With a starting price of a moderate £20,795 for a 1.0-litre manual XCeed in ‘2’ trim, justifying the leap to a pre-discounted £29,195, an £8,400 increase, for the top version, 1.4-litre T-GDi in 7-speed automated-manual gearbox form, involves deep faith. Firstly, I should point out that a manual ’box is available in First Edition form at £1,100 less, although I sampled the former.

As Kia’s Capri-for-a-new-generation, apart from looking the business externally, it provides a techno-fest for the button pushing brigade. Almost impossible to list its extensive features in this space, let me summarise by informing you that it has an automatic parking system, blind-spot monitoring system, intelligent speed limiter, forward collision avoidance, lane-keep system, semi-autonomous steering assist, emergency braking and skid avoidance. 

Yet, this top version of XCeed is also packed with luxury features that include the leatherette and yellow/black patterned cloth upholstery, a panoramic sunroof with automatic roller-blind, electric tailgate, electrically adjustable and heated front seats with the outer pair heated in the rear, a 12.3-inch programmable touchscreen, wireless mobile-phone charger and an eight speaker JBL hi-fi system. It goes a long way towards justifying the ‘all-in’ price tag.

Power is provided by Kia’s familiar, 138bhp turbo-petrol engine, driving through the aforementioned, twin-clutch automated-manual gearbox, which lacks sadly a paddle-shift mechanism. It is enough to whisk the 1,345kgs hatchback from 0-60mph in a modest 9.2s (manual: 9.1s), to a top speed of 124mph. Its 40.4mpg official fuel consumption figure is conservative, as I attained around 45.5mpg on the test. It has a 134g/km CO2 rating, which equates to a road tax of £210.

Leaving the gearbox to its own devices allowed me to concentrate more on the steering and handling agility of the XCeed. Apart from a lot of road noise, which I attribute to the low-profile tyres (although it was prevalent on the lesser-wheeled 1.0-litre version too, which suggests some additional NVH work may be necessary), the crispness in steering and suspension responses supports the sportier impression that Kia wants to impart in this model line-up. The ride quality can become a little ‘nuggety’ on some give-and-take surfaces but it is generally quite smooth, refined and capable of dealing with driver inputs most comprehensively.

Thanks to copious levels of mechanical grip, the XCeed can cover ground at a remarkable pace and packed with creature comforts and one of the best driving positions that I have experienced in any car of its dimensions, it is very easy to understand why Kia has so few problems in converting customers to its models. In ‘First Edition’ trim, you will not want for much (except perhaps those steering wheel mounted shift paddles) and the support of a seven years warranty is a very potent incentive.