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Kia’s curvy number spins nicely in Spain

Thursday, 28 February 2008

BREAKING into the masculine, testosterone-filled world of reviewing cars is not something that is easy to do, but for two days earlier this month I experienced a taste of the male dominated world of motor journalism.
You have seen Top Gear, fawned over Richard Hammond (well I have anyway) and imagined that life in the fast lane of a motoring scribe is very exotic.
Kia’s new range of cars has demanded attention and their forward thinking attitude has propelled them up the sales charts. And Ford is keen to show that their cars appeal to a wide spectrum of buyers, which is why they invited a group of female journalists along to the launch of their latest offering, the rather oddly-named pro-cee’d.
Not knowing what to expect, a group of four Irish women arrived in Madrid for the launch of Kia’s curvy family offering. Having taken a few minutes to marvel at something we Irish are not too familiar with - sunshine - we focused our attention on the sporty little number sitting just itching to be taken for a spin around Spain.
From a female perspective, the car was stylish and more than capable of carting a group of gaggling, directionless girls around for the day.

We managed to fit nicely into the sexy little three-door hatchback, which had plenty of storage for sunglasses cases, lip balm, mobiles, maps and bottles of water.
Also, all our oversized and completely excessive baggage fitted in the boot without much persuasion.
Inside, the car had lots of quality. The seats were comfortable and the smell was pleasing. I’m not anal about the smell of a car (hopefully) but it is definitely something I notice.
Perhaps I am one of the few people who appreciates that the team at Kia spent a lot of time researching smells to come up with a “neutral smell designed to suit the European nose”. Thanks for that guys.
The car is available with a choice of 1.4 petrol or a 1.6 diesel engine with prices starting from e19,195. That’s not bad, considering it comes with a seven-year warranty.
My time behind the wheel was slightly stressful although the panic was more induced by driving on the left for the first time, while trying to spot a road sign before I’d passed it.
Overall, the car handled surprisingly smoothly, despite desperate and erratic driving on my part. The control of the car certainly contrasted with the mayhem that ensued within.
The countryside was really very beautiful and the Spanish obviously knew what they were doing when they developed their road system. Within the city centre there are roundabouts with four and five lanes converging and yet they all move freely. It’s a kind of organised chaos but it works.
It’s hard not to wonder why and how we managed to get it so wrong in our own choked-up city.
Thankfully, we got back to the hotel without major incident, apart for the odd wrong turn and dead end here and there.
After a long and exhausting day we settled into our hotel, which frankly I’m afraid to go into too many details about for fear of blatantly rubbing your nose in it.
Suffice to say, it was guiltily extravagant. But unfortunately, there was no rest for the wicked so we were soon whisked off for cocktails and a short press conference followed by a very fancy dinner.
There was little driving done the next day for many reasons. One: We would have been over the limit to even steer our luggage never mind a car. Two: Driving was the last thing we wanted to do after the previous day. Three: There was shopping to do (we are girls after all).
Although the bustling city of Madrid is not the most architecturally awe-inspiring, it certainly has a lot to offer. I spent a few hours happily wandering around the Prado Museum, which is one of the largest art galleries in the world.
It is home to more than 8,600 painting although less than 2,000 are on display due to a lack of space.
I also loved the Retiro Park which is almost in the heart of the city. The 350-acre park, which features a lake in its centre, is an enormous natural playground.
While Kia doesn’t usually offer Spanish sunshine, a walk in the park, or a stroll around a world famous museum, it does offer an exciting new car.
Looking back, Madrid was a good place for the launch of the pro-cee’d as the car and city have a lot in common- energy, style and elegance.
Prices:
pro-cee'd 1.4 LX e19,195
pro-cee'd 1.4 EX e20,995
pro-cee'd 1.6 LX Diesel e21,595
pro-cee'd 1.6 EX Diesel e23,395
Prices exclude delivery and other related charges and relevant metallic paint costs.

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