Kia EV4 test drive | The Car Expert

Make and model: Kia EV4
Description: Mid-sized hatchback and fastback
Price range: £34,695 to £45,445

Kia says: “The Kia EV4 has been developed to enhance the appeal of Kia’s EV offering for a broad demographic, wrapping its advanced technologies and practical layout in an eye-catching, modern design.”
We say: The looks will divide opinions but the EV4 combines Kia’s established quality with something refreshingly different in the EV market.  

Introduction

Kia’s electrification strategy continues apace with the EV4, the fourth member of the brand’s range designed from the start as electric vehicles – or, you could argue, the fourth and fifth.

You see the EV4 bucks the electric trend in a couple of ways; firstly it is not an SUV, which just about every EV seems to be especially in the hotly-contested mid-sized family vehicle segment, and it is available in two distinct body styles – as a five-door hatchback and a ‘fastback’, industry-speak for a saloon body style but with a rear that has a more practical tailgate opening.

What is the Kia EV4?

Kia describes the EV4 as its first-ever electric hatchback and saloon design, and the car can be seen as an electric successor to the very successful Ceed family car. The hatch version is designed for Europe only and even built in the same European factory that has long been home to the Ceed, at Zilina in Slovakia, whereas the Fastback is a global model, built in Korea and targeting the likes of the Tesla Model 3.

More pertinent to potential buyers will be that this is the longest-range electric Kia yet. With the larger of the two battery options, the EV4 offers a maximum official range of 388 miles, and while you won’t achieve this in real-world use, this is a car that won’t regularly trouble the public charging network and so will suit many drivers.

The EV4 uses the same underpinnings as its already on-sale sisters in the Kia electric range, and this has allowed the creation of compact dimensions. Both versions look suitably slippery – the Fastback is Kia’s most aerodynamically-efficient model yet.

Admittedly, the looks of both EV4 variants will likely be considered somewhat polarising; they’re certainly different from the typical electric SUV fare, though still quite unlike a typical combustion-engined hatchback – but a quick straw poll did elicit mainly positive reactions, including a “that’s the first electric car I might consider buying”…

Two battery sizes are available for the EV4, the 58kWh version dubbed ‘standard range’ while the 81kWh is the ‘long range’. Even the smaller pack is officially quoted at up to 273 miles between charges, while the power and torque output is common to both versions.

The car follows Kia’s established form of three trim levels, dubbed Air, GT-Line and GT-Line S. The Air can be had with either battery pack while all other models use the larger one. Reflecting its perceived image, the Fastback is not offered in Air trim.    

What do you get for your money?

Kia’s three-grade structure starts with the Air, costing from £34,695 with the standard battery and £3,000 more in long-range format. As has become typical, the standard equipment list is long, the options few or non-existent.

All variants come with plentiful equipment, including some items not commonly found on entry-level cars. Notable among these are the heated seats and steering wheel, and an infotainment screen and separate driver’s display each measuring over 12 inches, separated by a bespoke climate control screen of five inches in a panel that stretches right across the fascia.

GT-Line versions, likely to be most popular among buyers, cost £39,395. They replace the standard 17-inch wheels with 19-inch versions, while the additions include electric adjustment of the front seats, wireless phone charging, a digital key, various styling tweaks and ambient lighting, the colour of which can be customised.

Range-topper is the GT-Line S at £43,895. For this, you get a more upmarket Harman Kardon eight-speaker sound system, head-up display, sunroof, heating on the rear seats and ventilation on the fronts, a powered tailgate, upgraded headlights and a vehicle-to-load system with even a three-pin plug socket in the car.

The Fastback, meanwhile, can be had as a GT-Line at £40,895 or GT-Line S for £46,295, with equipment levels matching those of its hatch sisters.

In terms of safety, the EV4 offers a long list of electronic driver assistance systems as standard across the range. As of November 2025, it has not yet undergone Euro NCAP safety testing, although Kia’s recent record has been strong.

The only safety aids offered as extras are on the top GT-Line S versions – they comprise remote smart parking and a collision avoidance assistance system while parking, a 360-degree around view monitor and a blind-spot view monitor. This is rather useful, as soon as the indicators are activated it posts on the driver’s display a camera view of the blind spot in the direction of the indicator.  

Of course, the EV4 also comes with Kia’s standard seven-year warranty, one of the longest in the industry, while another less obvious but desirable plus is the length of the service intervals, some 20,000 miles between visits to the dealer.

We like: Long warranty and service intervals
We don’t like: Heat pump a cost option and only available on top model

What’s the Kia EV4 like inside?

We expect quality cabins from Kia these days and the EV4 does not disappoint, the fit and finish looking suitably upmarket – what is actually hard plastic is well disguised as something more exclusive.

Space is good in both front and rear rows, at least in the hatch – the sloping roof of the Fastback does compromise headroom a little, while both versions have quite high floors due to accommodating the battery pack. This also makes for easy loading of the cargo space.

Both boots are cavernous, especially in the Fastback, thanks to the car measuring up 30cm longer than the hatch. There are 435 litres of space in the hatch, which, with the rear seats down, stretches to 1,415 litres. And with a load-bay opening of more than a metre, it’s certainly practical. The Fastback offers some 55 litres more, but with a narrower gap to load through.

The driver’s surroundings are very well thought out. That long infotainment screen is efficient and strikes the right balance with physical buttons for more important functions both under the main screens and on the steering wheel. Mind you the separate five-inch display for the climate control seems a bit superfluous, particularly as its position neatly hides it behind the steering wheel.

We like: Sensible combination of screens and proper buttons
We don’t like: More cosy rear-seat space of Fastback

What’s under the bonnet?

Whether you choose the 58kWh ‘standard’ pack or the 81kWh ‘long range’ version, the power output is the same, at 150kW or 204hp, with 283Nm of torque. The car will pass 62mph from rest in 7.5 to 7.9 seconds depending on version, plenty quick enough for most, and go on to 105mph.

In terms of range, the standard pack offers up to 273 miles and the long-range pack 388 miles in the Air, or 362 in the upper-spec models (more equipment means more weight!…). The Fastback will go for 380 miles between charges, aided by those more slippery aerodynamics.

Both battery packs can be recharged at up to 150kW on a public fast charger, which means half an hour to go from 10 to 80% on the 58kWh pack, with the 81kWh version being just a couple of minutes slower. With a more common 50kW charger, you are looking at 55 and 79 minutes respectively. On an 11kW AC unit, such as a home wallbox, the figures are five hours 20 minutes or seven hours 15 minutes.

One disappointment is that the EV4 does not come with the 800-volt charging technology available on more premium Kia electric models klike the EV6 and EV9 – this would make faster charging times possible. As mentioned, a heat pump is available to help improve battery efficiency in sub-zero winter conditions, but only as a £900 cost option and only on top-level GT-Line S grades.    

What’s the Kia EV4 like to drive?

One immediate positive aspect of driving the EV4, in this reviewer’s opinion, is that it has a power button to turn it on and off – too many EV brands are dumping this feature, the use of which does add a degree of comforting certainty, especially at the end of a drive.

Like all electric models, the EV4 moves off smoothly and silently. On the road, it behaves exactly as a family car should, which is something quite a few EVs brands miss. It’s eager while not being too fast, and it is a comfortable car to travel in, whatever the road surface.

During the test drive event, we tried out cars in both Air and GT-Line specifications. There is one area in which the entry model scores over its more expensive sibling, the 17-inch wheels producing a more compliant ride than do the 19-inch upgraded versions – bigger is not always better…

Lifeless handling is something that tends to go with EV ownership, but the EV4 is better than the norm. While there is still not that much feedback through the steering wheel, it does at least weight up nicely the more one turns into a corner, producing a generally satisfying performance.  

All EV4s come with five drive modes, the obvious ones of Eco, Normal and Sport supplemented by Snow and a ‘MyDrive’ mode customisable to the driver’s preference. On all but Air versions the ambient lighting changes colour depending on mode, green for Eco, blue for Normal, red for Sport, etc. (However, we are told it can be disabled, so passengers don’t keep asking why you are in Sport mode.)

Also capable of being disabled are the now-mandatory and (to many) intrusive speed limit and lane departure warnings. There’s no distinct button but pressing certain controls for a set time does the deed – holding down the volume dial on the steering wheel for three seconds does for the speed limit alert. It’s an indication of how poorly thought-out these new EU rules are (which we still get despite not being part of the EU) that car manufacturers are now building in various ways to disable them…

The driving modes do offer noticeable differences, and they also tie into the regenerative braking – the three levels can be altered by paddles behind the steering wheel and the most severe will, if necessary, bring the car to a full stop, enabling one-pedal driving.

We drove both the hatch and Fastback versions, and in driving dynamics there is nothing to choose between them. This is a slight disappointment, as the Fastback presents a more sporty visual image and it would be good to have a more potent version available.        

We like: A proper start button
We don’t like: The Fastback could offer a more sporty version

Verdict

At a time when new EVs are appearing almost weekly from both recognised and new brands, the Kia EV4 stands out from the crowd, both the hatch and particularly the Fastback offering something different. Looks do not deceive either, as underneath the distinctive visuals are cars that make full use of Kia’s now established and well-proven efficient electric architecture.

Kia expects 85% of EV4 sales to be of the hatch, which is not surprising as the Fastback will appeal to a niche selection of buyers who really want something different in their EV. And while we are told most buyers will want GT-Line trim, the Air has much to recommend it, offering the most range and a better ride – don’t suppose we can have a GT-Line on 17-inch wheels Mr Kia dealer? We thought not…

The EV4 hatch is quite pricey when compared to some potential rivals, particularly as there is no tempting government grant to sweeten the purchase, but we can see it appealing to a wide variety of buyers, especially the many who have driven Kias before.

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Key specifications

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