| Where does the apostrophe go? |
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| Wednesday, 16 April 2008 | |
That great Kerry writer Con Houlihan once said than anybody who misplaces an apostrophe was capable of doing anything.We know that there are a lot of people in this country, including a few in PR, who don’t know the difference between it’s and its. I wonder what Con thinks of Kia, the Korean company who have been doing strange things with names for their new cars? The Cee’d was originally known as ED for European Design and the CE part was added as shorthand for the Community of Europe. And so we got Cee’d - strange but true. However, despite the spelling problems the car came second to the Ford Focus in the Semperit Irish Car of the Year for 2008. Now after experimenting with the apostrophe we find Kia using an underscore in their naming and so we get the pro_cee’d which is a sporty three-door hatchback version of the Cee’d aimed at young buyers. I drove a black model and it looked really class. While manufacturers love to call these cars three-door, they are of course two doors plus the hatch door at the back and my family are definitely not members of the two-door club. However, I got a feeling they were willing, just this once, to give a two-door car the benefit of the doubt. It really did look and drive very well. When you sit into a new car you should know straight away whether it’s diesel or petrol by the noise. The biggest compliment I can pay to this 1.6 diesel is that I was driving around for a few hours before I realised that it was a diesel; it was that quiet. The Pro_cee’d is lower and longer than the regular cee’d, a bit like a station wagon. You also get new style headlamps which look very good. The interior is spacious and can carry five adults comfortably, except of course for the hassle to the front passengers getting out to let the three people in the back get in. The boot is huge. Now that they have located the indicator and wiper switches in the normal European position Kia are a match for anyone. And there are slave controls for the radio/CD on the steering wheel. The regular radio controls are a decent size and easy to use. You also get a sporty look on the three pedals. If you are a fan of Friday night sport on RTE Radio One, you will be interested to know that the pro_cee’d and indeed most new cars do have Long Wave, even though the signage on the dash may just say fm/am. With RTE’s Medium Wave now closed down, us eircom League fans have to rely on the Long Wave for our soccer fix on the way to and from games on Friday night. You can get Long Wave by experimenting with the am band. Kia now offer an impressive seven-year guarantee on all models. Most people will change cars within the guarantee period, but the warranty, which is free, carries over to the next owner. Prices for the regular Cee’d start at e19,695 while the 1.6 diesel three-door hatchback Pro_cee’d starts at e21,595. I, or should I say we, the whole family, enjoyed the spacious pro_cee’d. It looks like the only one who didn’t really like it was the spell-checker on my computer. The apostrophes were obviously causing problems and it kept suggesting that I should use phrases like: the cat drank its milk, not the cat drank it’s milk! |
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