Is an estate car an object of desire? The answer to that question will probably depend. For those of a certain background, an estate connotes aspirational, comfortable middle-class living – see Jerry and Margo’s Volvo 145 in The Good Life. For others, however, the estate is altogether more utilitarian; a car that one drives because one must, rather than because one chooses to.

How best to sell an estate car to those buyers who need, but don’t want one, then? Well, jacking one up on stilts and calling it and SUV would seem to be the most popular answer at the moment. 

But there is another way, one which this new Kia ProCeed has taken as its own. The ProCeed used to be a three-door hatchback with...