For the latest travel and traffic updates see our Local Information section

EDITOR'S CHOICE NEWS FROM THE PEWS News from the Pews August 21 MUSIC REVIEW: Neil Duncan at the Reading Festival REVIEW: Live music, Agincourt at Camberley BBC Introducing Stage comes to this year's Reading Festival ADVERTISING FEATURES Click here to view a selection of advertising features that have appeared in your Gazette EVENTS You can now add your own events to our events calendar GET OUR NEWS BY E-MAIL Just register

Most read Comments 1 Beijing hero longs for 2012 2 Rose alters his schedule in bid for Ryder place 3 Hampshire win thriller at May's Bounty 4 Mobile CCTV in use on M3 5 Betting firm ready to take a punt on Town 6 Gray orders troops to shoot on sight 7 Police urge robbery victim to come forward 8 Tobin wants an Olympic hat-trick 9 Name game counts for a holiday with a difference 10 Family’s awareness drive in memory of baby Ethan Today | 7 Days 1 Call to Pak more punch into carton recycling 2 Betting firm ready to take a punt on Town 3 Developer sorry for demolishing school 4 ‘Pod’ design makes for quality pads 5 Head bans over 100 pupils after protest 6 Knitter finds a novel use for old bags 7 Delays in store for motorists 8 Town expect big crowd for Wimbledon match 9 MP's call over surveillance 10 Injury fears over thefts

Comment

The new Kia pro_cee'd is the three-door version of the cee'd hatchback launched last year

IT'S great to see the return of white as a mainstream colour for cars.

I'm not sure if it's the new black or the new silver, but in the UK it has been an orphan colour for years.

Back in the late '70s, when you could still secure great deals, I bought a white Mk II Granada from the Ford press fleet for a friend of mine.

It was the sporty version with twin spotlights set against the black grille and looked just like an unmarked police car. Other drivers would peel off as you approached, leaving an unimpeded road ahead.

But this turned into a snag before long. People began to think that white cars looked like ex-police cars, bought cheaply with telephone number mileages. So everyone stopped buying them and silver became the colour of choice.

Quite a few police fleet managers have cottoned onto this, possibly 25 years too late, and many police cars are now silver, which probably makes them easier to sell.

So when Kia sent along the strangely named pro_cee'd for test, it was great to see it in white.

This car is the three-door version of the cee'd hatchback launched last year. I would urge you to look past the name and see what the product is actually all about - you will be impressed.

Already, Kia is celebrating the manufacture of 200,000 cee'd cars since the factory in Slovakia opened, and the three-door promises even greater things, provided people can overcome the sort of brand image that still afflicts Skoda to a degree.

Just after I had the pro_cee'd (from now on I'll just call it a cee'd) on test, Volkswagen revealed the final look of its new Scirocco coupé that launches here in September.

Despite all the hype - and the higher prices - it looks very similar to the cee'd three-door, but not quite as good. Slovakians 1 - Germans 0.

It might seem odd, but my £14,395 white cee'd 3 came with a 1.6-litre diesel engine, not exactly the mechanical heart you might expect for a car with sporting aspirations. But it turned out to be perfect and it would be my cee'd of choice, encouraged by its easy 50mpg, if I was looking for a roomy, yet compact, car.

Diesel sports models have a future, as demonstrated by the number of TDI VW Golfs you see with GTI badges. The sheer punch delivered by low-end torque in a diesel makes it very driveable, just right for a back road blast where you can make a smart exit from bends without waiting for the revs build-up necessary in a petrol-powered car.

When it comes to price, Kia is denying customers a saving for having three doors instead of five. This flies in the face of what other makers do, but then Kia wants you to see the three-door as equal to, and maybe more appealing than, the five doors. At least, that's what it says.

But the reality is that the price adjustment is made by giving the cars more kit, so you get your money's worth in another way. And that means that even the most basic three doors get full air-conditioning.

The car feels quite sporty, although I'm not convinced by the orange instrument lighting, and with its good-looking alloys and narrow window line, it has a coupé emphasis.

Yet it still makes a practical family car despite having a lower roof than the five-door.

This car really works for me, and while some would prefer the five-door hatch, I'd happily stick with the three-door.

If I wanted more, then I'd buy the estate. And, going back a bit, three-door cars with more appeal can be worth more than their five-door equivalents - look at the old Fiat Bravo and Brava models.

-Maurice Hardy

Print

Email this

Comment