KIA has come a long way with the Ceed since production began in 2006.

For a start the third incarnation of the model sees the name drop the annoying apostrophe and is now spelt with a capital C - so cee'd becomes Ceed standing for the Community of Europe, with European Design.

Which is appropriate as Kia has just received a three design awards for the three different guises of the Korean's new family motor.

The iF Award for design was established in 1953 and is one of the most prestigious design awards globally. This year companies from 50 countries participated submitting 6,400 products to be judged by an international jury of 67 design experts.

It is easy to understand the success as the new Ceed is easy on the eye - inside and out - thanks to Kia's design team at its European centre in Frankfurt under the direction of gurus Gregory Guillaume and Peter Schreyer.

The latest trophies have been awarded to each of the three all-new Ceed variants - the five-door Ceed hatchback and Sportswagon models, launched last year, and the ProCeed five-door shooting brake, which went on-sale in Europe recently.

Taking inspiration from the Kia Stinger grand tourer, the Slovakian-manufactured five-door Ceed hatchback is wider and lower than its predecessor while the cabin is situated further towards the rear of the car giving a sportier stance and shape.

The front of the car has a wider ‘tiger-nose' grille and lower air intake as well as ‘ice cube' daytime running lights.

Built on Kia's new ‘K2' platform the model boasts a larger 395-litre boot as well as greater shoulder room for rear passengers and more headroom in the front row.

There is powered adjustment to get the perfect driving position behind a steering wheel festooned with controls.

The cabin is a pleasant place to spend a journey with good quality soft-touch materials used and surfaces finished in either metallic or satin chrome trim.

The dashboard is laid out horizontally for a slimline appearance with the ‘floating' eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system taking centre stage while controls for the air conditioning are housed below it.

The sat nav graphics are excellent while the feature anticipating traffic problems and offering an alternative route is really helpful. It is easy to link your smartphone to the car's systems while a wireless charger for your mobile is standard on First Edition models.

There is also drive mode select with Normal and Sport settings offered, allowing you to tailor the car's responses to your requirements.

The Ceed is packed with safety gear so in addition to the seven airbags, lane keep assist, high beam assist and forward collision warning with forward collision avoidance assist including pedestrian detection, there are a number of other hi-tech systems.

These include a first for Kia - Lane Follow Assist, which is fitted as standard to First Edition models. This tracks the car in front of you identifying safe spaces in other lanes to gain ground in heavy traffic. It also detects lane markings to keep the car centred while controlling acceleration, braking and steering depending on the convoy of vehicles ahead.

Other goodies include smart cruise control with Stop and Go, blind spot collision warning and smart parking assist.

In it's old spelling the cee'd was functional rather than entertaining when it came to the open road but cometh the new spelling cometh the motor which is enjoyable and responsive thanks to a fully-independent suspension system that gives sharp handling characteristics and an agile feel.

This is also helped by improved steering responses while most of the humps and hollows passing for roads in the UK are absorbed and there is a reassuring amount of grip available when cornering.

The all-new Kappa 1.4-litre T-GDi engine under the bonnet of this Ceed offers more power than the 1.6-litre GDi it replaces and its turbocharger makes it a responsive individual that can reach 60mph from a standing start in 8.6 seconds on its way to a top speed of 130mph.

It is easy on the juice thanks in part to a stop/start function so Kia claim an average fuel economy figure of almost 49mpg and carbon dioxide emissions of 132g/km.

The Ceed family is competitively priced from £18,295 for the five-door hatchback, £19,295 for the Sportswagon and £23,835 for the ProCeed - especially as Kia throws in its unique seven-year 100,000-mile transferrable warranty.