Inside the Kia Ceed’s mix of materials, graphics, infotainment system and the haptic feel of its switchgear are all very easy to understand and adapt to, but there’s nothing to get excited about.
Crowing the dashboard is the infotainment touchscreen. Pre-facelift this was 7.0in on entry-level Ceeds and 8.0in on pricier versions, growing to 10.25in across the range following the 2021 makeover.
Physical controls, including those for heating and ventilation controls, are integrated cleanly. The soft-touch plastics on the dash top do an unconvincing impression of leather, though, and the faux, moulded-in stitching looks naff. Later Kia interiors are much better, again making the Ceed feel unloved.
Harder plastics are used on the lower door cards, the centre console and the lower dash and the door bins aren’t lined, allowing loose items to rattle and slide around noisily inside them. Although features like these might be forgiven on a value-oriented family hatch, the Mk3 Ceed isn’t priced to be cheap and cheerful.
The touchscreen doesn’t feature any noticeable drastic change to its software or graphics compared with what we’ve seen in Kias of similar ages to the Ceed, but they look old-hat now. Its menus are intuitive enough.
DAB radio, USB and Bluetooth connectivity and a reversing camera are fitted as standard across the range, with all but the earlier, cheapest Ceeds having a native navigation system, too. You’ll need to avoid the older Mk3 Ceeds if you can’t do without Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The six-speaker sound system is powerful enough to satisfy the needs of your average punter, although audiophiles will probably find it ordinary. Higher-spec versions come with an eight-speaker JBL set-up, which improves matters to some degree.
Up front, the seats are accommodating, comfortable and sensibly bolstered, their cloth upholstery feels a bit rough to the touch, but help to hold your backside in place. The steering column adjusts for rake and reach and makes settling into your preferred driving position easy.
Those in the back will find leg and headroom are in relatively generous supply, although it loses out to the Honda Civic and Skoda Octavia, in particular.
As for the boot, there’s 395 litres of space on offer, which is more than you’ll get in a Ford Focus, all of it accessed via a suitably large aperture. There is a reasonable lip to navigate, although the boot floor can be raised to make loading easier.