While it’s true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression, I’ve often found it no bad thing. The second impression can be so powerful that all those original thoughts, whether good or bad, can be swept away.

Now I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Kia’s first estate car, the Cee’d SW, mainly because Kia’s have never found themselves high on my radar. Not because I don’t think they’re worthy of my attention, just that they’ve never really grabbed it before. (I have since experienced the delights of the Sorento and the fun of the Venga, so Kia please forgive my earlier naivety)

The Kia Cee’d initially struck me as being inoffensive, innocuous and rather plain, in a no-nonsense Ford Focus type of way. The colour we had can’t have meant to inspire either, even if my mother thought it very elegant.

So while my first impression was rather luke warm to say the least, within seconds of driving it I was hooked and everything about the car took on a different hue. This must be the easiest car I have ever driven.

For once, I felt that I was giving all my passengers a smooth, comfortable ride. I often fantasise about driving famous people around London. Not quite sure where this originates from, but in my fantasy I am a superb driver. Sadly, in reality this is not the case as passengers are thrown around as I speed up and slow down – perhaps that’s due to my other rally driving fantasy – but with the Cee’d the gears are so lovely to use, the accelerator responsive when needed and the steering accurate but not too twitchy that it’s really a flattering drive. And not only did it behave well around town, but also on windy country lanes and the dreaded M1.
First impressions were long forgotten and I found myself extolling its virtues at every opportunity.
It certainly has all the requirements a family would need; space, comfort, and most of all good value, not to mention Kia’s amazing seven year warranty.
And while it is up against some stiff competition with more famous well-known brands, and might not be the obvious first choice for a family car, I’d say it is well worth dismissing first impressions and giving this car a second glance.

I can only now fully appreciate the sheer space provided by Kia’s new mini MPV, the Venga, after watching it being driven away and me getting into our next test car (it’s a tough life). Lovely though the new one is, it felt rather dark and claustrophobic inside in comparison to the high ceiling of the Kia with its amazing panoramic roof and enough head room for a gorilla – or indeed my husband!

Watching Doctor Who with the kids, I saw the similarities to his faithful Tardis. Rather innocent but intriguing on the outside, and surprisingly spacious on the inside with delightful nooks and crannies, sliding seats, hidden compartments and space, space, space! Has the Tardis got sliding seats? Oh well…

It’s not a luxurious car like its also-recently-launched big brother the Sorento (video review coming soon), but has many redeeming features. One of the models (the diesel, the one on test here) proudly displays the Ecodynamics badge which it has earned through its low fuel consumption (over 62 mpg on a combine cycle) with CO2 emissions of only 117g/km. This model doesn’t come cheap however, but the gains over the course of its life would soon add up. This, together with the seven year warranty offered by Kia do make it a very attractive proposition.

But what I might be inclined to do is to wait a bit until a few second hand ones come on the market, so that I could take advantage of Kia’s used car programme. This tops the depleted warranty back up to seven years if the car is less that 18 months old or with less that 18,000 miles on the clock. Then a Kia Venga would really be excellent value. Or you could take the view that this makes buying a new one less of a risk because you wouldn’t have much trouble selling it after 18,000 miles?

Either way Kia seem hell-bent on taking the worry out of buying a new car, and with products coming along so much better than their predecessors they’re starting to appeal to our hearts as well.