The Kia Pro Cee'd GT Is One Of The Best Budget Cars To Get Quiet Respect From Petrolheads

Just in case you’ve been hiding underneath a rock for the past year, this is the Kia Pro Cee’d GT. It’s the Korean brand’s first attempt of hot hatchery and is now a welcome member of the CT long-term fleet. Aesthetically speaking, the GT’s a looker and a sure-fire way to get noticed. The back-end might be a bit bloated and bland, sure, but its large and imposing face is a handsome one.

So what’s it like as a daily then? Driving through London town, the first thing I noticed were the number of appreciative stares; this is a ‘double-take’ kind of car where people clearly aren’t satisfied with just a cursory glance. That may be down to the fact that it remains a rare sight on our roads, but there’s no denying it makes an impression and gets quiet respect from other road users.

Inside, the interior is impressive… to a point. We’ve got the standard GT, which will set you back exactly £20,000. For the cash, you get Recaro part-leather seats (which are decently bolstered, if a little hard for longer journeys), Bluetooth, tinted windows and reversing sensors. For an extra £2500 you can upgrade to the ‘Tech’ model, which gives you sat-nav, heated seats and Xenon headlights. Honestly? It’s disappointing that you have to spec up a trim level to get sat-nav, which comes as standard on similarly priced rivals. For now then, we’re stuck with our phones and mobile sat-nav units to get us around.

Of the features inside, it’s the GT button that I’m most fond of. You have a choice between two layouts in the instrument binnacle; the first features economy figures that allow you to keep an eye on fuel consumption (which currently sits at around 34mpg on average for us), while the second (activated via the ‘GT’ button on the steering wheel) shows you real-time boost and torque figures…because racecar.

But that’s where the racecar comparisons end. Unlike bona fide hot hatches like the blistering Ford Focus ST, the Kia’s more laid back performance from its engine doesn’t have the power to terrify should the mood take you.

The 1.6-litre T-GDi is the first turbocharged petrol engine that Kia has put into one of its UK cars and while the car is marketed as a hot hatch, its 201bhp puts it at the lower end of the horsepower scale compared to its rivals.

The noise inside the cabin and from the rear pipes doesn’t excite either, and the power delivery doesn’t provide the kick I was hoping for - second gear is fairly exciting but everything calms down when you change into third.

Its redeeming feature is the ride, which works brilliantly on terrible British roads. The rolling countryside around the Goodwood Motor Circuit might be a rambler’s paradise, but the broken, bumpy roads are a suspension killer and a good place to test a car. Anything with a hint of performance credentials tugs and shimmies between the treelines, but the Pro Cee’d GT soaks everything up and gives you confidence to push on.

On one particularly crashy road, which features a sweet dipping ‘chicane’, I was even able to carry more speed than I have in quicker machinery, purely because of the confidence with which the Kia carries its speed.

While the GT’s ride is confidence-inspiring, the same cannot be said about its brakes. Heavy use of the spongy-feeling stoppers quickly reveals brake fade, which can, on occasion, result in more than one buttock clenching moment.

All things considered, Kia’s first effort at an affordable sports hatch is a commendable one. It has priced the Pro Cee’d GT at the lower end of the market, so we can’t complain that it doesn’t have as much power as more expensive rivals.

If you want raucous performance, this isn’t for you, but if you’ve never owned anything particularly quick and you’re looking for a pacey entry into performance motoring, then this warm hatch could be right up your street.