7 years / 100,000 mile warranty (on powertrain, 5 years / 100,000 miles on the rest of the car). WOW! Yet it's the same price / or less than a Toyota Auris (Corolla), Ford Fiesta, Honda Civic. Plus it looks better than the so called "revolutionary" Auris (The Corolla replacement that has been rated as worse than the car it replaces by What Car) It even looks fairly decent from the back (although admittedly all cars look the same these days*). I wonder whether you can happily keep the same car for 7 years, or whether boredom would set in, and you'd want to replace it with something else? Think of the cost savings compared to other cars though: "The car's broken" Kia: "No worries, we'll fix it for free!".
It's been fully tested in Autocar (24, Jan, 07), and prices start at £10995 (1.4l 103bhp) with a 1.6l 121bhp version available for £11495! A 1.6l Diesel is available with 114bhp for £14245 with a low insurance group 6 rating, and a 2l (138bhp) diesel planned later. There will even be a "hot hatch" version in 2008 called the "pro cee'd" (pictured above, perhaps some witty reference to golf / the vw golf? - assuming it's a term used in golf) :) It even comes with an AUX in and USB (ipod) socket as standard. Update: The Independent Kia Cee'd Review.
OR perhaps a better way to save money would be to buy a Skoda Fabia (From £7000 for the old one, and £8000 for the new style) - with "Superminis" constantly getting bigger, do we really need a medium sized hatchback? The old Skoda Fabia was already the same size or bigger than the original VW Golf, and the new Fabia's even bigger. Alternatively, perhaps, a Renault Dacia Logan would be cheaper, €5000 in Europe, or £6000(!!??!!) in the UK in Summer 08!
* Is it just me, or does the front of all these cars look identical: Toyota Corolla, Kia Cee'd, Hyundai Accent etc?
Some of the main UK Competitors: Hyundai Accent, Toyota Auris, Ford Focus, VW Golf, Skoda Octavia, Honda Civic, Fiat Bravo, Zoom Zoom Zoom Mazda 3, Vauxhall Astra, Nissan Qashqai (sound like "Cash Cow" to anyone else?), Peugeot 307, Chevrolet Lacetti (previously the Daewoo Lanos), Proton Gen-2, Citroen C4, Renault Megane.
Comments
Whats more - beware of toyota. It is produced in Turkey and its quality suffered badly.