33: Kia Ceed – Wider range and appeal wins out against Korean sibling

The Kia Ceed is not only a hugely impressive five-door family hatch (and estate) it's also spreading its wings outinto the sports estate and quasi-SUV arenas.

A basic Ceed is just that; a simple, well-equipped five-door hatch that’s reasonably good to drive, reasonably handsome, safe, and very practical indeed. Go for the estate version, with its whopping 600-litre boot, and you have a truly useful family car. The interesting stuff starts to happen when you start looking into the further corners of the Ceed range.

The Proceed - once a coupe, now a rakish sports estate with Porsche styling overtones - just might be the best car in the whole Ceed range. The newly-arriving XCeed crossover hatchback is (a) an answer to a question no-one asked and (b) surprisingly good for all that.

Best model: Proceed 1.4 GT-Line for €28,945.