Kia cee'D Sportswagon

The newest version of Kia’s European mid-sized estate car, the cee’d Sportswagon, now offers greater choice than ever. On a practical level the cee’d Sportswagon remains a stylish and capacious estate car within compact overall dimensions.

At just over 4.5 metres long it is shorter than its major European rivals, yet it offers greater luggage capacity than the majority of the competition – 528 litres up to the load cover with all seats upright (510 litres with the temporary spare wheel in place) and 1,660/1,642 litres up to the roof with the 60:40 split rear seats folded.

Ease of loading has also been taken into consideration. The boot floor is flush with the tailgate opening and 60:40 split rear seat bases and backrests fold to ensure a completely flat load deck. Every version of the cee’d Sportswagon has an under-floor storage compartment and side load areas, a retractable luggage cover, load-securing net hooks, a boot light and a 12-volt boot-mounted power socket.

Unusually for an estate car in the C-segment, the cee’d Sportswagon has different rear doors to the cee’d hatchback so that the stylish upward sweep of the lower window graphic can continue all the way to the rear of the car without making the cabin dark or claustrophobic for passengers travelling in the back. The wheelbase is one of the longest in class at 2,650mm, while the cab-forward design and a rakish, coupé-like roofline give it a sportier stance and greater presence.

COMPARE CEE'D SPORTSWAGON ENGINES

From the outset the cee’d Sportswagon has been roundly praised for its smooth and torquey engines, European driving dynamics – aided by the comparative rarity in the C-segment of independent multi-link rear suspension where most rivals have a simple twist beam – and refined driving manners.

Revised suspension geometry and steering tuning have preserved the outstanding handling while adding greater finesse to the ride. Variable-assistance Flex Steer is fitted on the majority of models, allowing greater personalisation and a set-up to suit any owner, whether the car is being driven in crowded town streets or on fast highways.

The cee’d Sportswagon is offered with the higher-powered 118bhp version on the 998cc unit which was developed in-house at Kia’s Namyang research and development facility in Korea. There is also a new 1.6-litre CRDi turbodiesel engine featuring increased power – up from 126 to 134bhp – with greater torque of 280Nm with manual transmission and 300Nm with the 7-DCT gearbox over a wider rev range.

CO2 emissions are down by as much as 10g/km in manual versions. However, the greatest gains are seen when the CRDi engine is paired with the 7-DCT gearbox. Compared with the previous model with a conventional six-speed automatic transmission, emissions tumble by almost 25 per cent, from 149g/km to 109.