The original seed was a turning point for Kia. More than just cheap A to B transport, it was a Korean car you might actually want to buy, and thousands did. Now there's a second generation seed and it has a lot to live up to. Can Kia move the game on again? First impressions are promising. The seed was styled by Peter Schreier, a man whose greatest hits include the original Audi TT, and it's a much sleeker, more dynamic looking design than the car it replaces. That said, the Kia needs more than just a pretty face to take on heavy hitters like the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf. Seat buyers have a choice of four engines, 1.4 and 1.6 litre petrols, or 1.4 and 1.6 litre diesel. The car we're driving today is the 133 brake horsepower 1.6 petrol, which is likely to be the best seller of the range. Out on the road, the gear change is a smoother and so much faster with this DCT gearbox. This is pretty similar to the DSG box you get in various Volkswagen's Audi's and so on, in that it uses two clutches to line up the next gear before you shift. It really does feel up to the same standard as the best dual clutch gear boxes from the German manufacturers. Although it's an expensive option at £1300 and only available on the 1.6 petrol. There's also a sport mode so that it hangs onto gears longer to give you extra performance, or you can change gears manually by using the paddles behind the steering wheel. Most seeds are the five-door hatchback seen here, but there's also a three-door hatch called the Pro Seed and an Estate, the SW. Under the skin, the C-Cheers engines and most other parts with its system model, the high-end I-30. Both cars cost from around £14.5,000, around £1,000 more than before, and the top-spec gear stretches to nearly £24,000. The key difference between the two cars is that the I-30 comes with a five-year warranty, while the gear is covered for seven years, the longest of any brand. It's one of the main reasons why Kia won best car manufacturer at the Witcher Awards 2012. The benchmark knought to 62 miles an hour sprint takes 10.4 seconds, so performance is adequate if hardly exciting. When the Kia struggles a bit is on the motorway, and that's where the extra torque or pulling power of the 1.6-litre diesel that we tried previously really pays dividends. Camed fuel economy for the Seed varies widely from 46 MPG for the petrol auto up to a thrifty 76 MPG for the E-code dynamic's diesel. We'll be testing the Seed in our lab soon, so keep an eye on the witch car website to see if our real world figures get close to those claims. Cheap and brittle plastic trim was a hallmark of Korean cars of the past, but thankfully Kia has come a long way since then. Even so, the interior quality won't have Volkswagen worried just yet. We're not big fans of this shiny silver and black plastic look, and this top spec model has loads of buttons all over the dashboard. There's a good amount of space in the front, plus enough room for three adults in the back, and a practical hatchback boot. The rear seats lie completely flat when folded, making it easy to slide luggage in and out. Like the rest of Kia's range, trim levels for the Seed are numbered one to four. All models get air conditioning, electric windows in the front, Bluetooth and a CD player that you can also plug your iPod into. The Seed 2 gets rear parking sensors while the 3 and 4 have a reversing camera. There's also a top spec for tech model seen here with an automatic parking system. So, you shouldn't have any problems parking the Seed, and like other Kia's it's very easy to drive. The controls are light, and you can actually make the steering even lighter with the optional flex steering control. We just wish there was a bit more feedback in corners, the Ford Focus is still more fun to drive. The Kia's ride is firm but comfortable, but again it's not up there with the best in class, especially on the larger 17 inch wheels fitted to this car. At the time of testing, the Seed hadn't been crash tested by Euro NCAP, but the old car scored of full five stars. Equally, this Seed is still too new for us to have model specific data from the Witch Car survey. However, Kia as a brand scored an above average four stars for both reliability and customer satisfaction in the 2012 survey, so the signs are good. Around 30 different medium sized cars are all vying for buyers checkbooks, so does the Seed still have a place in this increasingly competitive market? We think the answer is yes. It's not as cheap as it once was, but it's still good value, especially when you look at the amount of equipment you get as standard. Add in likely good reliability and that unbeatable seven year warranty, and the Seed's still a very sensible choice.