Kia sticks the boot in - new cee'd Sportswagon

Since then, they have all but disappeared, replaced in the nation’s affections by people carriers, then 4x4s and, most recently, crossovers.

That’s great but, sometimes, you still can’t beat an estate. A car with a long flat roof line, ending in a big, box-like, luggage space, is just about perfect when you need to get some work done. And that’s why estates are still out there… if you look hard enough.

Indeed, it’s just possible we might be about to witness a renaissance in their popularity. According to Kia, the first cee’d SW was a big hit in the fleet market, frequently outselling its hatchback sibling four-to-one among business users.

The latest cee’d estate boasts more aggressive styling, a revised chassis and new ‘greener’ powertrains. Kia hopes this will give the new car (now renamed cee’d Sportswagon) wider appeal to private buyers.

Is that enough to hitch its wagon to a star? Read on...

ON THE ROAD: ​ Koreans haven’t fallen out of love with estate cars - they never loved them in the first place. That’s good news for us Europeans. The SW was designed and engineered at Kia’s Frankfurt design studio without any interference from the suits in Seoul. It’s built in Slovakia and sold exclusively in Euro markets.

The new cab-forward design is dominated by the Kia signature “tiger-nose” grille with smart new wrap-around lamp clusters. It doesn’t look like a coupe, no matter what Kia says, but it’s a crisp design that’s a lot smarter than the chunky old station wagons from my youth.

And, although it’s no sportster, the SW sits closer to the road than its predecessor for better road holding. Kia deserves kudos for using fully independent rear suspension in a class where the cheaper (and generally inferior) twist beam axle is more common. Substantial track width increases (17mm at the front/27mm at the rear) improve high-speed stability and cornering performance.

The SW feels poised and confident, even with two kids sitting in the balcony seats and a heavy load out back. On the motorway, it tracks straight and true, nonchalantly shrugging off the effects of strong side winds.

The test car was packing Kia’s 1.6-litre 16-valve turbodiesel. There’s a 1.4 version, too, but the larger unit’s extra power comes in handy if you plan to exploit the estate's extra cargo capacity (and why wouldn't you?). Both were engineered in Europe and drive through a six-speed gearbox (a six-speed automatic is available with the 1.6).

It’s smooth and quiet, particularly at motorway speeds when the usual diesel din is barely audible.

​ ON THE INSIDE: ​ In Europe, our perception of quality is as much about haptics - the science of how things move and feel - as much as durability, so Kia’s designers took note and crafted an interior that’s a significant improvement over its predecessor.

The old cee’d was very reliable but some of the interior details, such as the flimsy plastics used for the door bins, let the cabin down badly. Although it’s still not quite in the Golf class, the SW’s interior has improved markedly. We’ve come to expect tight shutlines and soft-touch interior plastics nowadays, but the cee’d Sportswagon has other surprise-and-delight features up its sleeve like soft-damped sun visors, ambient lighting which glows a soft red, chrome trim highlights and classy door handles. It all adds to the impression of a car that’s well put together and, just as importantly, likely to stay that way.

​ WHAT DO YOU GET: ​ There are four trim grades. Every Sportswagon comes with electrically-adjustable and heated door mirrors, tilt and slide steering wheel adjustment, front electric windows, projector-style headlights, central locking, a cooled glovebox, ambient lighting, an iPod-friendly audio system, Bluetooth wireless and hill-start assistance. The more you spend, the more you get. The Sportswagon 2 looks like a good bet with its leather trimmed steering wheel, all-round electric windows, cruise control, 16-inch alloys, reversing sensors and posher cabin.

HOW PRACTICAL IS IT? ​ The Sportswagon is longer but lower and narrower than its predecessor. At just over 4.5m long, the Kia is more compact than all its major rivals, but it serves up a larger load bay than any of them - 528 litres up to the luggage cover and up to 1,642 litres with the rear seats folded.

The boot floor is flush with the tailgate and the rear seat bases tumble forward to create a completely flat load bay. A couple of mountain bikes slid in the back no problem. Every model has a useless ‘hidden’ luggage compartment beneath the floor (who actually uses these apart from smugglers?) and useful side load cubby holes, net hooks and a 12-volt accessory socket.

Roof rails are standard, too, so you can carry extra kit on a rack or one of those fancy plastic boxes that look like an upside-down rowing boat.

​ RUNNING COSTS: ​ Fitted with the six-speed manual, Kia’s 1.6 CRDi diesel returns 116g/km of CO2 and returns fuel economy of 64.2mpg. There’s a two-stage accelerator to discourage drivers with a heavy right foot and a fairly pointless digital gearshift indicator (which, like all digital gear indicators, still urges you to shift into sixth even as the cee’d labours up a vertiginous 1:4 hill). Other fuel-saving tech includes a power-saving alternator system, which recharges the battery when coasting and braking, Kia’s stop/start system, and low rolling resistance tyres.

​ VERDICT: ​ ​Have we forgotten why estates were so popular? The Sportswagon is a timely reminder that the shape offers unbeatable luggage capacity and excellent versatility. If an estate was good enough for my granddad, who filled the boot with sacks of potatoes in winter and drove it 52 weeks of the year come rain and snow, it’s more than man enough to see off a posh SUV with its costly 4x4 drive train and brick-like aerodynamics.

Kia cee’d Sportswagon 3

Price: £21,095 on the road

Spec:​ Engine: ​1582cc, four-cylinder, 16-valve turbodiesel Power: ​126bhp @ 4,000rpm Torque: ​192 lb/ft from 1,900rpm Top speed: ​119 mph 0-62mph: ​10.8 seconds Fuel economy: ​64.2mpg (combined) CO2 emissions: ​116g/km Equipment: ​ ​16-inch alloy wheels, privacy glass, self-levelling headlights, electrically-adjustable and heated door mirrors, front fogs, roof rails, four electric windows, dual zone air conditioning, faux leather seat inserts and door trim,centre console wi armrest and storage box, cooled glovebox with door dampner, twin 12v power outlets, USB and aux ports, six-speaker audio system with CD and MP3 disc compatibility, Bluetooth wireless, seven inch touchscreen, European satellite navigation with traffic messaging channel receiver.