Kia Cee'd Sportswagon (2012 – 2018) Review

The Kia Cee’d range encompassed three-door and five-door hatches, plus the excellent Kia Sportswagon Cee’d estate from 2012. It’s a superbly useful mid-size family load hauler with efficient engines and plenty of standard kit. This gives it the credentials to rival the Ford Focus Estate and fellow big-seller the Vauxhall Astra Sport Tourer. Read on for our full Kia Cee’d Sportswagon review.

It might sound like something overtly sporty, but the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon is a stylish family estate.

As with the hatchback, the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon was excellent value new, with an affordable price and generous equipment levels, plus a huge boot. All of this still applies to the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon as a used car.

It has 1642 litres of load space with the seats folded – more than estate versions of the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus – plus plenty of standard equipment, with entry-level models getting air-conditioning, Bluetooth, DAB and steering wheel-mounted audio controls.

Inside, it’s spacious for families, with lots of headroom and kneeroom in the front, while the rear bench will prove a comfortable fit for large adults, thanks to the high roofline and intelligent spacing between the front and rear seats.

The interior isn’t as smart or as refined as the Volkswagen Golf’s, but it’s a big improvement over the cheap and dated cabin of the previous Kia Cee’d.

All the buttons and controls have a much better feel and the simple dashboard takes just moments to master, too.

Interior storage is plentiful, with lots of cubby holes and cup holders. The only drawback is the lack of peace and quiet, thanks to intrusive road and engine noise.  

There’s a good choice of engines in the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon, starting with a 1.4-litre petrol. It was followed by a newer 1.0-litre turbo petrol with more power.

But the best is probably the 1.6 CRDi diesel, which is relaxed on the motorway and economical, too.

The Kia Cee’d Sportswagon might not match its rivals for handling or straight-line performance, but it ticks enough of the boxes to make it one of the best estates around for value and practicality.

It’s easy to use and extremely comfortable, while its generous equipment levels make it ideal for those wanting a premium car feel without actually paying the premium.

Fancy a second opinion? Read heycar’s Kia Cee’d review here.

The luggage capacity of the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon is greater than that of the Ford Focus Estate and Volkswagen Golf Estate, with a maximum of 1642 litres when you lower the rear seats.

That’s just 80 litres less than was on offer from the Skoda Octavia Estate, which was among the largest of the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon’s rivals at the time of its launch in 2012.

Accessing the load area is easy enough, with a low load lip and large opening. There’s also useful underfloor storage, but we have found the rear seats to be awkward to fold due to their fiddly operation.

However, once lowered, you do get a flat floor, and this provides van-like practicality. 

The cabin is spacious, with lots of headroom and legroom in the front. The rear bench will also prove comfortable for large adults, with lots of knee room and shoulder room.

The driving position is particularly good, and there’s plenty of adjustment in the seat, with reach and height adjustable-steering, too.

This means it takes just a few seconds to get settled behind the wheel, while the large wing mirrors and huge windscreen provide strong all-round vision. 

The interior doesn’t match the high-quality trim or smartness of a Volkswagen Golf, but it’s a huge improvement over the cheap, plastic-heavy interior of the previous Kia Cee’d.

Just as importantly, the materials have proven they can withstand years of use without looking battered or faded.

The higher-spec Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 3 and Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 4 models at launch in 2012 came with a seven-inch infotainment touchscreen.

It has sat-nav and also doubles as the screen for the reversing camera.

You can find an early Kia Cee’d Sportswagon of this generation with 80,000 miles and the 1.6-litre turbodiesel engine for £5000, which seems like excellent value to us.

Petrol-powered models are thin on the ground, so expect to pay a premium of around £2000.

While these cars are allowed into low-emissions zones free of charge, the earlier diesels have to pay a penalty or are forbidden, depending on the city concerned. 

A later diesel Kia Cee’d Sportswagon with a Euro 6 engine that can travel freely into low-emissions zones will cost around £10,500 for a GT-Line model.

Or you could opt for the characterful 1.0-litre petrol engine as a frugal alternative for the same sort of money.

No Kia Cee’d Sportswagon is going to demand too much of your hard-earned cash at the fuel pump.

The 1.4 petrol was originally the cheapest way into the car, and offers 42.8mpg claimed economy. That works out to a respectable 39mpg in our Real MPG data.

Better still is the 1.6 CRDi diesel that can achieve up to 72.4mpg on official figures. This means 60mpg in normal driving conditions.

That’s hard to argue against, although the 1.0-litre petrol makes a case for itself with a claimed 54.3mpg and real-world return of 40mpg.

The 134PS diesel emits as little as 102g/km of carbon dioxide in its later form, and this engine attracts a road tax payment of £180 per year, as do all models registered from 1 April 2017.

On models registered before then, the 1.6 diesel means an annual payment of £35 per year, and the 1.0-litre petrol comes in at the same amount.

Stick with the lower trims and the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon is surprisingly cheap to get insured. The most basic models sit in group 7, but even the flashiest is no higher than group 16.

When it comes to servicing, the estate will cost much the same as the hatch versions, which means there will be no nasty surprises.

Like the Kia Cee’d hatchback and closely related Hyundai i30 Tourer of the period, the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon rides and handles best on its standard spec 15-inch wheels.

As you’d expect, the handling is slightly better and the ride slightly worse on 16-inch wheels, while the 17-inch alloys provide the best cornering in tandem with the hardest, most uncomfortable ride.

The car is comfortable and composed on the motorway, but lacks the sharpness and fun of the Ford Focus Estate and Volkswagen Golf Estate.

The Flex Steer system – standard on Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 2 models – does allow the driver to choose from three levels of power assistance to the steering: Comfort, Normal and Sport. But the differences in handling are minuscule.

Few used buyers will care about straight-line speed or mid-corner grip. What does matter is that the car is competent at motorway speeds, with a good ride and minimal body roll in corners.

Neither speed bumps nor rough roads will unsettle the ride and – bar the occasional bout of engine and road noise – the cabin is pleasant enough for long trips. 

The engine range consists of 1.0-litre and 1.4-litre petrol engines, with 100PS and 120PS, plus 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre diesels with 90PS or 134PS respectively.

The most popular powertrain is the 1.6 CRDi diesel, and all engines are paired with a six-speed manual as standard.

There is, however, the option of a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox for the higher powered diesel motor.

None of the engines is particularly quick, but they’re smooth to drive with decent levels of torque and predictable power delivery.

All of the diesels are sprightly in the lower gears, which means they’re good for driving around town, but quickly run out of puff.

As a result, you have to push the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon rather hard to get up to speed on the motorway, and even the most powerful versions become quite vocal above 3500rpm.

The Kia Cee’d earned a five-star rating when tested by Euro NCAP at its launch date.

This put it among the safest cars in its class, and it remains a good bet for family drivers today.

All models come with six airbags, ESP traction and stability control, ABS anti-lock brakes and hill start assistance. There is also emergency stop signalling.

All but the most basic trim levels come with rear parking sensors, while the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 3 trim and above enjoy a reversing camera.

The Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 4 Tech model added front parking sensors, parallel parking assist and a lane departure warning. 

In 2016, blind spot detection and rear cross traffic alert, and traffic sign recognition, became available as options across the range.

If you intend to tow with the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon of this era, the diesel models are the ones to aim for as they have the higher capacities.

With an unbraked trailer, you can pull up to 650kg, while a braked trailer raises that limit to 1500kg. The petrol models make do with limits of 600kg and 1400kg respectively.

The Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 1 has a luggage area under-floor tray and side tray, a retractable and removable load cover, a boot light and a rear 12-volt power socket and roof rails.

Also standard are electrically adjustable heated door mirrors, tilt and telescopic steering wheel adjustment and a height-adjustable driver’s seat, air-conditioning, steering wheel-mounted controls, front electric windows with auto up and down function and daytime running lights.

Kia also provided remote central locking, a cooled glovebox, flat-folding 60:40 split rear seats, ambient front lighting, an iPod-compatible audio system with radio and CD player, USB port and Bluetooth connectivity, speed-sensitive auto door locking, and alloy wheels on all 1.6-litre versions.

The Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 2 adds cornering lights, LED daytime running lights and rear combination lamps, electrically folding and heated door mirrors with LED indicators and kerbside lights, leather trim on the steering wheel, gear shifter and handbrake, and greater use of chrome highlights.

There’s a rear centre armrest, all-round electric windows, luggage net, cruise control with speed limiter, reversing sensors and the Flex Steer function. 

In the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 3, you find privacy glass, automatic headlights with a ‘follow-me-home’ function, rain-sensing front wipers with de-icing elements, a height-adjustable front passenger’s seat, electric lumbar support on both front seats, black and silver seat cloth and auto-dimming rear-view mirror.

This trim also has dual-zone automatic air-conditioning with two-step air-flow control and a seven-inch touchscreen satellite navigation. This features European mapping and UK postcode entry, plus there’s a built-in colour reversing camera.

On the Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 4, you get a luggage area rail and partition system and barrier net, larger 17-inch alloys, exterior illumination on the front door handles, black leather seats with contrasting grey inserts and three-stage heating, a heated steering wheel and electronic parking brake.

An engine stop/start button and smart entry system become standard, as well as rear air ventilation, a premium centre console with sliding cover and a speed and multi-function LCD high-definition colour display.

The Kia Cee’d Sportswagon 4 Tech is distinguished by its panoramic sunroof, 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with memory, Parallel Park Assist System including front parking sensors, Lane Departure Warning System and Xenon adaptive front lighting system with automatic levelling.

The later Kia Cee’d Sportswagon GT and Kia Cee’d Sportswagon GT-Line trims matched the 3 and 4 versions, but with sportier styling accents inside and out.