THERE was a period when the estate was considered very much yesterday's car.

In the late 1980s and part of the 90s the hatchback had stolen the thunder of wheeled versatility and the poor old estate was very much an also ran, except for some upmarket offerings.

But this all changed with the advent of  lifestyle estates, sweepingly styled offerings that left the utilitarian character of the old fashioned, boxy estates in the slow lane.

Now the lifestyle estate is king of the hill in a marketplace in which business drivers need upmarket, capacious vehicles that are not only luxurious but look just as good as a premium saloon or hatch.

An offshoot is the sports estate and the latest crop features some interesting contenders.

One such is Kia's unusually named cee'd Sportswagon, based on the new cee'd hatchback.

First seen at the Geneva Motor Show last year, it emanated from the company's Frankfurt design studios and built at the company's Zilina plant in Slovakia.

Korean it may be by name, but this is a European car through and through, riding high on the fact that the Sportswagon has already outsold the hatchback among business users.

It is sold in the UK with advanced and highly efficient turbodiesel engines. With their high torque and low running costs they are ideally suited to lugging heavy loads over high mileages.

With this in mind I took to the roads in a 1.6 126bhp version and first impressions were of a very good looking car, featuring the now famous 'tiger nose' grille of the latest Kia range.

It is to all intents and purposes a mid-sized estate and lives up to its sporty nametag by being able to attain 119mph and zooming to 60mph in 10.8 seconds.

This car was the better equipped 4 version which comes with a luggage area rail and partition system and barrier net, larger alloys, exterior illumination to the front door handles, black leather seats, heated steering wheel and electronic parking brake, engine stop-start button and premium centre console with multi-function LCD display and much more.

For £22,895 this is a very well equipped car and on the road it proves itself extremely well, featuring a supple ride, excellent cornering manners and a combined mpg figure of 64.2. CO2 emissions are not bad either at 116g/km.

The gearbox is worthy of mention, being a neatly spaced and very smooth six-speed manual.

All of this is underpinned by Kia's seven-year/100,000 mile warranty which is another reason why this manufacturer is on the up in Europe.

With build quality worthy of comparison to some top European brands, the cee'd Sportswagon is a far cry from some of the earlier much more basic cars which were among the ranks of the cheap and cheerful.