10 things I love and loathe about my car

When I bought my 2013 Kia Pro_Cee’d GT, which I call “Sprocket the Pocket Rocket”, I did so with upmost confidence that I would always love it no matter what. I test drove many different hot hatchbacks before handing my cash over to Kia – this was my first ever performance car and the first ever car I’d be spending my own hard earned cash on and I wanted to get it right. Previously all my cars were fleet vehicles from work, and all of them were Nissans because, well, I worked for Nissan.

I’ve owned this car 21 months, and in three months’ time it’ll be traded in at the Ford dealership for a Mustang GT. Despite there being things with my car I’d rather do without, overall I’ve enjoyed my Kia and will be sad to see it go. Many tears of sadness and joy will be shed the day I give up Sprocket and, if the next owner treats him as well as I have, he will enjoy a long life all the way up to 100,000 miles and beyond.

So here are the 10 things I both love and loath about my car.

1. Love: It Looks Awesome

Small hatchbacks rarely look genuinely pretty, and when they do look good they don’t generally draw attention. The Kia, however, still draws attention to itself, especially in white helping to highlight its gloss black and red accents. Despite the model now being a few years old and numbering in their thousands sold, people still turn to look at it and even come to ask me questions about it. They can’t believe it’s a Kia, let alone a Kia hot hatch.

The unique daytime running “ice cube” lights, snarling grille, pinched side windows and wedge profile really help set this car out from the crowd. You can still tell it’s a Kia Cee’d, but it’s a special one clearly distinct from the others in the range and it never gets boring to look at.

2. Loathe: The blind spots rival the Camaro

The five door Cee’d GT proves that the blind spots needn’t be an issue, with large rear windows making over-the-shoulder checks a breeze. The Pro_Cee’d GT? Well, just like the 5th and 6th generation Chevrolet Camaro, being able to see is sacrificed for styling. As mentioned it makes the car look superb from the outside, but looking over your left shoulder (in a right hand drive car) is pointless. You must rely solely on your mirrors and if they’re not set-up correctly, you could be kissing bumpers with the Merc in the next lane very quickly.

3. Love: The cabin

The cabin of the Pro_Cee’d GT is one of its biggest selling points for a car of this class. Its well appointed, littered in soft touch materials, has a beautiful driving position and, of course, a pair of outstanding Recaro bucket seats.

For stock seats, let alone those in a hot hatch, the bolsters are ridiculously deep and beautifully sculpted to make long trips comfortable. The car earns its “GT” badge easily, especially thanks to electronic Lumbar support and a heated steering wheel. If I could, I’d put a pair of these seats in my Mustang, sexy red GT logo included.

All the buttons are also very intuitive and placed in easy to reach and obvious locations. Unlike other cars (especially the cloudburst of buttons you get in GM cars), Kia seems to have remembered that, yes, someone WILL be driving this car – so all the buttons are big so you don’t need laser targeted accuracy to press them when doing 70mph on the motorway.

Its just a nice place to sit overall – noise isolation except for a little bit of tyre roar is well supressed. Again, GT car.

4. Loathe: It’s a bit too refined

This usually wouldn’t be a downside, but Kia’s liberal use of sound deadening means the exhaust note isn’t very audible, which is a crying shame because its actually a very nice sounding four cylinder with a meaty rasp. You wont mistake this for a Honda, that’s for sure.

This has been such an issue for customers that for 2015, Kia made it so the GT button on the steering wheel activates… something (I’m not sure if it’s a vibrating Diaphragm, a butterfly valve or electronic wizardry) that amplifies sound in the cabin of the car, and initial reports give it a massive thumbs up.

5. Love: It sounds good

Despite the interior being a bit isolated, on a warm day you can wind down the windows and hear a good chunk of burble and a pile of turbo whistle. Its not excessively loud, but its enough to make people turn and go “what was that?”. Plus, burbling little 4-cylinders always strike a nice chord with me, and it just slaps a big grin on my face whenever I plant my right foot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytRYFYxNo90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5H-1HuLbfs

6 and 7. Love and Loathe: Suspension and Handling.

This really is a love/hate relationship. I love the fact that the car genuinely handles well and absorbs bumps beautifully. On the other hand, it needs bigger anti-roll bars because body roll does make itself known, and it can ruin your confidence when the camber gets funny. Some slightly stiffer springs wouldn’t go amiss, either – but then that would have a knock-on effect of ruining the super comfortable suspension. The compromise Kia has given you is still amazingly competent when the road gets technical, and the fully Independent rear suspension is a god-send. The chassis is also very communicative, as I can feel every little detail going on underneath my bottom from all four corners of the car. It makes judging weight transfer (and therefore required throttle position) a breeze.

8. Love: The engine

Korea has stepped up their engine game in recent years, and it makes itself known in the GT. At low RPMs its docile, quiet and will take 6th gear at 30mph and still pull. Unlike other hot hatchbacks such as the Fiesta ST and 208 GTi, the throttle mapping isn’t tuned in such a manner that it slams you backward and upsets the chassis if you plant your foot. This is where the mild hint of Torque steer in cars such as the ST comes from.

With the GT, the throttle is very linear. Unless you’re up in the rev range with the turbo spinning up a storm, a jab of the right foot will result in very predictable progress. Whilst it wont make your stop-light giggle-gland flare up unexpectedly, it does make the car less of an unknown in the twisties.

9. Love: Its faster than you think

Its 7.4s 0-60 time on paper isn’t anything to write home about, putting it firmly against the Fiesta ST and not much else. Me and other owners, however, have had a rather nice and unexpected surprise.

With a totally stock car (tyres included), you can trim nearly a full second off of its quoted 0-60 time. My personal best is 6.66s on cold tyres, and it could obviously do much better if the weather were kinder and less soggy. This allows the Kia to pull ahead of the Fiesta ST, Clio RS 200, GT86, 208GTi and put it neck and neck with a stock MK7 Golf GTi.

This is thanks to the car’s low weight and underrated engine. A kerb weight of 1336kgs puts it well below the likes of the Focus and Golf, and once a few thousand miles are on the clock the engine produces more power than advertised. 195lb-ft in the brochure, 221lb-ft in reality, a 12% increase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPku55s4TXg

10 Love: It holds its value

Buy a basic Golf GTI and you’ll pay nearly £26,000. Taking a quick peak on AutoTrader shows that, at only two years old, the value of one of these cars drops sharply. An example with under 20,000 miles on the clock and a handful of options (worth nearly £30,000 new) plummets to only £17,000 for private sale. The same can be said of its competitors from Ford, Vauxhall, Renault and Peugeot.

The Pro_Cee’d GT? At £22,500 list price (I paid £21,500 for him) I can easily ask for nearly £16,000 in private sale, or £14,000 in part exchange (according to Audi). So not only is it cheaper to buy than its similar sized rivals, I’ll get more cash when I finally come to sell it on. How else do you think I’m paying for the mustang? It certainly isn’t with my pitiful saving’s account.