Kia XCeed - Kia Xceed PHEV review

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Sun 19 Sep 2021 18:50
Kia XCeed - Kia Xceed PHEV review - Graham567

I bought an ex-demonstrator Xceed plug in hydbrid about 4 weeks ago and I thought I'd let you know my thoughts on it.

I managed to get a First Edition model which has every conceivable option on it.To name a few it has a power tailgate,electric memory seats,sunroof,heated seats in the front and rear,heated steering wheel,cooled seats,digital dash board and every safety item such as blind spot monitoring,lane keep assist,collision avoidance etc.

It comes with front and rear parking sensors and camera and even parks itself!.

I have installed a type 2 charger at my house and after plugging the car in,the charging takes approx 2 and half hours from empty to full and costs 45p per charge on cheap rate night time electricity.The car comes with an app on the phone to set charging times,lock and unlock the car and check various other thing remotely on the car.

So far I find that I have to charge it twice a week giving me approx 64 miles.I haven't put any petrol in it yet and it still has half a tank since getting it.

The only negative I have found is that the car doesn't have any electric heating(other than the seats and steering wheel) so when winter comes and you turn the heating up then the petrol engine kicks in to provide the heat.

The car rides very well on 18" wheels,absorbing the bumps without any fuss.The electric only power is fine for round town but it isn't as fast as full electric cars.There is a sports button which combines the engine and the motor to give 140bhp which is more than enough on a car this size.

The car comes with Kia's 7 year warranty which swayed my decision over the Ford Kuga which came with only 3.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase and see it as a half way house until full electric is more viable on its home charging times.

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Sun 19 Sep 2021 19:40
Kia XCeed - Kia Xceed PHEV review - Engineer Andy

Thanks for the initial review (if not done so already, you may wish to soon add it on the Rewviews section of the site).

Nice looking car (I prefer KIAs over the equivalent Hyundais for looks). I suspect that the lack of heating (possibly the same for using the A/C - cooling in very hot weather) when in electric-only driving mode is because it would quickly drain the battery in cold weather.

ICE petrol engines are not very thermally effectient, even compared to diesels, which is why they can readily use some of the waste heat they quickly generate after initial start-up for cabin heating. Obviously it is far more difficult to use it for seat heating, which presuably uses resistive wiring in the seats.

Odd how that it has 'seat cooling' though - perhaps that system is separate and not as powerful (I doubt if anyone in summer would want to sit in a freezing cold seat even on a really hot day!). I suspect that the more 'direct' heat transfer of the heated seats system is quicker to work.

Back to the car - good that it rides fine on 18in tyres - there previous have been ride quality issues for it and the Ceed and sister car i30 (especially the Fastback) when shod on lower profile tyres compared to the more standard 16in ones on the medium-lower spec cars.

Let us know how you get on with it with time - hopefully the ride quality won't harden up too much as it gets older.

How much did you pay for it if you don't ming me easking? I've been keeping an eye on the similar sized/specced Mazda 3s and CX-30s and even nearly-new (up to 18months old or especially ex-demos) are now very expensive, especially in the times we are currently living under.

Possibly an alternative if the price is right, especially with the 7 year warranty.

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Sun 19 Sep 2021 21:39
Kia XCeed - Kia Xceed PHEV review - Graham567

The cooling part of the car(seats and AC) always run off the battery.It never starts the engine.But turn the heating dial up to 22 degrees and the engine starts.

I paid £26,000 for the car.Its a 70 plate with 7000 miles on the clock. The list price is £35,000!

The electric boot is proving to be an absolute boon for me.It has smart opening where you just have to stand at the back of the car for 3-4 seconds and the boot automatically opens as long as you have the key on you.This saves waving your foot under the car as the Kuga has you doing.Kia said that standing on one leg could be dangerous especially in icy weather so opted for this method instead.The only problem so far is trying to wash the car.I have to leave the key fob in the house otherwise the boot would keep opening as I'm washing the back!.

The car has keyless entry and start which works very well(I have bought a Faraday box to store the keys at night to thwart thieves).The electronic handbrake works flawlessly.As soon as you put it into drive the brake releases automatically and you just move your foot from the brake to the accelerator to set off.It also has autohold that you can switch on and it applies the handbrake at traffic lights and releases as you set off again.This again works flawlessly.

The car has LED headlights which seem to work very well.I have adjusted them down a bit as one of my pet hates are newer cars with headlights set too high.

The build quality inside really impresses.The dash has soft leather and round the doors.The seats are ventilated leather and everything is built rock solid with no creaks or groans.Its a massive step up from the Mondeo I had that creaked all over the place.

On a side note I had the 2.0 diesel Mondeo for 12 years and never,ever had any trouble with the DPF.We would only drive about 60 miles a week with most journey's never being more than 3-4 miles.Usually every 400 or so miles it would do a regen and I learnt to listen for when it did it and carry on driving until it finished.Sometimes it was a pain having to drive around the block a number of times until it had finished.I do miss the Mondeo and would still recommend one to anyone thinking of getting one.

Edited by Graham567 on 19/09/2021 at 21:40

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Tue 21 Sep 2021 07:58
Kia XCeed - Kia Xceed PHEV review - craig-pd130

Can you pre-heat / pre-condition the car while it's on charge? My BMW 225xe PHEV had this feature, it was lovely to be able to step into a warm, completely defrosted car on sub-zero winter mornings.

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Tue 21 Sep 2021 10:05
Kia XCeed - Kia Xceed PHEV review - FoxyJukebox

Gosh--a £9000 saving from new!...was this vehicle a demonstrator being sold on after 7000 miles or did someone buy it and not like it?

Lots of lovely toys inside--the B side being there's sooooo much that might go wrong in the future--but with your 7 year warranty I'm guessing you'll trade up before that deadline?

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Tue 21 Sep 2021 11:05
Kia XCeed - Kia Xceed PHEV review - Engineer Andy

Despite that saving, the car is still expensive.

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Fri 8 Oct 2021 20:36
Kia XCeed - Kia Xceed PHEV review - Graham567

As an update on my original post,I have been away for a few days and got to test the car out on motorways and A roads. The lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control worked perfectly on the motorway,keeping the correct distance from the car in front and virtually driving itself with lane keep assist.I set off on my journey with a full charge(32 miles) and left the car in automatic mode to juggle the battery and engine as it saw fit.During my various journey's and the motorway back again the car returned 63.4mpg overall. The app that comes with the car proved to be a godsend.I could search for my destination in the hotel room and once found,send it to the car.When I then got in the car the destination was already on the screen and asking if I wanted to start navigation.Very handy and saved alot of time messing around with the touch screen.The car has a raised suspension height and so even on 18" wheels,it coped very well and was very supple. I did find that SPORT mode was hugely addictive on the twisty roads and sharpened up the response very well(at the detriment of the fuel consumption).

Overall I am still very impressed by my Kia Xceed and I think ORB is pleased with his new Kia.The quality and value for money has come in leaps and bounds and they are highly recommended.

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