FIRST LOOK: New Kia EV5. The smartest electric Kia yet?
Welcome to Germany where I am here to see a very important car, the Kia EV5. Why is it important? Well, the midsized family SUV class is still the biggest when it comes to sales. Just look at how it stablemate, the Kia Sportage sells. And this basically is the pure electric version of the Sportagege only it’s called the EV5 and it looks completely different. Anyway, in this video, I’m going to tell you all about it, how it stacks up against the competition for price, how far you can go in it, and how Kia has turned to Tesla for a bit of inspiration. But before we get started, you know what to do. Please subscribe. trademarked the names EV1 through to EV9. So, we’ve seen them strike through the two, the three, the four, the six, and the nine off the list. And this now takes care of the five. It’s basically a dinky honey I shrunk the car baby EV9. And it’s got all the same design elements. The tiger face here at the front, the boxy looks, those cool star map rear lights. Now, I do like the EV5. I mean, it just looks a bit like an EV9. It’s hard not to. But I know that some of you prefer a car that doesn’t make as much of a statement. So, do let us know what you think in the comments below. Now, in terms of size, it’s slightly larger than the Kia Sportage. Um, it’s got a slightly longer wheelbase and it fits in neatly between the Kia EV3 and of course the EV9, which incidentally both won World Car of the Year, one in 2024 and the EV3 this year in 2025. So, no pressure for the EV5 then. None at all. As usual with Kia, the trim options are very straightforward. You get a choice of three. Air GT Line, which is this car, and the topsp spec GT line S. And there are seven different colors to choose from. The GT Line cars get a sportier look with gloss black highlights, a more aggressive looking front and rear bumpers, and sportier alloys. Now, I know that loads of you watching [Music] We’re filming this in the middle of a heat wave and it’s about 100° in the studio. So, I’m just imagining that I’m out on a sailing ship on the ocean with breeze thanks to the sounds of nature that come already loaded into the EV5 as they do in all of Kia’s range. And actually, there’s been I think quite a few additions here. I think there’s moments of meditation new. What’s that one? Harbingers of Harbingers of Spring. How lovely. Um, I’d love to know if you are a Kia ownin, you actually use that. I did ask Kia the question. They’ve got no data on that at all. So, if you’re a Kia owner, do you use Sounds of Nature? And if so, which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below. Anyway, moving on. It’s very familiar in here, isn’t it? Really is. Kia EV3, Kia EV9. It’s just, you know, it’s a pretty much identicit interior with a few differences. You’ve got all the practical storage space, these massive cup holders with those flippy things that come in and out. You’ve got wireless charging. You’ve got this handy storage tray down there, which I really like. And also a decentsized storage compartment under there. But I think overall the thing that I love about Kia’s interiors is that they just don’t over complicate it. So, yes, you’ve got these two touchcreens with this third smaller climate control here in the center, but you’ve also got haptic buttons and physical buttons for the things that you need most together with this big volume button here, which I really like. And there’s also stuff on the steering wheel. But despite the fact that you’ve got all that, it still manages to look streamlined and modern in here. So, let’s turn to the tech because there is quite a lot to talk about. So, as I said, we’ve got the two 12.3 in screens, this central um climate control screen in the center. One of the things I really love about that is that if you want to have a deep dive into the climate control, you just press that little button there and it comes up on the screen. Either you or the passenger can, you know, do what you need to do and then it minimizes really quickly. It’s a very intuitive system to use this. Now, you also get a head-up display on the top spec model. And again, something that I like is that if you’re using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, the directions will sync into that display. Again, just something that’s really usable, particularly for those of us, and I know there are a lot of us, who would prefer just to use our phone for navigation directions rather than use the inbuilt system. Now, the EV3 has just had a Kia AI assistant added to it controlled by Chat GPT, which apparently has massively improved um the voice activation system. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but I’ve heard very good things. That is coming to the EV5 as well, as is the ability to pay a monthly subscription fee and to stream things like Netflix or Disney Plus. Now, I mentioned earlier that a few things had been inspired by Tesla, didn’t I? One of them’s getting me very excited. Pet mode. So, if you’re familiar with dog mode on Tesla, you’ll know how it works. It allows you to set the temperature if you have to leave your forfeooted friend in the car so they can stay nice and cool or just warm enough. Um, and it also pops up a little notification on the screen that says the temperature is set and my owner will be back soon. Now, that won’t be available on the EV5 from launch, but it will be coming pretty quickly um to early cars via an overtheair update. And I rang the technology by the four-legged road testers on the team, Rodney and Larry and Ziggy, and they said they heartily approved and came back with a very big to that. It also comes with an familiar vehicle to load capability and an interior three pin plug socket which is handy for everything from plugging in your haird dryer on a camping trip to powering up your garden tools and even charging other EVs or plug-in hybrids. Here in the back feels massive. I mean again for reference as always 5’4. Um Manos behind the camera 6’2. This seat is set. What? What now? What now? What? Yes. Oh, he said yes. I thought he said no. Like it’s 6’2 and a half cuz the half makes all the difference. And look, it’s just there’s a lot of space in here. I mean, one of the things that you can sometimes struggle with with family cars is putting rearfacing child seats in because they’re pretty big and bulky. Going to have no issues with that whatsoever. Um, and I like the fact that there’s a really decent size recess under the seats where people with much longer legs than mine can slide their feet. Um, talking about child seats, you’ve got two ISOIX points here in the back on the two outer seats. Now, there isn’t one in the front passenger seat. It’s not really a key thing, and I do think that’s a bit of a shame. Uh, cars like the Enyak, the ID4, the Peugeot E38 do all offer one now. And it actually is really practical and handy in a family car. The other thing, what? Oh, no. I I’m allowed to like mention it as a competitor car. I’m not recommending it in this video. I’m talking about the EV5. No, I’m not giving I’m It’s the Swear Jar. I’m not paying into the Enyak Swear Jar. Now, sadly, there is also no heated or cooled picnic box and fold down picnic tables cuz that’s what you get on the models that are built in China and are on sale in other parts of the world. It’s just down here and you know, keeps your coffee warm in winter and your drinks cold in summer. It’s brilliant. You do get this though, which just pulls out. It’s a little kind of storage compartment, but with a snack area in there, which will fit in. Yes, Manos’s snacks. Very unhealthy pizzas and two pretzels cuz he doesn’t like sharing, so he likes to hide them away. They’ll be coming with me, please. Um, that’s quite handy. You’ve got, as usual, USBC ports and the side of the seats. Now, throughout there’s some pretty dodgy plastics in here. That’s not very nice, is it? It’s a bit shiny and also down at the front. So, I do need to point out that this is a very, very early pre-production car. So, don’t take too much on that at the moment. When we see the final production cars, a lot of these finishes will be vastly improved. The other thing I’d say is to think carefully about how you spec this car. This has got a very, very dark interior and it does feel a bit oppressive in here. Um, you’ve got these kind of pleathery seats which are really practical if you’ve got kids or you’re just generally messy like me because you can wipe them down. The entry level air will only come with cloth seats. Um, one of the things I love about seats though is this. They go up. Oh. Oh, and I was supposed to do that. What happened there? How did I do? Get back. Okay. They recline. You can That’s not No, that’s not ideal, is it? Yeah, they recline. You can have them like that or you can have them like that. What you don’t want to do is have them like that because that’s really not a comfortable way to drive. Obviously, this isn’t ideal. Um, particularly if you got kids in the back and I have been assured by Kia that because this is a pre-production car, pre pre-production, there will be a safety catch on there that will stop this happening. But doesn’t really help me today. Manos, can you help me out? Manos. Yeah. Can you help me out? I can’t. It’s really heavy. I can’t get out. Thank you, Manos. Hey, manos. Hey. Manos, I won’t eat your pretzels. You can have them back. And when you do get your seat back up, you’ve got armrest with cup holders and a ski hatch. This video is brought to you with Anderson EV, the UK’s most awarded home battery on this has got a total capacity of 81.4 kwatt hours 78 kW of which is usable and it’s lithium ion NMC chemistry. Now this differs to the cars already on sale in other parts of the world. It gives an official range of 329 miles. There will be a smaller battery version for some markets but we won’t be taking it in the UK because Kia doesn’t reckon that people will want to buy it because the difference between the two won’t be that great. Now, the Scoda Enyak, the Peugeot E30008, the Ford Explorer, Vauhall Grandland, all have models that will go further in range. But as always, it’s about efficiency, isn’t it? And we generally find Kia do perform slightly better than quite a lot of the competition on that front. Charging, that max is out at 150 kW on a rapid charger, and you can charge up to 80% in 30 minutes. Now, Kia doesn’t give us info on the charging curve of its cars, and there’s no point using the ones already available for this car, which has been on sale in other parts of the world because of those differences in the battery chemistry. So, we’re going to report back on what the charging curve looks like when we’ve had chance to spend longer in it and drive it properly. AC charging is the standard 11 kW. There’s no 22 kW option yet. Little bird tells me it will follow though down the line. Um, heat pumps. Now, in line with Kia’s other EVs, you get the option of adding a heat pump on the topsp spec model. Heat pumps are something we debate a lot at electrifying. And we really have come to the conclusion that unless you were doing a lot of mileage in winter and really regularly driving longer distances, it may not be worth you forking out extra for one. So, if you’re in the market for one, really take a close look at that and do the sums before you spend that money. We obviously haven’t driven the EV5 yet because it’s a prototype version here in a studio, but it’s on the same platform as the Kia EV3. So that means it gets 214 brake horsepower. It’s frontwheel drive and naugh to 62 takes 8.4 seconds on all the models. Now, one of the good things about Kia is that the suspension setup is always done for the local roads wherever the car is sold. And they’re really good at doing that. the dampers, the suspension, the steering, they’re always tuned accordingly. And we found that generally that means you get a really refined ride quality from its cars. And we would expect this to be exactly the same. So the all important in any family car at least boot and that is 566 L in terms of space. You get pretty much triple that with the seats down which do fold completely flat. It’s a really good size actually in this class. Not as big as the Scoda Enyak, but you do get a 44 liter frunk with this, which the Enyak doesn’t get. Um, I also like the fact that under here you’ve got this sub compartment, which is really handy for cables, muddy wellies, just for keeping stuff out of uh out the way. And also the opening is just over a meter wide. You’ve got no uh awkward lip to lift things over. Again, it’s going to make getting, you know, kids bikes and scooters and push chairs into the back really easy. Um, do ignore the plastics though. They’re a bit ropey here in the back and that’s because, as I keep saying, this is a very early production car. So, I’ve been looking over the numbers for the EV5. If you go for the entry level, which is the Air, which incidentally I think is still really well speced with things like reversing cameras, um, it gets heated seats. It’s got a heated steering wheel. Anyway, I’ve been looking at that and of course it gets that 81.4 4 kWh battery pack and a range of £330 mi which all the models get. And that means it stacks up so well price-wise against the competition because it’s going to start at £38,500 which means that it will undercut entry level models of cars like the Scoda Enyak, the Nissan Ara, the BW ID4, the Peugeot E38, and of course the Model Y. Top spec, that’s going to top out at around £45,000. And I do think this is going to be a really hard car to beat. Yes, I need to check the quality of the materials when we see a production car and I need to drive it. But I think the Kia EV5 could tempt many of its Sportage siblings over to electric for the first time. But as always, what do you think of it? Do let us know in the comments below. And while you’re there, please switch those notifications on and subscribe. You’re filming this? Of course, I’m filming. Oh, great. See you later. Why are you being so mean to me today? I didn’t even eat your pretzels.
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This is a very important car, the Kia EV5. Why? The mid-sized family SUV class is still one of the biggest for sales – just look at how popular the Kia Sportage is! And this is, basically, the pure electric Sportage. Only it’s called the EV5, and it looks totally different. In this video we’re going to tell you all about it, how it stacks up price wise against the competition, how far you can go in it and how Kia has turned to Tesla for a bit of inspiration!
Looking for your next car? Electrifying.com will help make finding your next vehicle easier than ever. Compare expert car reviews and recommendations, and find your perfect car through https://www.electrifying.com
This video is brought to you with Andersen EV, the UK’s most awarded home charge point brand of 2024.
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