Ceed Gets Driver Power

You know times have changed when so called 'lesser brands' like Skoda and Kia beat more established and posher marques from VW and Mercedes-Benz for driverbility.

Of course we all know the Skoda is really a Volkswagen but the Kia Ceed story is one deserving of merit.

In the latest AutoExpress Driver Power survey the Ceed came 6th overall and number one in the C-Segment class beating the VW Golf which came in at a lowly 22nd.

The Driver Power survey measures the views of over 21,400 new car drivers across the UK. The cars they drive are scrutinised and scored on their performance in a number of key areas, including practicality, build quality, reliability, and running costs.

The Kia dealer network was also under scrutiny and, amongst others, was measured on helpfulness and attitude, standard of workmanship and value for money.

In these hard economic times drivers are looking at alternative vehicles which give more value for money and the likes of VW can't rest on their laurels and assume brand snobbery will win the day. The bottom line is the Kia Ceed has a dynamic design, high build quality and frugal engines, all backed by a seven-year 100,000 mile warranty and all for much less wonger.

Kia Find Plenty Of Soul Mates

Despite a lack of heavyweight advertising the new Kia Soul is already proving popular with drivers across Europe.

Early figures show over 5000 units have been sold across Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and here in the UK. This puts the Soul 13% above Kia's expected target of around 4425 units in the first quarter of 2009.

The lack of mainstream advertising has been down to slow production output and a high demand for other Kia products like the Ceed which is at the heart of Kia's global sales growth. However marketing of the Kia Soul gets underway in the USA and Australia this month and with the Soul’s monthly sales rate accelerating, with 1,334 cars delivered in January, the keys for a further 1,485 cars handed to customers in February and an additional 2,172 units being driven away from Kia dealer showrooms in March, Kia will be confident of supply and will throw more money at going to market.

Already a multi-award winner, the Kia Soul was the first Korean car ever to receive the prestigious recognition of a design award from the world renowned reddot product design competition. Here in the UK Fast Car magazine named Soul the ‘Best New Model for 2009’ and this week in the USA, Ward’s AutoWorld announced the winners of its annual ‘Interior of the Year’ awards. Soul was named ‘Grooviest Interior’ winning its class when looks, value, safety, comfort and convenience were assessed.

Aero Soul

With April fools day just around the corner car makers are trying to lift the industry gloom by offering mockups of their latest inventions.

First up is the Kia Soul with its bolt on spoiler known as the Air Propulsion and Retardation Installation Line.

Designed to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions this simple and low cost system relies on small sensors built into the front and rear bumpers which monitor external wind speed and deploy panels when the wind is sufficient to provide additional directional impetus according to the car’s behaviour.

The system is code marked A.P.R.I.L. for those Soul owners wishing to add it to their accessory list.

Dealers Finally Get Their Soul

Kia started distributing the first batches of its all new Kia Soul urban crossover vehicle to its dealer network.

The official launch is April but Kia will want their dealers to start preparing the Soul for the showrooms, registering demonstration models and getting the cars in customers faces.

Kia have high hopes for the Soul. It certainly looks the part and won't go unnoticed when it passes you on the other side of the road. It's highly customisable and like the Fiat 500, will go on sale backed up with a plethora of different accessory packs offering something unique and catering for every taste.

The first Soul models will have the suspension set up for those bound for the US and Europe. To cope with UK road surfaces Kia drafted in Lotus to redesign the Soul's suspension which also required alterations to the front and rear bumpers. Mazda did a similar thing with the CX7 SUV which was originally designed for the US.

The Soul range starts from £10495 for the Soul 1 which is available in 1.6 petrol only and rises steadily up the top-of-the-range Soul Burner at £14995.

We expect the Kia Soul to do massive things for Kia this year and think the car will be a huge success. The internet has made the world a much smaller place and made it much easier for cars like the Soul, which are a little different from the norm, more accessible to the main stream motorist.

In fact we'd go as far as to say that it's more risky for a car maker to design and produce another Ford Fiesta these days, than it is to get creative and produce a car like the Kia Soul.

Abarth 500 In Showrooms Now

Whilst its not exactly breaking news that the much anticipated Abarth 500 pocket rocket has hit the UK, it is that dealers have finally got some stock to sell.

Early orders of the 500 Abarth went into overdrive when it was first announced leaving dealers an allocation headache trying to fulfill orders. Soon after the official launch dealers were left frustrated that no actual stock had been allocated to them and again spent most of the time gathering names and addresses of potential customers.

Now that's all changed as Abarth have finally put the production pipeline into overdrive and dealers are finally seeing a good range of colour variants as well as demonstration vehicles out on the road.

Most popular of the all the Abarth 500 range is the Bossa Nova white pastel variant with optional 17-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels, Red Abarth side stripes and mirrors and chequered roof (pictured above).

However the most anticipated of all the models is the Abarth 500 Esseesse or SS for short.

Owners who want to take their 500 Abarth onto another level can purchase the £2500 "Esseesse" kit either at time of purchase or within 12 months or 20,0000 km of the cars 1st registration and can only be undertaken by Abarth's skilled network of technicians.

The process of adding more power starts with replacing the ECU or Electronic Control Unit which forces the engine to pump out 160bhp at 5750 rpm from the standard 135bhp. Of course with all this extra power you need to be able to stop so off come the standard brake discs on on go new specially drilled and ventilated 284mm x 22mm brake discs and and new pads.

Next comes the suspension with uprated springs on the front and rear and to give it an even racier look a nice set of 17-inch White or Titanium coloured alloys and 205/40 R17 tyres. Nice!!

Lastly but not least a tyre pressure monitoring system and unique key cover add to the final touches for the ultimate road going 500 Abarth.

After the kit has been fitted the supplying dealer sends on the high quality wooden crate as a memento. Nice!!