Test drive Kia cee'd
In Europe, there is little stylish appearance - it is also important to follow modern environmental trends there. Such, for example, as supercharging, direct injection and robotic transmissions. Therefore, Kia cee'd no longer has stylistic, but technical updates. Some of them are also intended for the Russian market...
“We decided to show the updated cee'd in Italy, as this is the birthplace of design,” the president of Kia Motors Rus, Kim Sung-hwan, made a significant pause. “Like Korea.” Indeed, Korean design is younger than the Korean auto industry, and the appearance of Kia cars was created by a European - Peter Schreyer. But in Europe there is little stylish appearance - it is also important to follow modern environmental trends there. Such, for example, as supercharging, direct injection and robotic transmissions. Therefore, Kia cee'd no longer has stylistic, but technical updates. Some of them are also intended for the Russian market.
We will still not get a small-cubic turbo engine or diesel engines, but a 1,6 engine with direct injection will appear. It was created on the basis of the well-known multi-point injection engine, but more power was removed from the same volume: 135 versus 130 hp. and 164 against 157 Newton meters. At the same time, the new motor is also more economical. In Europe, unlike Russia, this power unit has been known for more than two years, but the robotic box with two dry clutches, which comes with it, is a completely new unit. The Koreans developed it on their own and even patented the material of the clutch discs. Some of the gearbox accessories are supplied by Luk. Unlike Volkswagen DSGs, the gear change is not in charge of electrohydraulics, but electromechanics.
The appearance of the updated cee'd added a few touches: the car does not open the branded "tiger mouth" so much. New foglights are boldly summed up with chrome, lattice sections appeared in the rear bumper. The details of the cabin went through chrome, and the engine start button is now made of aluminum. Kia cee'd and before restyling impressed with equipment - which only cost a heated steering wheel and a giant panoramic sunroof. With the update, a blind spot monitoring system, advanced car parking and new multimedia with TomTom navigation have been added to the options box. It is able to access the Internet through a connected smartphone, can show the weather and traffic jams. And if the system detects a traffic jam ahead, it will quickly find detour options.
It is a pity that by equipping the updated cars with heated washer nozzles, Kia did not extend the heating to the entire windshield, limiting itself only to the rest zone of the brushes. In Italy, this is a completely invisible option, but in Russia it is important, especially since even the younger Rio has heated glass.
Another technical update was the 1,4 engine of the new Kappa family. It retains multipoint injection and develops the same 100bhp as the previous Gamma powertrain. But there are also differences: the peak power now occurs at higher revs, and the maximum torque is slightly reduced: 134 versus 137 Nm, but it is available at lower crankshaft revs. However, there were no such machines on the test.
Once again, "Sidu" finalized the chassis, promising more comfort on rough roads. The suspension of the pro_cee'd three-door hatchback scrupulously reports cracks, joints and patches - there are unexpectedly many of them on the roads of Umbria. In especially broken areas, an unpleasant shiver runs through the body and steering wheel. But the three-door performs well on winding paths: the rolls are small, the stabilization system can spin the car, struggling with understeer at high speed. The sport mode of the electric booster allows you to accurately select the angle of rotation, although the effort cannot be called natural.
However, the fighting spirit is lost between the engine and the gearbox - even with the gas pedal pressed all the way, the car accelerates at half strength. The engine lives at the top - it develops maximum torque closer to 5 thousand revolutions, maximum power - at 6 thousand. The robot simply does not allow him to get there, switching earlier, in an environmentally friendly manner. Even uphill, the transmission stubbornly tries to enter without changing gears. Pressing the Active/Eco button does not radically change the temperament of the car. The sport mode makes the motor turn more strongly, but it is not marked on the selector in any way - try to guess that you need to move the lever to the “manual position” M. But it does not reach peak recoil, and only paddle shifters allow you to squeeze the maximum out of the engine.
The five-door hatchback rides softer not only because of the smaller 16-inch wheels and higher profile tires. The head of the product development department at Kia Motors Rus, Kirill Kassin, confirmed that the suspension settings for all cars are different. The five-door no longer provokes a fast ride - here you begin to understand that the engine and the “robot” simply fell victim to high expectations, and there are not so many minuses in their bundle, as it seemed initially.
Although the "robot" does not support a sporty attitude, it switches smoothly, almost like a classic "automatic". The seats, which seemed not sporty enough for a three-door, are just right here, and the low ceiling does not press on the rear passengers. If in a three-door car the engine barely made its way through additional noise insulation (an innovation for all restyled "Sids"), then in a five-door car you begin to regret the absence of "Shumka" in the wheel arches - hard Korean tires annoy with buzzing. However, when choosing 16-inch wheels, you will have to give up many of the options available when paired with 17-inch wheels. For example, navigation, electric handbrake and blind spot monitoring systems.
If the five-door hatchback is the golden mean, then the station wagon is at the extreme pole of comfort: it rides smoothly even in the maximum configuration with 17-inch wheels. The price for comfort was handling: the cee'd_sw is less assembled, heels more heavily, slightly steers the rear axle. But the buyer of a station wagon is unlikely to drive a car with a load and households. He measures the value of a car not in seconds, but in liters. The cee'd_sw station wagon is the most spacious in the family. It has a higher ceiling and, due to the increased rear overhang, the trunk is larger by 148 liters.
The 1,6 L engine with distributed injection will remain in service and will continue to be available with the classic 6-speed "automatic" up to the Luxe trim level. Statistics show that it accounts for more than 94% of sales in Russia, and more than 65% of buyers choose a car with automatic transmission.
The new power unit and "robot" are offered for all cee'd bodies, but only in two top trim levels: Prestige and Premium. To become the owner of such a car, you will have to step over the psychological boundary of $ 13. Previously, the share of these versions was only 349% and it is quite logical that there will be few applicants this time too. Moreover, the new engine and transmission have no cardinal advantages: with them the cee'd will go a little faster and consume less fuel, especially in urban mode, where the difference in consumption, judging by the declared figures, is only a liter. In addition, the Russian buyer has a prejudice against robotic boxes, and Kia will have to work hard to get them to get along well.
Kia makes the choice a little easier, offering options for robotic "Sids", without which many no longer imagine a modern car. And we are talking, among other things, about optional little things like a blind spot monitoring system, keyless entry, automatic parking and navigation with traffic jams. In "Side" with a price tag of less than a million, you will not find any stabilization system, or electric folding side mirrors, or even a rear-view camera.
In addition, the new motor does not increase the cost of the car. If earlier the gap between the Luxe and Prestige trim levels with the same engines was $ 1, now, when all the updated cars have slightly risen in price, the difference between "Luxe" and "Prestige" has become $ 334 less.
Kia is introducing new technologies very carefully and small sales of top versions of cee'd are still in its hands: you need to check how the new power unit and the new transmission will behave in Russian conditions. If there are no complaints, then, perhaps, Kia will offer a new engine and "robot" for all trim levels of Russian "Sidov".
In the sport version of the GT, there are even fewer visible changes - a chord-cut steering wheel, larger front brakes and a new turbocharger that provides more boost pressure. At the same time, the power of the 1,6 engine did not change: 204 hp. and 265 Nm, but it reaches the peak of thrust earlier. Compared to the pre-styling GT, the turbo lag has become less noticeable, and in the pre-turbine zone, the engine pulls a little better.
Acceleration was reduced by a tenth of a second, but if you wanted to, you could throw off even more - the gears of the 6-speed "mechanics" are quite long. But the task was not to overtake the rivals: the Kia cee'd GT, with all its obvious advantages, can hardly be called an uncompromising hot hatch. The Recaro's seat bolsters are too wide, and the multi-colored boost pressure and torque dials that appear on the dashboard when you press the GT button are more of a showstopper.
On the other hand, an inexperienced driver can start with this car: it is inexpensive compared to competitors, it is fast enough, but at the same time obedient and suitable for daily trips. In a traffic jam, the controls are not annoying with excessive weight, and the engine is explosive.
In terms of driving settings, GT is an order of magnitude superior to other versions of the "Sid". On 18-inch wheels, it doesn't feel as vibrant as a regular three-door hatchback, albeit with an even sportier tune. The effort on the steering wheel is more natural, and the restoring moment is more pronounced than in a standard car, in which the near-zero zone is too viscous. But structurally it is one and the same electric amplifier, only with different settings.
