Kia announces a hot hatch
Rising Korean brand finally gets sporty with a 1.6 turbo three-door
Dubbed the Pro_Cee’d GT and based on the newly launched and good looking three-door version of its Astra/Focus rival, the car has so far only been revealed in picture form as this cartoonish rendering.
It does suggest however that it’ll be a bit of a looker. Aggressive bumpers and Golf GTI-style red accent lines will be matched to big, chunky wheels, promising a car that could just be the first desirable Kia. And, note to Ford, it's easier to make a hot hatch look good by basing it on a three-door.
Power will come from a 1.6-litre direct-injection turbocharged engine, according to the firm, but it didn't reveal the output. Speculation is that it'll achieve around 180hp for a 60mph dash in around seven seconds. It'll be mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.
That makes it warmish rather than hot next to the likes of the Focus ST and Astra VXR, but anything the swells the fast hatch ranks is fine by us.
The car will arrive "in the second half" of next year and while no price has been announced, we'd hazard a guess it'll be sub £20,000. It'll also come with Kia's seven-year warranty.
What do you reckon? Would you buy a Kia hot hatch?
It will use the same engione and but will provide more numbers.
I'm looking forward to it...cartoon sketch aside, it will look really good in the flesh.
I like the Sportage myself but eevn that is quite expensive. It seems to me that whilst Kia are starting to compete, they have lost their huge price advantage to do so. No such thing as a free ride and greater depreciation no doubt.
Give us a ring when you get something more credible by way of a picture.
I'm not a massive fan of DRLs but Schreyer does seem to be able to master the detail - and the family face is the key one...
He put it on a brand new Mazda RX7 back in the day, Mazda certainly weren't very happy when they saw it & made him take it off!
Or it did have.
Dealer maintained from new, all servicing and other work receipted and book stamped.
40,000m and turbo blown, due to a common failure as it's mounted integrally in the manifolds, he was wanting a good will gesture from Vauxhall to cover some of the cost-NO CHANCE.
The brand might not be everyone's cup of tea, neither might the vehicle, but that 7 year warranty could well be worth it's weight in gold........
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