is not as slick as the one in the Ford Focus Estate.

Kia puts a lot of effort into ride and handling, and the ProCeed strikes a good balance between the two. The ride is composed, proving firm but not uncomfortable, while the handling is secure thanks to an impressive amount of grip. There’s not much body lean, even when cornering hard, putting it up there with the Focus for satisfaction when driven enthusiastically.

It’s worth pointing out that road noise in all versions is very noticeable at all times, plus the engine can be a bit raucous when revved compared with the more refined alternatives found in the Focus and Golf.

The interior of the Kia ProCeed looks much like that of any other Kia Ceed model, with sound ergonomics and a decent enough feel for the price.

There’s plenty of adjustment in the driver’s seat and steering wheel, and the pedals line up nicely so you’re not forced to sit crookedly.

There’s no faulting the view out of the front, but over-the-shoulder visibility is quite restricted. That strikingly sloping roofline dictates a rather shallow rear windscreen with a limited view out. It’s just as well, then, that a reversing camera and rear parking sensors and are standard.

At a time when more and more manufacturers are moving key functions on to touchscreens, the ProCeed retains separate buttons and knobs for its air-con, which makes it much easier to tweak things on the move.

The standard 10.25in touchscreen infotainment system includes sat-nav and DAB radio as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring. The screen is more responsive than the somewhat buggy systems we’ve encountered in the Skoda Octavia Estate and Volkswagen Golf Estate.

The menu layout in the ProCeed could have larger icons, but we found it more intuitive to use than Octavia and Golf set-ups, which feature images of the interior or exterior of the car for controlling various functions.

There’s no problem with the generous space on offer up front in the Kia ProCeed. The car’s steeply raked rear window and sloping roofline don’t inhibit rear accommodation or boot space severely. The rear seats are spacious enough for near six-footers to sit comfortably behind someone similarly tall in the front

At 594 litres, the ProCeed’s boot is only 11 litres shy of the one in the Volkwagen Golf Estate and 16 short of that of the giant Skoda Octavia Estate. It’s also only marginally smaller than the 625-litre Kia Ceed Sportswagon boot, but has a narrower opening, a high loading lip and its lower roofline is less compatible with bulky loads. Still, it’s well up to most family car tasks.

You get 60/40 split-folding rear seats as standard. The ProCeed can’t match the Sportswagon estate’s flat load lip (blame the location of the number plate), but there are loads of hidden storage areas under the floor.

The Kia ProCeed is pricier than the Kia Ceed hatchback and Kia Sportswagon estate, and there's little incentive to choose it over either of those body shapes unless you’ve fallen for its looks. Perhaps its main selling point is that it’s considerably cheaper than the similarly-sized Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake.

Kia is competitive with its finance deals and offers very reasonable monthly payments if you lease or take out a PCP. The ProCeed will still work out more costly than the more versatile Ceed Sportswagon though. Don't forget to look for the best prices on our What Car? New Car Deals pages.

Better news is that residual values are a little better than the equivalent Ceed Sportswagon and Ceed hatchback, although they can’t match those of the CLA Shooting Brake, let alone regular estates such as the Volkswagen Golf.

With reasonable claimed fuel economy, the 1.5-litre petrol strikes a good compromise between performance and is more frugal than a similarly powerful CLA Shooting Brake.

The one and only trim level – GT-Line – is well equipped. Alongside the infotainment system and parking aids, you get heated front seats and a heated steering wheel, cruise control, dual-zone climate control and 17in alloy wheels.

Kia has a strong reliability record, finishing ninth out of the 30 manufacturers in our 2021 What Car? Reliability Survey. That's behind Hyundai and Toyota, but better than Skoda and a long way ahead of Ford and Volkswagen. The Ceed (which the ProCeed is based on) did well in the family car section of the survey, bagging seventh out of 24 models.

Even if you do have a problem, Kia’s seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty is the longest currently available on a new car.

Safety organisation Euro NCAP has given the latest Ceed a four-star rating in standard form, while higher-spec versions get the full five.

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