Someone please tell me what is so special about the Kia Cee’d?

I’ll start saying that I haven’t driven the Kia Cee’d so I may be a bit unfair here, but, having checked it put thoroughly during motorshows, and read some tests by respected British publications, I am a bit surprised about the generally quite positive reviews.

I will start with the car’s design…

Because the thing is that magazines rate it quite good – which I cannot explain.

Of course the design of a car is a matter of personal taste, but for much that I look at the thing, I remain VERY unimpressed. Very dull indeed, it does not innovate in that department from any angle nor level of detail.

Then, with regard to the interior, it is also obvious that it seems to be well put together, but the variety of materials of different qualities, lack of a theme or special design, and quality of some parts, speaks of a long way to match, say, the latest Renault Megane.

The reviews in general tend to point out how improved a car the Cee’d is compared with previous Kia models in the class. Well, OBVIOUSLY, there is a huge improvement compared to the previous Kia offer in that segment, and there is no doubt of the significance of the car for its company, given where it is built but, shouldn’t a car be judged only for its objective product qualities, compared to its most advantaged competitors? The Kia Cee’d is still well behind Golf, Focus and Astra, to name three major competitors. Certainly in the design and interior quality departments (and I look forward to driving it).

Maybe someone can tell me if I am missing the point with this car, and why. What is special about the Cee’d from the product point of view? (In any case everybody will agree on one thing: Kia could have done a much better job finding a name for their most important European car).

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