Kia Ceed Sportswagon 1.6 GDi PHEV 2020 UK review

Plug-in Ceed Sportswagon makes for a practical, no-frills PHEV. We see how this new Kia fares on UK roads This is the plug-in hybrid version of Kia’s venerable Ceed Sportswagon. Along with the newly introduced Xceed PHEV, it’s the first variant in the now quite expansive Ceed family to feature both a plug socket and a petrol motor. A plug-in version of the regular hatch is expected to arrive later this year, too, and perhaps there’ll be a Proceed PHEV at some point as well. But for now, this is it.The Ceed Sportswagon PHEV uses the same powertrain as the already established Niro PHEV. So there’s a small, normally aspirated 1.6-litre four-pot mated to a 79bhp electric motor to drive the front wheels. An 8.9kWh lithium ion battery is in the mix, too, giving the plug-in Ceed the ability to travel up to 35 miles on electricity alone. Hook it up to a 3kW home charger and you’ll be able to top it up in around two and a quarter hours.The Ceed Sportswagon PHEV is available in just one trim, which in the UK is the £29,995 ‘3’ specification. Covid-19 complications meant that our test car was a European-spec left-hooker, but it was nonetheless representative of the car you’d actually buy here in Britain.There’s loads of kit as standard, such as satellite navigation, heated seats, 17in alloy wheels and dual-zone climate control. A comprehensive array of active safety systems is included, too, as is Kia’s latest UVO Connect infotainment suite, which uses its own eSIM chip to let you know where things like public charge points and parking spaces are. True to Kia form, the only option you really need to decide on is which colour you want.