Sure you have seen the first episode of Top Gear season 15, and realized the their old Chevy Lacetti got a dignified funeral (sort of!) and have been replaced by a 1.6 manual five door C-segment Kia Cee’d. Kia is chuffed to bits regarding this event and hope it’ll help with the sales! After all Top Gear has not been very friendly to Korean cars so far, so they count this as a sort of approval.

Stephen Kitson, Communications Director of Kia Motors (UK) Ltd., said: “The last time Top Gear paid us any attention I think they tried to build one of our cars out of washing machines – so this is quite a step forward in their understanding of just how Kia has changed over the last six years.

“The cee’d has become a strong player in the mid-sized family car market and just this year J.D.Power named it best small-medium car in their annual quality survey – so it should stand up well to anything the star guests can throw at it.

The £13,930 cee’d 2 1.6 manual –that comes with Kia’s unmatched 7 Year Warranty – features a four-cylinder 1,591 cc engine producing 124 brake horse power and a very flexible 113 lb’ft of torque. Capable of returning 46.3 mpg on the combined cycle the cee’d emits 146gms of CO2 per kilometre – though in use in the show it is unlikely to match that performance.