Kia EV4: The Electric Hatch That the VW ID.3 Wanted To Be
The Kia EV4 has finally arrived and is ready to be purchased here in the UK. This is the first fully electric hatchback from Kia and it is bridging the gap between their lovely compact EV3 and their little bit bigger EV5 which is more family focused and is of course an SUV. This is a gorgeous hatchback. It also does come as a fastback as well. But this car is able to offer you a lovely mix of practicality, space, and comfort without having to go for that SUV styling. Now, if you want to know more about the whole kind of design of the car, then I have already done a video on that. You can watch it right here. That was when I was able to do a walk around of the car when it was first able to be seen. But now, today we’re doing a driving experience. I’m able to tell you the numbers with the range, with the drivetrain, with the efficiency. So, that is what we’re going to be going into today. So, if that sounds good to you, then stick around. But first up, let’s go into the spec. The Kia EV4 is available with two battery options and a familiar three-grade lineup, the Air, GT Line, and GT Line S. The range starts from £34,695 for the entry-level EV4 Air with a 58.3 kWh battery offering up to 273 mi on a single charge. Step up to the long range 81.4 kWh pack and that figure climbs to a remarkable 388 mi, the longest range of any Kia EV to date. The GT Line and GT Line S trims both come with the larger battery as standard, delivering up to 362 miles of range. Prices for those start from just over £39,000 and just under £44,000, respectively. The GT Line S is also available with a heat pump for an additional £900. And with £435 L of boot space in the hatchback and £490 L in the fastback, the EV4 isn’t just about efficiency. It’s built to be practical, too. All models are powered by a single front mounted electric motor producing 150 kW or 201 horsepower and 283 Newton meters of torque, which is good for a naught to 62 of around 7.5 seconds and a top speed of 105 mph. Charging is handled via Kia’s familiar 400vt architecture, meaning a 10 to 80% top up takes just 29 minutes using a 350 kW DC charger. Inside the EV4 gets Kia’s latest connected car navigation cockpit spanning twin 12.3 in displays with an extra 5.3 in climate touchscreen. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come as standard along with Kia’s new AI assistant powered by Chat GPT capable of travel planning, music suggestions, and even casual conversation for those long and lonely drives. Hey Kia, how tall is the Empire State Building? The Empire State Building is 1,454 ft, 4543.2 m tall, including its antenna. That was actually pretty quick, I have to say, for it having to go back to the cloud and get that information. The topsp spec GT Line S models takes things up a notch with ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, premium relaxation seats, and theater mode, which recines the seats and dims the ambient lighting for streaming Netflix, YouTube or Disney Plus whilst charging. Today, I thought I would take on the lower spec option, the Air, but go for the biggest range available. So, this is the longer range battery, which delivers 388 mi of range. And I’m so interested to see how the efficiency is with this car. Come on, let’s go for a drive. I’m on the wrong side. I’m so excited to finally be driving this car because the first time I saw it, it was very much just a walk around, no driving. But now it’s on sale in the UK. You can buy this and deliveries are expected around autumn time. So, looking at the leaves around now, this very much feels like your Kia car. It has a very similar setup. You have a nice mix of the dual screens at the top here, but you’ve also got buttons for those quick shortcuts to where you need to go. So, being able to navigate the infotainment is completely manageable. You’ve also got buttons here as well for climate control, as well as this little screen at the top here. So, however you prefer to use the car, you are able to do that. At the moment, I am using the car’s navigation system, which is fine. But, of course, a lot of us are going to be wanting to use the Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, which is just so simple and easy to set up, which I have done already. And as you can see from a standing start there, I am currently driving in normal mode. And you get what you expect really. It’s fairly responsive. It feels like it’s taking note of the fact you might have some passengers in the car and it’s not doing too much in terms of power to get you off the line. But when you switch up into sport mode, this is where the car really sings. There’s a lovely mix of being a little bit more planted to the road, a little bit more responsive on the steering wheel. Now, I will say there still is a little bit of body roll when you get into some really intense corners, but for a car that is spacious, it is a little bit more planted to the ground than say the EV5, which is the SUV option, it combines a lovely mix of practicality, of drivability, and it can be fairly nippy off the line as well. When I switch it down into eco mode, obviously you can feel that change in response. It’s a little bit squishier on the pedals. And speaking of squishy, actually, the suspension is pretty nice in here as well. I would say that there’s a nice blend of smoothing out those really rough bumps on the road, but doesn’t feel too bouncy. But eco mode is obviously all about range. And you have your different pedals behind the steering as well, so that you can switch up that regen mode. And that’s something that I love about Kia. They are able to give you a nice range of regen options. There are some other EVs where you just kind of get what you’re given. With this, there are three levels of regen, or you can go down into zero, which is a fourth as well, where there is absolutely no regen at all. But whatever spec you go for, all of the EV4s come with a single motor. I think the whole thing here is about affordability. Keeping it to that one motor, they’re basically able to adapt the car in terms of the features that it has. It keeps it low cost and you get a nice change in terms of feel of what you get inside the car, but of course the powertrain does stay the same. So as you go around the corner here, quite a tight roundabout. There is a bit of body roll. That is to be expected. And the acceleration, even an eco, it does pick up fairly quickly. It’s not a rapid response, but it’s pretty good for a family car. Vision in the EV4 is good. You’ve got some nice big wing mirrors. You’ve got nice big windscreen here. You’ve got a lovely large rear window at the back there as well. And of course, you do have lane assist. You’ve got some nice additional features that make sure that you’re not going to be bumping into anything anytime soon. Standard safety equipment is extensive across all trims, including forward collision avoidance assist 2.0, highway driving assist 2.0, smart cruise control, and blind spot collision avoidance. When it comes with driving, obviously, we need to be hands-free. Then maybe at some point you’re going to want to change your route, your navigation, and rather than have to fiddle about here, I can just ask the car itself. So, hey, Kia, can you please direct me to Big Ben in London? Do you want to be guided to this place? There you go. And it’s come up really quickly. So, I’m just going to say no because I want to stay on my route. Thank you. Cancel on the There we go. Do you know what I really like as well? A lot of electric cars these days are obviously integrating this AI voice chat that you can do, but sometimes it can be really hard to cancel it. Like you can start talking to it or it thinks that you’re talking to it and then all of a sudden it’s just listening to every word and you can’t cancel it and you’re faffing around. All you need to do with the EV4 is just touch the infotainment screen and it stops. Bliss. The EV4 hits a really nice sweet spot for me in terms of size, but also being able to kind of squeeze through those smaller gaps. It’s not a large vehicle by any means. It’s large enough that you’re able to get a nice bit of space in the cabin and also in the boot. A very impressive amount of space in the boot. Actually, driving on country roads or even driving through those tighter spots in the city, I feel confident with this car. I feel I’m completely aware of every single side of this vehicle. It’s a really nice size. So, if you’re looking for a family car that fits in five people pretty comfortably, but you don’t want to have that bigger SUV styling, then this is a really nice sweet spot. Next up, I wanted to get familiar with the GT Line S specification. And boy does it feel like a step up in here. And I had to try the fancy incar extras. This car actually can be set into what’s called theater mode. So you’re able to pull up your media on screen and all the ambient lighting will dip to give you the best experience possible to watch. And can I just say the speakers in here, Harman Carden, they are so good. You’re able to use YouTube, Disney Plus, Netflix. you’re able to watch your own media whilst you are parked up. So, say if you’re charging, then this is a really great feature because it means that charging is going to go by really quickly and be enjoyable. So, it feels like you’re sitting inside a little theater rather than a car. The second feature I want to show you is relax mode. So, you go into this and basically the whole car can shut off. You can set your climate control as well and you can either have a rest or a little sleep. So, all I need to do is press the start button and both the driver and the passenger seat can recline to a very comfortable position. You can just have a nice rest. It’s very comfortable, particularly with these springy headrests here. We all know that Kia love a good headrest. So, I’ve quickly changed into the GT Line S option because I had to see what is the top of the line offering, and I have to say it’s really nice in here. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the Air is great. It’s got lots of stuff for a very good price tag, but my goodness, if you go up just a little bit more in price, I mean, it feels really plush. when I indicate I have the blind spots covered here on the dash. I mean, it doesn’t cover this completely blind corner that I’m driving into, but anyway, at least I have those blind spots covered right here. It’s got 360 cameras as well for parking and reversing, so you know that you are going to be able to see every bit of that car. The steering wheel is bigger as well. You’ve got your wireless charging down here. and just the look and feel in the cabin, it just feels it just feels a bit extra. You’ve also got a head-up display. Now, if you don’t know what that means, basically it’s a projection onto the windcreen right where my ey line is of all the key information you need to know about your driving. So, it tells you the speed limit in the area. It tells you how fast you’re going. It tells you if you’re getting close to a car and also has your navigation as well. Little extras like this just makes the car feel just much more premium. And even the headrest, I mean, we all know Kia loves a good headrest, but just switching from the air to this, I mean, my goodness, I think feel like I could just sit in this all day. And now that the sun is starting to set depressingly at about 2:30, hello winter. You can really see the ambient lighting in the cabin just glow. So, it just creates this like lovely pod feel. I love the dual tones in here as well. You’ve got the sunroof, so it feels really nice and open and airy, particularly for those passengers in the back. Yeah, I’m definitely a sucker for the GT Liner, so it has to be said. Guilty. [Music] So now the driving for the day is done. Let’s have a route around for the efficiency. Today we were able to get about 3.8 m to the kilowatt hour and a longer journey made previous got about 3.4 kW hours which gets you around 275 mi in the GT Line S which has the bigger battery. Whether you want to go for the Air or go for the GT line, remember that powertrain is exactly the same, but you do get a lot extra when you go up to that GT Line S. Personally, if you can just stretch that a little bit more, I would recommend it particularly because you can also get that optional heat pump for an extra £900, but something like that really helps the car go the distance. But guys, I would love to hear your thoughts on this one. I am a big fan of the EV4. What do you guys think at home? Let me know down in the comments. I hope you’ve enjoyed this video today. If you have, please give it a thumbs up. And if you are still here and you haven’t subscribed, do that right now because you’re definitely electro head. And I will see you for the next one. Hey, hey, hey. [Music]
The Kia EV4 is finally on the market! And I’ve been behind the wheel of both the EV4 Air and the GT-Line S to see what this all-electric hatchback is really like on UK roads. 🇬🇧⚡️
In this review, I test both versions back-to-back to find out:
✅ What do you actually get when you step up from the Air to the GT-Line S?
✅ How efficient is Kia’s new electric hatchback in the real world?
✅ And does the EV4’s claimed 388-mile range live up to the hype?
We’ll take a detailed look at the interior, explore its new AI-powered infotainment system, and of course, go for a full test drive to see how it feels on the road.
With prices starting from £34,695, the Kia EV4 promises to bring long-range electric driving to the family hatchback market. But is it really the new sweet spot in Kia’s EV lineup?
#Kia #ev4 #hatchback
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