ON TEST: KIA XCEED PHEV
XCeed PHEV offers a perfect compromise for fleets KIA keeps on delivering great new cars – and the XCeed PHEV is no exception, says Andrew Walker Company Car & Van had the opportunity to drive the KIA XCeed in diesel form last year and came away impressed. With Government tax incentives on plug-in and electric cars it was only a matter of time before KIA added to the XCeed model range, and the XCeed PHEV is the result. With a 1.6-litre petrol engine coupled to a small electric motor for a combined 139bhp, the XCeed PHEV, even at £30,000+, is good value compared with plug-in rivals. For company car drivers and SME fleet managers, the 32g/km of CO2 emissions make it a doubly attractive option. KIA cabins are getter nicer and nicer and the XCeed could well be the best yet. It’s all finished in good quality soft touch plastics, with
34 | October 2020 | Company Car & Van
some nice matt silver and black plastic trim. The seat covering, roof lining and door finishes are also tasteful in black and the sloping roofline gives the cabin a sporty stance. The infotainment 10.25” touchscreen sits proudly in the centre of the dash. This features excellent graphics and provided sharp responses to your requests. Functions include DAB radio, SatNav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. We connected our iPhone simply and easily via the USB input in the front to access Apple CarPlay, and it worked seamlessly. We were testing the XCeed finished in Grade 3 spec, and equipment is generous: 16” alloys, privacy glass, power lumbar supported front seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, an electric parking brake, a reversing camera, parking sensors, 4.2” supervision colour cluster display and a USB fast charger in the front centre console. There’s also a heated steering wheel and heated front seats. The rear load space is nicely finished, with good quality fabric lining all three sides. However, the batteries are located under this and eat into the litres offered, which explains
why the standard XCeed’s 426-litre boot shrinks to just 291 litres in the PHEV model. The whole point of choosing the XCeed PHEV over its petrol or diesel brethren is its electric range. KIA claims a 30-mile journey in full electric is possible and after we plugged in and topped up the battery, we gave it a try. The automatic gearbox makes life easy in town and this is where the electric power is at its most useful. Once up to speed the electric range drops faster and we found it’s better to let the petrol engine step in. After a 25-mile trip including a junction on the motorway, the electric power ran out. At this point, the combined MPG was an impressive 92.4mpg. KIA claims 201.8mpg is possible, but this would depend on how often you plug in and how far and how fast you are travelling. As a comparison, over the next few days, we drove the car in ECO mode (SPORT is also offered), primarily on the motorway for 200 miles and the combined MPG dropped into the low sixties. This also emptied half the petrol tank, which for our driving style offered around a 400-mile range.
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