Kia’s Cee’d, a sort of Forte equivalent but better and only sold in Europe, is more than a mere apostrophe aficionado. It’s also an ever-improving product in Kia’s global vehicle lineup—one we wish were sold here—and for the 2015 Frankfurt auto show the Korean automaker is unveiling a smattering of meaningful mechanical updates.
-The big news outside of minor styling changes inside and out, is the addition of Kia’s new turbocharged three-cylinder engine to the Cee’d line. Displacing just 1.0 liter, the tiny engine (like that offered by Ford in the Focus and Fiesta) comes in two states of tune. The lower-output version produces 99 horsepower and 127 lb-ft of torque in the Cee’d, whereas the zestier model makes the same torque but 19 additional horsepower. Also new, but paired only with the car’s available 134-hp, 1.6-liter diesel four-cylinder is a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission option. Designed in-house, the dual-clutch should expand the Cee’d’s appeal among Europeans increasingly accustomed to the higher-tech transmission format from other automakers.
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Other tweaks to regular Cee’ds, which come in three- and five-door hatchback body styles, as well as a long-roof station-wagon, include a brake-based torque-vectoring system. Like others of its type, the system selectively brakes the inside wheel during cornering to reduce understeer. Kia also fiddled with the front suspension geometry to improve the on-center steering feel, and worked to quell NVH issues.
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Outside of the pedestrian Cee’d, Kia also produces the cool Cee’d and Pro_cee’d GT models. These are powered by a 201-hp turbocharged 1.6-liter four that, for 2016, gains a new turbo that bumps low-end torque, the peak rising to 195 lb-ft. Like some of its German competitors, the GT now comes with an artificial engine-sound enhancer, and there is a new flat-bottom steering wheel that smacks a bit of keeping up with the Joneses. Either way, we still dig the Cee’d; we only wish some of its refinement and fun could be ported over to the Forte sedan, hatchback, and Koup (coupe) Kia sells stateside.
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