Kia Cee'd (2012-2018) review - Reliability and Safety
Extra safety tech means updated Cee’d is safer and more secure
The Kia Cee’d performed brilliantly in our 2017 Driver Power Survey, winning the Best Compact Family Car award and finishing fifth overall out of 75 new cars. The Cee’d scored 93%, with owners praising its fuel economy, running costs and exterior styling.
Further reassurance comes in the form of Kia finishing third overall on the list of best manufacturers, while the Cee’d scooped top place in the ‘Infotainment, Connectivity and Electrics’ category.
As part of the tech updates for the new Cee’d, Kia has also added a traffic sign recognition camera, which will display the speed limit of the road to the driver in the car’s instrument panel. There’s also blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert which will warn you of an approaching car if you’re backing out of a parking space.
There’s a Smart Parking Assist System that means the Cee’d will manoeuvre itself into a space or bay, while it’ll also steer itself out of kerbside spaces to reduce the likelihood of parking dings and dents.
Underneath the skin of the Cee’d the car’s structure hasn’t changed, which means it retains the full five-star Euro NCAP crash safety rating.
Warranty
This is where the Cee’d comes into its own. All Kias come with a seven-year warranty, which highlights just how much confidence the Korean manufacturer has in its products.
The warranty package covers you up to 100,000 miles, but for the first three years it’s an unlimited deal. There’s also one year’s roadside assistance cover with all new cars. Combined, this makes Kia’s warranty package the best in the industry.
The seven-year warranty was a contributing factor to the Kia Cee’d being crowned the Best Used Car of 2017 by our sister magazine, Carbuyer.
Servicing
Kia offers two different servicing packages on the Cee’d – Care-3 and Care-3 Plus. These last for three or five years depending on customer choice and cost £329 and £609 respectively for the shorter period. It’s slightly more than packages offered by rivals like Skoda, but the costs are still acceptable.
