Comments on: 2010 Kia Cee’d facelift spied at Ring

By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:45:37 +0000

Car is made in SLOVAKIA, not in SLOVENIA.

http://www.slovensko.com/slovakia/slo.htm

By: HAL

HAL — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:19:48 +0000

^ Tony, isn’t the Camry made in Oz though? Regardless, I sort of agree with Lukaas, although you probably can’t generalise it to a Korea v Japanese argument. I would take a Honda (albeit made in Thailand?) over a Hyundai if I was choosing. Why? I just would. And I would take a Mazda over a Hyundai or Kia any day of the week and twice on Sundays. But a Nissan or a Mitsubishi – I don’t think it’s such a clear cut argument.

Speaking of “horrible pussbuckets”, I would place the korean made Holden Epica neatly in that category. God-awful car.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:43:24 +0000

I disagree with that assessment. I’ve driven a few Korean cars from minivans to SUVs to sedans to hatches.

I can honestly say they are no better or worse than japanese cars.

Put it this way… having driven a Camry/Aurion extensively I can say these are certainly not cars to be emulated to any degree.

The Camry in particular is a horrible pusbucket. Here’s a car with no acceleration, almost scary handling, brakes with no feeling. This is no car to be emulated by anyone.

Having driven a turbo Supra, Chaser and Aristo these are cars of a completely different league.

At the hatch end I put the Japanese/Koreans in largely the same low bucket. The Golfs and A3s go on a higher plane.

By: Lukaas

Lukaas — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:22:30 +0000

I just find it alarming that Korean manufacturers are being mentioned on the same sentence as Japanese, when in reality its still about 5-6 years before they match refinement… outside of “STYLING”… they are still not there… not taking away that Koreans have improved… kudos to that.

By: Huh?

Huh? — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:47:07 +0000

Why is a car from a cheap and cheerful car maker running around the ‘Ring? The track schedulers must have pissed their pants when they got a call from Hyundai/Kia asking if they could test their latest supercar LOL!

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:38:20 +0000

Besides the Ceed I like the Toyota Aygo but the reality is these cars were designed for the market they were made in and unless they want to move their lines from the Czech Republic to Korea you’ll never see them here.

I don’t think even the Koreans or the Japanese get the Ceed or Aygo so you can be almost 100% certain we’ll never see both these cars.

By: The Salesman.

The Salesman. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:30:39 +0000

No Cerato hatch that i know of for Australia, i did see some in Korea at the factory. Two door Coupe in the third quarter this year. Six speed auto in Cerato but who knows when?
Why no trip-computer and std safety pack on the base model?
So we can up sell and increase profit.

By: FrugalOne

FrugalOne — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:43:30 +0000

^^^^^SALESMAN

Any news of the Cerato Hatch? [No need for Ceed]

Is a 5 speed auto going to be offered?

Why no trip-computer and std safety pack on the base model?

Cheers

F-0

By: The Salesman.

The Salesman. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:19:36 +0000

We will never see the Cee’d arrive on Australian shores. Unless they decide to start making it in South Korea. The cost is too high to get it to Australia. The Cee’d would end up in the wrong price bracket and would directly compete against the cheaper i30.

By: zahmad

zahmad — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:13:19 +0000

Hyundai’s afraid this is a better car than the 130…hence no introduction to Aus..

By: KM

KM — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:08:02 +0000

Tony – you basically summed everything up in a nutshell!

Many people do not understand this perception.

Cheers

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:17:21 +0000

i have to agree with you there. There interior of the i30 and the Ceed both look a little odd to me. I like the base model all black. I’m not a fan of the sprayed silver plastic of both in the higher end models.

The Ceed is actually designed solely by Germans (yes… sad but they have a studio in Cologne and their head design guy is a German who used to head Audi… and the car is made in Slovenia).

You have to look at it in this light. The Ceed and i30 are $19,990 cars. They are cheap hatches no matter how much bloody crap you shove into them to make them $30k.

You make it sound like Japan and Korean should deliver you a $19,990 VW Golf GTI as if you are entitled to it.

By the same token you buy a Skyline GTR because you want one and not a knock off Porsche 911 GT2.

If I pay $19,990 driveaway do I cry like a girl it doesn’t look or drive like a $26,990 Golf?

Some people do. Examine a car on its own merits. If you want a Golf pony up the $7,000 instead of driving a Korean car every day and having Teutonic envy every day.

They are Japanese and Korean cars, nothing more. To give you an idea, I regularly drive my dad’s Mercedes E-class. I drive a XR6T. Do I cry that I can only afford an XR6T (a shitty aussie car) when I ’should’ be a driving an E-class?

No it’s a good-ish car in itself and that’s enough. The Merc is a special car to some people and worth the money. That’s not me.

By: phillip

phillip — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:16:42 +0000

I have seen a few of these C’eeds in Europe. I remember when I first saw pictures of them I thought “wow, Kia have really built a car equal to a Focus/Astra/Golf”. However, seeing one in the metal left me unconvinced. Don’t get me wrong; Kia have come a long long way and should be applauded for their amazing progress. However, there’s something still a little cheap looking about the interior, and the styling (like that of some of the newer Hyundais) is more of a tribute to European design than anything that could properly resemble it. Many Asian brands like Toyota and Mitsubishi are producing some nice looking cars that still look like Asian cars. But Kia/Hyundai are doing the Chinese thing and just producing European rip-offs.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:25:56 +0000

If the title didn’t say ‘Kia’ I would think that this is a Golf. The side profile looks very close like the the Mark V/VI Golf.

By: Carz

Carz — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:21:33 +0000

Kia is really improving. Not just in the over all design but also in performance. It’s a good move and can attract buyers. Kudos Kia!