Lucie Loves... Cars // Test-driving the new 2019 Kia ProCeed GT in Barcelona and getting all Top Gear with The Everyday Man at Parcmotor Castellolí racetrack [Press trip / review - Unpaid AD]
How many of you watch Top Gear or The Grand Tour? Have ANY OF you ever done a track day or dreamed of zooming about in a racing car? Until this trip, my opportunity to pretend to be The Stig had not yet materialised…
I’d visited Barcelona a couple of times previously. The first time was when I was in my early twenties and Interrailing – travelling by train – for a month around Europe. The next time was a trip with Microsoft in 2015, for the Mobile World Congress. However, despite being extremely lovely trips, these were solely based in the city centre and didn’t require us to do any venturing further afield.
That is, until this recent trip with Kia, where I was let loose behind the wheel and instructed – scrap that – ENCOURAGED to put my foot to the floor!
A group of fellow lifestyle and car bloggers, including myself and my good friends, The Everyday Man and Annie Bean and her husband, Nick, were invited to join a gaggle of automotive press from the UK and Europe for the day, to put the brand new Kia ProCeed GT to the test.
The mission – should we choose to accept: Fly out to Barcelona airport, pick up our choice of brand new Kia ProCeed GT car and make our own way from Barcelona Airport to Parcmotor Castelloli race-track.
Over the course of the afternoon we would flick through a series of scenic and very windy driving routes, kindly pre-programmed into the ProCeed’s Sat Nav by the Kia team.
But not before we got a real adrenalin hit, by burning rubber around the Parcmotor Castelloli race track, situated under the watchful eye of Catalonia’s multi-peaked mountain range, Montserrat.
Kia are by far one of my favourite car brands to work with as a blogger, and they just keep delivering the goods each time they put together an Influencer press trip for a new car launch.
It’s always a bit of a shock to the system to go from driving on the left side of the road in the U.K. and just a short flight later, find yourself driving on the right! Thankfully, driving alongside my mate, The Everyday Man, John, meant that we could keep an eye out for one another, should we forget!
The ProCeed GT itself is a rather elegant and sporty hatchback car, priced at around £28,135 and comes with a 1,591cc, four-cylinders, turbocharged petrol, 201bhp @ 6,000rpm engine. In terms of competition, it’s said to be up against the likes of the VW Golf GTI and the Hyundai i30 Fastback N - according to Nick Lette van Oostvoorne.
When taken on a few laps around the track at Parcmotor Castelloli, the Kia ProCeed GT felt robust in build and handling; as it confidently snaked its way around each bend. I’m only sorry that I wasn’t brave enough to put my foot down more and go a little bit faster! It’s definitely made me want to do more track day experiences. I can’t express how empowering it is to drive in conditions like that! Anyway, aside from whizzing around a race track, the Kia ProCeed GT, with it’s plentiful boot space would also be a great car for any thirty somethings like me who enjoy a road trip or even just a nip into town in comfort.
Read the Kia ProCeed GT full specifications.
Photography © Lucie Kerley