Kia XCeed review

You should be able to get comfortable easily enough; there’s height adjustment on all versions and lumbar support adjustment from the 3 trim level up. A powered driver’s seat with memory settings is standard on the top-spec First Edition.

The First Edition trim also includes crisp and clear digital dials that are displayed on a 12.3in screen. They look great, but don’t present much advantage over the regular analogue dials in terms of usability. The 3 trim uses the latter, with a smaller 4.2in screen in between, and this setup provides virtually the same amount of information as the all-digital dashboard. 

Other SUVs and hatchbacks from Skoda, Seat and VW are available with digital dials that do far more, such as presenting a full-screen navigation map, while the Peugeot 3008’s instrument display lets you choose the design of its dials.

Visibility is generally good out of the front, while out the back it’s only the thicker rear pillars that get in the way. All trims come with a rear-view camera to help with manoeuvring, while 3 trim adds rear parking sensors and First Edition has front sensors, too.

All trims have LED headlights. These deliver a very bright, white light at night to help you see more clearly.

The standard 8.0in touchscreen is mounted high on the dash so you can see it easily. It comes with Bluetooth and a DAB radio, as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring, which lets you use apps from your phone via the car's screen. It’s reasonably responsive and easy to use but falls behind the systems you’ll find in a BMW 1 Series or Mazda 3. These have simpler rotary controllers that are less distracting to operate than a touchscreen, and both cars also provide larger screens. 

Move up to the pricier 3 trim and you get a wider 10.25in screen that can be split three ways, to allow use of the radio, standard navigation and access the vehicle settings, for example, at the same time. It also has sharper graphics, in-built sat-nav and online connectivity for live weather and traffic reports and advice on the availability and price of parking spaces in your area. You can even download an app to your phone that lets you send remotely sat-nav destinations to the car, or check whether it’s locked or unlocked. 

The 2 and 3 trims come with a six-speaker stereo, but if you want the punchy JBL system with eight speakers (or wireless charging) you’ll have to splash out on the First Edition trim. The JBL system isn’t offered on the PHEV versions at all, mind. 

Inside, the XCeed feels solidly made, and there’s a good mix of soft-touch surfaces with gloss-black trims to lift its look. In that respect it’s a step up from the Focus Active. Top trim levels can have body-coloured interior trim inserts to brighten things up a bit.

That said, the family car class, in which the XCeed sits, also includes cars such as the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3, and the materials and switches used in the XCeed don’t feel up to those cars’ high standards.