Once there was a very keen and self-assured music student who was quite confident of his abilities as a composer of note.
One good day, he confidently approached his music professor and asked whether the wise old man would be willing to listen to his newly penned, all-original piano concerto and comment on it.
As the younger musician sat down at the piano and cracked his knuckles with a flourish, the professor sat down somewhat impatiently, hat on his head, because he really wanted to go home after a hard day's teaching.
The young man thundered into his rendition, fingers rushing up and down the keys, clearly carried away by the music. Some distance into the performance, the professor sat up and tipped his hat. Encouraged, the student played on.
Not too much later, the professor tipped his hat again. Again the student burst forth with more gusto. By the end of the performance, the professor had lifted his hat several times.
And as the last notes faded, echoing in the empty hall, the student jumped up and turned to his professor.
"What's your opinion, sir?" the young man enquired excitedly.
"Oh, it's quite reasonable, I'm sure," said the professor.
"I thought you really liked it because you tipped your hat every now and again," the student said, somewhat taken aback.
"Oh no, dear boy, I always lift my hat when I come across old acquaintances," the professor retorted.
In a world where many cars follow very much the same lines, that is how I feel about the Kia pro_cee'd. Yes, that is the name - pro_cee'd, just like that, no capital letters.
I'm not even going to begin to explain.
With its body design strongly reminiscent of a combination of the Opel Astra OPC and Audi A3, I was forced to tip my hat several times in recognition of old acquaintances.
In fact, the first time I saw it, I thought it was an Opel. And then I changed my mind and assumed it was an Audi. But then the Toyota Run-X came to mind. And then I saw the Kia badge and I was thoroughly confused - until I looked at it more carefully and drove it.
Kia has certainly come a long way. The first Kia to impress me was the little Picanto I test-drove during the first half of last year.
Then came the pro_cee'd.
Now I would not go so far as to say that its build quality is as good as the cars it resembles, but then it is a matter of horses for courses and you get what you pay for.
WORLD PREMIERE
The pro_cee'd is basically Kia's view of a hot hatch and although it would be unrealistic to expect it to be as hot as the others mentioned above, it certainly offered nippy driving with quite good handling.
The pro_cee'd made its world premiere at the Frankfurt International Motor Show on September 11, 2007. Based closely on the earlier pro_cee'd concept car shown at the Paris Motor Show in 2006, the new production model was developed by Kia Motors' design team in Europe under the guidance of Gregory Guillaume, Kia Motors European chief designer.
Kia says the styling for the pro_cee'd comes from a dedicated multinational Kia design team in Germany (assisted by a design team in Korea), after which it was introduced to the market under the direction of chief design officer Peter Schreyer.
They are the first-ever Kia cars designed and manufactured in Europe and Kia believes they are already introducing a qualitative revolution for the brand.
It may be interesting to note that this car has won eight international Car of the Year style awards and numerous other international magazine awards, and ranked first in more than 30 international comparative road tests. And the company claims the Kia cee'd model range is the most decorated Korean-brand ever in Europe.
NEAT AND TIDY INTERIOR
High honours indeed, given that just about all the Korean makes have improved in leaps and bounds since they were first introduced to the South African market.
So, what is it like?
The first thing you notice when you open the door is the very neat and tidy interior, without much in the line of bling and trinkets. That was one thing I really appreciated. The car has a quiet, comfortable interior and the seats are well sculpted to offer good support.
Everything is at hand, there is nothing weird or eccentric about the lay-out of the dash, the positioning of equipment or the way things work. You can use this car instinctively - it would be as if you had driven it before.
There is much about this car that reminds you of Toyota. Kia certainly appears to have arrived where Toyota was only a few years ago, except for certain things that are even better than that.
And if, through that, you gather that I have a huge respect for Toyota, you'd be spot on. As far as everyman cars are concerned, they remain the masters. Looking at the Kia though, you'd be excused for adding the term "for now".
LIVELY - BUT NEEDS A REV
The pro-cee'd is sporty for its class. Fortunately, the suspension is not a spine-killer, although I did find it a bit on the harsh side on uneven road surfaces, where it would begin to shudder a bit.
The two-litrem double overhead camshaft engine with continuously variable valve timing is lively, but needs revving to perform.
Yet, it remained quite frugal with its use of petrol. I managed to get just under 10 litres over 100km on city and open roads.
Kia says it produces 105.2kW of power at 6 000 revs and 186.3Nm of torque at 4 600 revs. There is a bit of a shortage of the latter low down in the revs, so you might find you need to gun the engine a bit at take-off.
Another thing I liked about the car (and so did Mrs Du Plessis) was the spaciousness. It is not a small car and happily swallows the month's shopping, for example.
This car comes with all the electronic goodies associated with modern European cars, from stability control through traction control and brake assist to anti-lock brakes.
They all work very well, especially the brakes.
Add to that all the safety systems, such as air bags all over the place, impact protection and crumple zones and one should not be surprised to hear the car has been awarded a five-star European safety rating.
PRICE AND WARRANTY
The pro_cee'd comes standard with a five-year/100 000km warranty, as well as a three-year/ 60 000km maintenance plan. There is also a three-year unlimited kilometre Roadside Assistance Programme in case of an emergency breakdown situation.
For a price of R249 995 for the base model and R289 995, this car boxes well above its weight. Now to give it a bit more of a solid feel