There were seven brides for seven brothers and Snow White befriended seven dwarves; we have seven wonders of the ancient world and the ladybird has seven spots on its back (I actually counted them).
In the Bible seven is the perfect number and God rested on the seventh day; and, besides the seven sins and seven virtues, seven is the number of warranty years Kia Motors are offering on their newest creation, the Cee'd, which is the first Kia vehicle being manufactured in Europe for the European market.
Seven years is a long time in the life of any vehicle, so offering a seven-year guarantee on the powertrain (engine, gearbox, drive shaft, etc.) of this car shows Kia's utter arrogance and pride in the face of the competition. Now isn't that one of the seven deadly sins? There is also a five-year transferable warranty for everything else.
But Kia's desire for the traits, status, abilities and successes of others is the whole reason why the Cee'd was "planted". Envy and Kia's mission to surprise have seen the Korean manufacturer launch a car in Europe that is expected to rise above the competition.
Successes of the Golf, the Focus, the Astra, etc., have induced Kia to produce the first-ever model intended from conception for the European market. The twist here is that Kia's competitive edge in Europe is not only the price any more as has been the case over the past decade. The 1.6 petrol starts at Lm7,500 and the 1.6 diesel will sell for Lm8,400.
The new Cee'd, built at Kia's new $300 million plant in Slovenia, is at least at par (if not better) in design, quality and performance, with the more established models in Europe.
Starting with the exterior looks, the Koreans wanted a car for one to lust for. It's body shape, strong forms and flowing lines make it "attractive to see, nice to touch, pleasant to smell and a joy to hear".
Styled by a dedicated multi-national Kia design team in Germany, the Cee'd was designed with the European customer always in mind. In the words of Cee'd chief designer Mikols Kovacs:
"We wanted to make the Cee'd as beautiful, as exquisitely detailed and precisely executed as possible." Attention to detail was the order of the day and all design features were based around the average European stature evidently larger than our Asian neighbours.
Head room and leg room exceed European expectations and the back tailgate opens up high to avoid "tall" customers hitting their heads when open. Front door hinges feature a three détentes as one of the key designs for this C-segment challenger. This was done to ensure easy entry and access into the vehicle in all situations. The last position will open the door a full 70°.
The final result is a sporty, dynamic body mimicking a cat ready to pounce on its prey. But it's anger does not lie in its looks but in its powertrains, mainly the 2.0-litre petrol engine, which has a maximum anger level of 143 bhp delivering 184 Nm of torque at 4,750 rpm.
Its 16 valves with electronic multi-point injection will take you to 205 km/h and will accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 10.4 seconds. The smaller petrol engines include the 1.6 (122 bhp) and 1.4 (109 bhp).
There are also two diesel engines to choose from. They are the 2.0 CRDi, delivering 140 bhp at 4,000 rpm with a maximum torque of 305 Nm at 2,000 rpm and capable of a top speed of 198 km/h and the 1.6 delivering 115 bhp.
The handling of these engines is such an advance on previous Kia models. The car performed silently but competently when cruising, but also handled corners with a certain suave that surprised me also thanks to its electric power steering and good suspension
This five-seater, five-door hatchback with a funny name has an all-steel unitary body chassis and the five transversely mounted engines (front wheel) are served with a five- or six-speed manual gearbox or a four-speed automatic transmission. There is a choice of three equipment levels (LX, EX and TX) and five interior colour themes and a whole range of options.
The standard and optional features on the car only fill you with more greed and a desire for automotive comfort and wealth. It's longer than usual list of standard equipment includes tinted glass, heated rear window, body coloured bumpers, black door handles, black door mirror housings, manual adjust door mirrors, speed sensing automatic door locks, child safety rear door locks, rear window wash/wipe, space saver spare tyre and roof-mounted audio antenna.
Inside the car comes with front, side and curtain airbags, grey cloth seat upholstery and interior trim, adjustable head restraints, three-point seat belts, 60:40 folding seats, rear child safety seats, central locking, electric front windows, audio system with RDS radio, CD and MP3, four speakers, trip computer, audio controls on the steering wheel, 12V power outlet, illuminated glove compartment, twin front cup holders, remote fuel cap release and headlamp levelling. Another exhaustive list makes up the additional equipment, which includes air-conditioning.
The Cee'd has many stress-reducing features to help maintain driver alertness and its active safety features, such as its stable handling, precise steering, powerful (ABS and EBD assisted) braking systems, result in drivers of this Kia model being left with little physical work to do, and could verge on sloth.
The car is so fully equipped with safety features, such as ESP, TCS and BAS (emergency brake assist), that the driver's only worry is to avoid potential accident situations as I did when I was test driving the Cee'd in Rome last month.
Six airbags plus other options including hygrophobic glass (glass coated with a water repellent film); TPMS (tyre pressure monitoring system) and Kia's Back-warning system (a rear parking aid), ensure safe driving at all times.
As for consumption the 2.0-litre petrol will take you 100 km with 10.1 litres of petrol while the 1.6 petrol will use up 8.9 litres for the same distance. One can hardly describe this as gluttony.
The first Cee'd in Malta was launched by Matthew Fenech, director of Easysell-Kia Malta Ltd, last Wednesday at the Kia Motors showroom in Qormi.
In the Bible seven is the perfect number and God rested on the seventh day; and, besides the seven sins and seven virtues, seven is the number of warranty years Kia Motors are offering on their newest creation, the Cee'd, which is the first Kia vehicle being manufactured in Europe for the European market.
Seven years is a long time in the life of any vehicle, so offering a seven-year guarantee on the powertrain (engine, gearbox, drive shaft, etc.) of this car shows Kia's utter arrogance and pride in the face of the competition. Now isn't that one of the seven deadly sins? There is also a five-year transferable warranty for everything else.
But Kia's desire for the traits, status, abilities and successes of others is the whole reason why the Cee'd was "planted". Envy and Kia's mission to surprise have seen the Korean manufacturer launch a car in Europe that is expected to rise above the competition.
Successes of the Golf, the Focus, the Astra, etc., have induced Kia to produce the first-ever model intended from conception for the European market. The twist here is that Kia's competitive edge in Europe is not only the price any more as has been the case over the past decade. The 1.6 petrol starts at Lm7,500 and the 1.6 diesel will sell for Lm8,400.
The new Cee'd, built at Kia's new $300 million plant in Slovenia, is at least at par (if not better) in design, quality and performance, with the more established models in Europe.
Starting with the exterior looks, the Koreans wanted a car for one to lust for. It's body shape, strong forms and flowing lines make it "attractive to see, nice to touch, pleasant to smell and a joy to hear".
Styled by a dedicated multi-national Kia design team in Germany, the Cee'd was designed with the European customer always in mind. In the words of Cee'd chief designer Mikols Kovacs:
"We wanted to make the Cee'd as beautiful, as exquisitely detailed and precisely executed as possible." Attention to detail was the order of the day and all design features were based around the average European stature evidently larger than our Asian neighbours.
Head room and leg room exceed European expectations and the back tailgate opens up high to avoid "tall" customers hitting their heads when open. Front door hinges feature a three détentes as one of the key designs for this C-segment challenger. This was done to ensure easy entry and access into the vehicle in all situations. The last position will open the door a full 70°.
The final result is a sporty, dynamic body mimicking a cat ready to pounce on its prey. But it's anger does not lie in its looks but in its powertrains, mainly the 2.0-litre petrol engine, which has a maximum anger level of 143 bhp delivering 184 Nm of torque at 4,750 rpm.
Its 16 valves with electronic multi-point injection will take you to 205 km/h and will accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 10.4 seconds. The smaller petrol engines include the 1.6 (122 bhp) and 1.4 (109 bhp).
There are also two diesel engines to choose from. They are the 2.0 CRDi, delivering 140 bhp at 4,000 rpm with a maximum torque of 305 Nm at 2,000 rpm and capable of a top speed of 198 km/h and the 1.6 delivering 115 bhp.
The handling of these engines is such an advance on previous Kia models. The car performed silently but competently when cruising, but also handled corners with a certain suave that surprised me also thanks to its electric power steering and good suspension
This five-seater, five-door hatchback with a funny name has an all-steel unitary body chassis and the five transversely mounted engines (front wheel) are served with a five- or six-speed manual gearbox or a four-speed automatic transmission. There is a choice of three equipment levels (LX, EX and TX) and five interior colour themes and a whole range of options.
The standard and optional features on the car only fill you with more greed and a desire for automotive comfort and wealth. It's longer than usual list of standard equipment includes tinted glass, heated rear window, body coloured bumpers, black door handles, black door mirror housings, manual adjust door mirrors, speed sensing automatic door locks, child safety rear door locks, rear window wash/wipe, space saver spare tyre and roof-mounted audio antenna.
Inside the car comes with front, side and curtain airbags, grey cloth seat upholstery and interior trim, adjustable head restraints, three-point seat belts, 60:40 folding seats, rear child safety seats, central locking, electric front windows, audio system with RDS radio, CD and MP3, four speakers, trip computer, audio controls on the steering wheel, 12V power outlet, illuminated glove compartment, twin front cup holders, remote fuel cap release and headlamp levelling. Another exhaustive list makes up the additional equipment, which includes air-conditioning.
The Cee'd has many stress-reducing features to help maintain driver alertness and its active safety features, such as its stable handling, precise steering, powerful (ABS and EBD assisted) braking systems, result in drivers of this Kia model being left with little physical work to do, and could verge on sloth.
The car is so fully equipped with safety features, such as ESP, TCS and BAS (emergency brake assist), that the driver's only worry is to avoid potential accident situations as I did when I was test driving the Cee'd in Rome last month.
Six airbags plus other options including hygrophobic glass (glass coated with a water repellent film); TPMS (tyre pressure monitoring system) and Kia's Back-warning system (a rear parking aid), ensure safe driving at all times.
As for consumption the 2.0-litre petrol will take you 100 km with 10.1 litres of petrol while the 1.6 petrol will use up 8.9 litres for the same distance. One can hardly describe this as gluttony.
The first Cee'd in Malta was launched by Matthew Fenech, director of Easysell-Kia Malta Ltd, last Wednesday at the Kia Motors showroom in Qormi.