Just one minor issue before lockdown, that was resolved easily, thanks to excellent customer service.

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Full lockdown was strange for everyone and presented logistical challenges for all those involved in the fleet industry. Vehicle collections and deliveries were delayed or deferred and as the measures eased, then came the headache of social distancing concerns, sterile (or as sterile as possible) vehicle handovers and the logistics of getting delivery drivers back to base in the safest way possible.

Our Kia’s collection last month, having been significantly delayed, is a little microcosm of the mobility challenges businesses in general, and the fleet industry specifically, will be facing going forwards.

It’s all the more fortunate therefore that the one issue that we experienced in our time with the ProCeed was sorted just before lockdown. A symbol came on the dashboard display one morning that I have to confess, I didn’t recognise at all, but it turned out to be the Petrol Particulate Filter (PPF). The only slight indication that the car wasn’t running 100% was a marginal stutter at low speed/low revs, but we thought best to err on the side of caution and get the vehicle checked out.

And here is where Kia’s excellent customer service came to the fore, with a technician arriving the following day, in an identical vehicle – which was effectively on standby if the problem couldn’t be resolved there and then – and with a laptop and diagnostic equipment.

There was the suggestion that the ProCeed had been carrying out lots of short trips and therefore the filter wasn’t able to operate as efficiently as it otherwise would have, but 5 minutes after being plugged in and a few key strokes, the light was out and the car performed perfectly thereafter.

In a sense, it’s almost nice to report on this rather than referencing the car’s metronomic efficiency as aftersales care is a big part of fleet suppliers’ portfolios, and it also shows how much modern cars rely upon their electronic brains to run efficiently.

Reflecting on our six+ months with the ProCeed… the 1.4-litre petrol engine provided a consistent 45mpg+ and never missed a beat until PPFgate; it drew admiring glances wherever it went – at least three separate people commented on the car’s styling when it was being refuelled; that styling meant more practicality than the hatchback but less than the estate (a post-lockdown trip to Ikea proved its versatility); and the heated seats were wonderful, not just in terms of thermal efficiency but also for comfort on long trips.

As a compromise, sitting somewhere between an estate and a hatchback and with reasonable BIK and economy figures, it’s been a pretty good one.

P11D:£23,470 (30%) MPG/CO2: 45.6mpg*/130g/km** Test MPG:49.7mpg

* WLTP
**NEDC Correlated

Luke Wikner